JR Ewing Posted April 24 Share Posted April 24 (edited) https://www.thefourthperiod.com/pagnotta/amazon-joining-canadian-broadcast-game-next-season#google_vignette TORONTO, ON — The NHL is growing, that much is clear. Technically, we’re now at 33 franchises; one of them just happens to be inactive. But beyond the product on the ice, the broadcast game is also evolving north of the border. Multiple sources have confirmed that Amazon has retained the Canadian broadcast rights from Rogers to air Monday Night Hockey on their platform during the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons, the remaining two years of Rogers’ current 12-year agreement. Financial terms are not known, though Rogers’ deal with the NHL was for $5.2 billion. Amazon has long expressed interest in expanding its NHL footprint and sources have confirmed they already started planning how their broadcasts will shape up next season, though talent has not yet been considered. They have first dipped their toe in League waters with its AWS/NHL partnership as the League’s Official Cloud Infrastructure Provider. Amazon also produced “All or Nothing: Toronto Maple Leafs.” Bell, which previously owned the national NHL rights in Canada before Rogers swooped in, had dipped their toe in the waters and had conversations about retaining partial rights, again. Bell owns TSN and RDS. There is a possibility they re-engage in a year’s time when the full Canadian rights deal nears its expiration. The idea is for Rogers and Amazon to piggyback off ESPN and TNT’s formats, and splitting/sharing the national broadcast rights will be the goal for 2026-27 and beyond. Though some logistical items with the NHL are still being finalized, Amazon has already commissioned a documentary-style behind-the-scenes show featuring a dozen “main cast” NHLers, believed to include William Nylander, Leon Draisaitl, Quinn Hughes and David Pastrnak. There will be additional NHL player appearances throughout the series beyond the primary individuals, however, with Jeremy Swayman entering the Pastaverse in some form. The production company that created “F1: Drive to Survive” is putting this program together – and that, by itself, is very exciting. Amazon’s strategy is complimenting its live game broadcasts with supplementary content, such as this new BTS documentary, and I suspect they will look to build off that with more. Come for the game, stay for the content. It is unclear how fans will react to another sport moving part of its national broadcasts to a streaming network, but we will hear more about Amazon’s new venture into the Canadian NHL broadcast rights in the near future. Edited April 24 by JR Ewing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR Ewing Posted April 24 Author Share Posted April 24 At this point, I would take almost anything to reduce/eliminate the profound Toronto-centric nature of hockey coverage across the Dominion (not that such a thing would be assured by this move)... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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