HTS will begin coverage of the SC America package Feb. 1, adding two
additional games per week to its 33-game Washington Capitals television
schedule, while KBL will begin coverage Feb. 14, said SC America.
The NHL is now available to over 8 million Prime Network subscribers,
said Jeff Ruhe, president and COO of SC America.
The deals make its NHL coverage available to over 30 million households,
21 million of whom actually receive the service. "We continue to make
significant gains in the distribution of our NHL coverage and make the
programming event more attractive to national advertisers," he said.
KBL had distributed the playoffs and the Stanley Cup series last year,
said Bill Craig, vice president and general manager of KBL Sports Network. He
added that the network also has access to SC America's other sports
programming, but said "I don't know if there's anything else worth putting
on" from SC America.
With the two deals, Ruhe said, SC America is in every major area of the
country except Texas
Ruhe also said the deals increase the network's bargaining position in
its negotiations for a new NHL package, which have already begun. "They
|league officials~ are very, very positive about these increases," he
said.
Indeed, Joel Nixon, vice president of broadcasting for the NHL, said the
network has gotten the league's attention with the deals. "They're a force
to be reckoned with," he said. "They're starting to obtain the
objectives that they wanted to achieve two years ago."
Ruhe
would not hazard a guess as to what a new contract would look like or whether
the price of the package would fall below the $5 million a year the network is
currently paying.
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