Earlier this week, the Walt Disney Company and Turner Sports announced their US NHL TV schedules for the upcoming season. Disney will air 103 NHL games across their platforms of ESPN, ESPN+, Hulu, and ABC, while Turner will air 50 games on TNT. In this week’s data dump, we dig into some of the numbers in the schedule.
Increase in televised games
This will be the first year the NHL will have two TV partners with Disney and Turner sharing the duties, which has created the opportunity to have more games televised nationally.
The most interesting component of the national TV schedule is the ESPN+/Hulu piece of the Disney contract. For those that don’t know, ESPN+ is a standalone streaming service that does not require a typical MVPD subscription.
ESPN+/Hulu will air 75 games, the most of all the channels airing national games this season. Turner will carry the most games in the traditional TV space (i.e., cable, satellite, and IPTV).
Seasonality of the national NHL TV schedule
Here is a look at how games are spread throughout the season.
The schedule is predictably light in the first several months because of all the football programming that tends to suck up sports media airtime in the fall. The large drop in February is due to the Olympic break in the NHL schedule.
For those of you that like to build routines in your schedule and might want to dedicate a certain night of the week for watching the nationally televised game, here is how the games are distributed by day of the week.
Looking at it by day of the week is where you can really see the impact football has on the schedule, as there are no Thursday or Sunday NHL games aired until January. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are clearly the most common and consistent night for nationally televised games, and it will be fun to see if Disney and Turner do any unique shoulder programing or intermission shows on those nights.
NHL TV schedule by team
Here is a look at how many nationally televised games each team will get this coming season.
It’s amazing to see the Kraken with 13 nationally televised games this season. The Vegas Golden Knights only had three nationally televised games scheduled in their inaugural season. Canadian teams like Calgary, Ottawa, and Winnipeg have traditionally not had any US nationally televised games, so it is no surprise they do not have any games on the schedule.
What is refreshing to see is Carolina and Florida have eight games each. Both clubs are fun and exciting to watch but traditionally get de-prioritized as small market teams. In 2019-20, the Hurricanes and Panthers had just one game each on the NBC/NBCSN schedule, so it is exciting to see that Disney/Turner are giving these teams the national stage they deserve.
Kraken national TV games
As noted above, the Seattle Kraken will have 13 nationally televised games this upcoming season. Here is a list of those games.
The ESPN+/Hulu games will be a different experience for hockey fans, since they will require an app/login if you are new to that platform. ESPN+ will also get you the out-of-market NHL games that will replace the NHL.tv package.
It should be an exciting time for NHL fans as the partnerships with Turner and Disney could push the game into new levels of exposure and coverage. If you have any questions or thoughts about the TV packages, drop a note in the comments.
John,
I know a lot of people were disappointed there wasn’t a streaming option… and now there is…RootSports on Fubo… and also ESPN+/Hulu. But if I’m not mistaken all those Root folks are going to be out of luck for opening night. Am I correct in thinking the Kraken’s biggest televised event ever is going to be blacked out to most local viewers?
Getting Root Sports, even on Fubo will require a a subscription package that will include ESPN. So if you are talking about the first regular season game in Vegas, they will be able to watch it on ESPN. If you are talking about the home opener, which might have more hype locally, you are somewhat correct. The only way you will get that game is if you have ESPN+/Hulu. I’ve got some peripheral concern for all the local bars trying to find the home opener on their TV packages. They won’t find it because it will be on ESPN+.
Thanks… it is what I thought. I ‘m afraid a lot of casual hockey fans will flip on their TV, switch to ROOT and then ESPN and then end up watching Wazzu vs BYU.
I follow Vegas, Detroit, and Chicago formerly on nhl.tv: I watched every game the past 4 seasons. Where am I guaranteed to be able to see every game including the pre-season games on the nhl.tv streaming platform. This new partnership sucks from the point of view of a person who is not in any local market.
ESPN+ will work the same as NHL.tv and it is cheaper, provided you unsubscribe when the hockey season is over.
So wish there was a clear schedule by date channel time and team. For me it is almost impossible for me to follow my teams or others via xfinity/Comcast. Wait months to watch games. Can this type of schedule be found. Carole