NHL Network (1975 TV program)

The NHL Network was an American television

After being dropped by NBC after the 1974–75 season,^[4][5][6] the NHL had no national television contract in the United States.^[7][8][9] In response to this, the league put together a network of independent stations covering approximately 55% of the country.^[10][11][12]

Coverage summary

Games typically aired on Monday nights^[13] (beginning at 8 p.m. ET) or Saturday afternoons. The package was offered to local stations with no rights fee.^[14] Profits would be derived from the advertising, which was about evenly split between the network and the local station. The Monday night games were often billed as The NHL Game of the Week.^[15] Viewers in New York City, Buffalo, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Detroit and Los Angeles got the Game of the Week on a different channel than their local team's games. Therefore, whenever a team had a “home” game, the NHL Network aired the home team's broadcast rather than their own.

Initially, the Monday night package was marketed to ABC affiliates, the idea being that ABC carried Monday-night NFL football in the fall and (starting in May 1976) Monday-night Major League Baseball in the spring and summer; as such, stations would want hockey to create a year-round Monday night sports block. But very few ABC stations picked up the package.

During the

When Saturday afternoon games were added, the NHL said that they would start at 1 p.m. and end by 4 p.m. ET. Markets with only three stations were reluctant to give up prime time programming slots. Ultimately, the plan failed, as not only did they not gain new markets, but many stations that already carried the Monday game didn't pick up the Saturday one. A few of the markets in the Eastern Time Zone that aired the Saturday afternoon games included Boston, Buffalo, New York City, Washington and Springfield, MA.

In addition, the NHL gave stations the option of starting the Saturday afternoon broadcasts at 1 Eastern time or starting at 2 EST, with the full open and a first-period summary preceding live action of the final two periods.

In most U.S. NHL cities, the Hughes NHL affiliate was the same one that aired the local team's games. About a couple of dozen other stations carried the games. The network had 47 stations^[26][56] for the 1976–77 season.

Despite the presence of the

Ratings

By the time that

• Marv Albert^[66]
• Fred Cusick
• Ted Darling (primarily in games involving Buffalo)
• Don Earle
• Jim Gordon^[67]
• Gene Hart
• Dan Kelly^[68][69][70]
• Jiggs McDonald – In 1976–77, McDonald split play-by-play and analyst duties with Tim Ryan during Games 3 and 4 of the Montreal Canadiens-New York Islanders playoff series (April 28 and 30)
• Sam Nover
• Brad Palmer
• Tim Ryan

Marv Albert was the lead play-by-play man during the first season in which he was paired with a local guest announcer.^[71] They typically, would split play-by-play duties.

As previously mentioned, for Game 4 of the 1976 quarterfinal playoff series between the Montreal Canadiens and Chicago Black Hawks (April 16), Marv Albert and Brad Palmer called the game. Albert handled play-by-play for the first and third period while Palmer, the Black Hawks' TV host, handled play-by-play for the second period. They in the process, acted as analysts for each other. Played at Chicago Stadium, the game was blacked out in the Chicago area.

Meanwhile, Marv Albert also during the 1976 playoffs, teamed with Tim Ryan (who split play-by-play duties with Albert) and George Michael for Game 1 of the New York Islanders-Buffalo Sabres series (April 11) and Terry Crisp for Game 7 of the Toronto Maple Leafs-Philadelphia Flyers series (April 25). Terry Crisp also worked alongside play-by-play men Gene Hart and Don Earle on Game 4 of the Toronto-Philadelphia mentioned above series (April 17).

Color commentary

• Don Awrey
• Curt Bennett
• Bill Chadwick
• Terry Crisp
• Gary Dornhoefer
• Phil Esposito
• John Ferguson Sr.^[72]
• Eddie Giacomin – In 1977–78, Giacomin worked with Dan Kelly on Game 3 of the Philadelphia Flyers-Buffalo Sabres playoff series (April 22)
• Bobby Hull
• Steve Jensen – In 1976–77, Jensen worked with Marv Albert on Game 4 of the Philadelphia Flyers-Toronto Maple Leafs playoff series (April 17)
• playoff
  series.
• Stan Mikita
• Lou Nanne
• Bobby Orr^[73][74]
• Chico Resch
• Garry Unger

The analysts for the 1976 Stanley Cup Finals were active players and each game featured different color commentators. These players were Stan Mikita, Garry Unger, Chico Resch and Curt Bennett. This format continued in 1977 with Stan Mikita, Garry Unger, Chico Resch, Don Awrey replacing Curt Bennett, who instead worked with Marv Albert and Dan Kelly on Game 4 of the Philadelphia Flyers-Boston Bruins playoff series (May 1).

Other

• Stan Fischler^[75]
• Jim Simpson
• Dick Stockton
• Scott Wahle

Dick Stockton served as host for a season.^[76] Scott Wahle was the studio host for the 1978–79 and 1979–80 seasons. Meanwhile, Stan Fischler was on the broadcasts as an intermission analyst.

References