Rogers Communications' exclusive rights deal to broadcast Monday NHL games on Amazon’s Prime Video over the next two seasons is an attempt to "broaden its audience by partnering with a leading streaming platform," according to Andrew Willis of the GLOBE & MAIL. Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri said that striking a partnership with Amazon "is part of a strategy to win the loyalty of a new generation of sports fans with programing that is 'platform agnostic.'" Rogers’ current broadcast deal with the NHL expires after the 2025-2026 season. Staffieri said that the Rogers, which is the owner of Sportsnet, "plans to bid again" for NHL broadcast rights when the agreement comes up for renewal. After selling Monday night games to Amazon, Sportsnet "will still broadcast more than 500 NHL games each year." Willis noted Amazon “will build its own broadcast team” for Monday night hockey, "unveiling its play-by-play crew and analysts later this year." The NHL positioned the move to stream Monday night hockey on Amazon as a way to "win more fans for a league buoyed by an increase in U.S. TV ratings this season" (GLOBE & MAIL, 4/25).
GOING TO PLAN B: THE HOCKEY NEWS’ Jonathan Tovell wrote with two years remaining on the current Rogers deal, it is “off-loading one part of its national broadcast package after reports over the years suggest the deal hasn't panned out as well as it may have hoped.” Their Monday broadcasts “have differed over the years.” They first had "Hometown Hockey", which aired for eight years. The on-air talent of Ron MacLean and Tara Slone “visited cities across Canada to profile players and communities while broadcasting an NHL game.” In 2021-22, they "changed the show schedule to Mondays." Then, in 2022-23, they ended the season-long tours and "changed the show to 'Monday Night Hockey'," hosted by David Amber. That show “focused on analytics and technology, including a virtual studio with green screens that allowed for more immersive graphics” (THE HOCKEY NEWS, 4/25).
