NHL on SportsChannel America

NHL on SportsChannel America ialah penyampaian siaran Liga Hoki Kebangsaan pada rangkaian televisyen kabel SportsChannel America yang kini tidak berfungsi.
Mengambil alih untuk ESPN, Kontrak SportsChannel membayar AS$51 juta ($17 juta setahun) selama tiga tahun, lebih daripada dua kali ganda apa yang telah dibayar oleh ESPN kepada tiga tahun sebelumnya yang diuruskan oleh ESPN ($24 juta) oleh Amerika. dapatkan musim NHL keempat dengan hanya $5 juta.
Perjanjian SportsChannel America dalam erti kata lain, permainan kuasa yang dicipta oleh Charles Dolan dan Bill Wirtz. Dolan masih beberapa tahun lagi untuk mengawal Madison Square Garden, dan Wirtz memiliki 25% SportsChannel Chicago. Presiden NHL John Ziegler meyakinkan lembaga pengelola bahawa SportsChannel America adalah alternatif yang lebih baik daripada Saluran NHL yang dicadangkan yang disokong oleh Paramount dan Viacom yang mempunyai kepentingan dalam Rangkaian MSG dan NESN.
Malangnya, SportsChannel America hanya tersedia di beberapa pasaran utama (terutamanya tidak hadir walaupun Detroit, Pittsburgh, dan St. Louis) dan mencapai hanya 1/3 daripada isi rumah yang ESPN lakukan pada masa itu. SportsChannel America dilihat dalam kurang daripada 10 juta isi rumah. Sebagai perbandingan, menjelang musim 1991–92, ESPN tersedia di 60.5 juta rumah manakala SportsChannel America hanya tersedia di 25 juta. Sebenarnya, pada tahun pertama perjanjian itu (1988–89), SportsChannel America hanya tersedia di 7 juta rumah jika dibandingkan dengan capaian ESPN sebanyak 50 juta. Apabila perjanjian SportsChannel berakhir pada 1992, liga kembali ke ESPN untuk kontrak lain yang akan membayar AS$80 juta dalam tempoh lima tahun.
SportsChannel America mengambil kesempatan menggunakan suapan rangkaian sukan serantau mereka untuk permainan, grafik dan semua, berbanding menghasilkan persembahan dari bawah, pada kebanyakan masa. Pengedaran SportsChannel America di seluruh negara adalah terhad kepada bandar yang mempunyai rangkaian sukan serantau SportsChannel atau ahli gabungan. Sangat sedikit sistem kabel di wilayah bukan NHL yang mengambilnya sebagai perkhidmatan yang berdiri sendiri, dengan kebanyakannya hanya mengambilnya secara bayar setiap tontonan semasa Perlawanan Akhir Piala Stanley. Selain rangkaian serantau SportsChannel, Home Team Sports yang berpangkalan di Maryland dan Midwest Sports Channel yang berpangkalan di Minneapolis (dimiliki dan dikendalikan secara bebas walaupun dengan nama yang serupa) membawakan permainan tersebut. Pada tahun 1991, dua rangkaian Prime Sports, KBL (Pittsburgh) dan Prime Sports Northwest bersetuju untuk membawa pakej playoff, memperluaskannya kepada 2.6 juta rumah tambahan.
Memandangkan SportsChannel Philadelphia tidak disiarkan sehingga Januari 1990, PRISM (dimiliki oleh Rainbow Media, pemilik SportsChannel, pada masa itu) memenangi Pusingan Akhir Piala Stanley 1989. Selain daripada itu, tiada liputan televisyen NHL di Philadelphia kecuali Flyers untuk separuh pertama perjanjian asal.
As previously mentioned, the NHL would return to ESPN following the 1991–92 season. Shortly after the ESPN deal was signed, SportsChannel America would contend that its contract with the NHL gave them the right to match third-party offers for television rights for the 1992–93 season. SportsChannel America accused the NHL of violating a nonbinding clause. SportsChannel America argued that it had been deprived of its contractual right of first refusal for the 1992–93 season. Appellate Division of New York State Supreme Court justice Shirley Fingerwood would deny SportsChannel America's request for an injunction against the NHL. Upholding that opinion, the appellate court found the agreement on which SportsChannel based its argument to be "too imprecise and ambiguous" and ruled that SportsChannel failed to show irreparable harm.
In the aftermath of losing the NHL, SportsChannel America was left with little more than outdoors shows and Canadian Football League games. For SportsChannel, the deal was a disaster overall. While the cable channel three years later, was available in 20 million homes (as previously mentioned), the broadcaster lost as much as $10 million on the agreement, and soon faded into obscurity. Some local SportsChannel stations – which carried NHL games in their local markets – were not affected.
SportsChannel America televised about 80–100 games a season (whereas ESPN aired about 33 in the 1987–88 season). Whereas the previous deal with ESPN called for only one nationally televised game a week, SportsChannel America televised hockey two nights a week in NHL cities and three nights a week elsewhere.
It was very rare to have a regular-season game on SportsChannel America that wasn't a regional SportsChannel production from the Chicago Blackhawks, Hartford Whalers, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, or Philadelphia Flyers. The San Jose Sharks were added in 1991–92. As previously suggested, SportsChannel America for the most part, used the local telecasts. The dedicated SportsChannel America station was little more than an overflow channel in the New York area for SportsChannel New York.
In 1989, SportsChannel America provided the first ever American coverage of the NHL Draft. In September 1989, SportsChannel America covered the Washington Capitals' training camp in Sweden and pre-season tour of the Soviet Union. The Capitals were joined by the Stanley Cup champion Calgary Flames, who held training camp in Prague, Czechoslovakia and then ventured to the Soviet Union. Each team played four games against Soviet National League clubs. Games were played in Moscow, Leningrad, Kiev and Riga. The NHL clubs finished with a combined 6–2 record against the top Soviet teams, including the Red Army club and Dynamo Moscow. Five of the eight contests were televised by SportsChannel America.
SportsChannel America was the exclusive American broadcaster of the 1989 All-Star Game. The following year, they covered the first ever NHL Skills Competition and Heroes of Hockey game. SportsChannel America would continue their coverage of these particular events through 1992. In 1991, SportsChannel America replayed the third period of the All-Star Game on the same day that it was played. That was because NBC broke away from the live telecast during the third period in favor of Gulf War coverage.
SportsChannel America's national coverage of the 1990 Stanley Cup Finals was blacked out in the Boston area due to the local rights to Bruins games in that TV market. NESN televised three games at Boston Garden in the Boston area while WSBK had two games in Edmonton. In 1991, SportsChannel's Stanley Cup Finals coverage was again blacked out in the Minnesota and Pittsburgh areas due to the local rights to North Stars and Penguins games in those respective TV markets. In Minnesota, KMSP-TV aired three games in Pittsburgh while the Midwest Sports Channel had three games in Bloomington. In Pittsburgh, KBL televised three games at the Igloo while KDKA aired three games in Minnesota. Had there been a Game 7, it would have aired on KMSP-TV in Minnesota and KBL in Pittsburgh respectively. Finally, in 1992, in Pittsburgh, KBL televised the first two games while KDKA aired the next two in Chicago. However, in Chicago, SportsChannel Chicago aired the first two games, and Hawkvision aired the next two.
Kemudahan Kawalan Induk SportsChannel America terletak di Floral Park, NY di kemudahan Rainbow Network Communications Cablevision, dan studio mereka terletak di Dempster Hall di Hofstra University di Hempstead, NY. Kebanyakan permainan yang disiarkan di rangkaian adalah siaran serentak permainan SportsChannel Regional yang lain. Walau bagaimanapun, ada kalanya rangkaian itu menghasilkan permainan penting yang tidak tersedia pada salah satu rangkaian serantau.
If any of the aforementioned teams made the playoffs, SportsChannel America focused on those teams. For example, SportsChannel Chicago produced the SportsChannel America coverage for the Blackhawks' 1990 playoff run. Because of Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz' disdain for free and basic cable home game telecasts, the road games were shown in Chicago, with the home games only given short live look-ins as "bonus coverage". The same occurrence happened in 1992, but this time, their home games were broadcast on a pay-per-view basis via "Hawkvision". The Blackhawks broadcasts were also simulcast on Chicago's WBBM radio during those years. The typical outcue to commercial break was...."(score) on SportsChannel......(pause) and WBBM" SportsChannel America would run their own bumper music from the Floral Park Master Control facility so that they could fade out the remote's audio after the announcers said "SportsChannel".
Untuk playoff Piala Stanley, SportsChannel America menggunakan Bob Papa sebagai sauh untuk liputan. Studio memulakan liputan setiap malam dengan pertunjukan prapermainan untuk semua wilayah. Setelah permainan bermula, studio menghasilkan potongan langsung setiap gol untuk setiap permainan serantau yang disiarkan. Studio juga menukar penonton satu permainan kepada permainan lain apabila tempoh tamat atau apabila permainan tamat. Selepas permainan awal, studio kemudian membawa semua penonton ke permainan Pantai Barat. Selepas semua hoki untuk malam itu, studio itu menamatkan malam itu dengan persembahan penutup selepas permainan. Pada tahun 1989, kedua-dua siri Persidangan Akhir melibatkan dua pasukan serantau SportsChannel.
Bob Papa and Leandra Reilly were the studio hosts while Denis Potvin was the studio analyst during the regular season coverage. For the Stanley Cup Finals, Jiggs McDonald called the play-by-play, and Bill Clement was the color commentator. Also during the Stanley Cup Finals, Mike Emrick served as the host while John Davidson served as the rinkside and studio analyst (Herb Brooks filled that role in 1989).