Fox TV Chair Chase Carey and Fox Sports President David
Hill met yesterday in N.Y. with NHL Commissioner Gary
Bettman "to discuss Fox's opting out of the final year" of
its five-year, $155M rights contract, according to USA
TODAY's Rudy Martzke. If Fox does not televise the NHL next
season, ABC "presumably would." Fox "wants to be let out of
its full" $45M commitment for the season, "plus additional
compensation for lost income from NHL Finals games that were
not played." After the meeting, NHL VP/Media Relations
Frank Brown said, "I don't think they resolved anything.
Both sides made points" (Rudy Martzke, USA TODAY, 8/25).
TIME IS MONEY: In N.Y., Richard Sandomir breaks down
ABC/ESPN's NHL rights deal, scheduled to be announced today,
to include the following: Regular-season broadcast coverage
on ABC will be reduced -- from 11 weeks after the All-Star
Game on Fox to between four and seven; ABC would show three
regional games, down from the six per week that Fox showed;
with no drop in the number of playoff telecasts. Sandomir
also reports that ESPN "is paying all" of the $600M rights
fee and buying time on ABC, an arrangement which "may
provoke some legal ire from Fox." Sandomir notes Fox's
"saber-rattling" over a possible lawsuit after feeling
"under-informed" on ABC's bid, but he adds, "Why the league
would fool Fox about the deal makes no sense. The N.H.L.
would have seemed gleeful to show Fox every iota of ABC's
bid, regardless of its structure." ABC Dir of Media
Relations Mark Mandel: "They're lame foxes" (N.Y. TIMES,
8/25). NHL Senior VP Steve Solomon told Rudy Martzke: "Fox
had a chance to negotiate for our rights but chose not to.
The time buy (from ESPN) is nothing new. These are two
separate contracts" (Rudy Martzke, USA TODAY, 8/25).
REAX TO DEAL: On the NHL/ESPN deal, Paul Schulman Co.
Senior VP Tom DeCabia said, "I can't believe the money that
is being thrown around for events that don't pay off. It's
a great day for the NHL; their ratings are down, their
numbers never grew and they got more money -- we should all
be so lucky." TN Media's Steve Sternberg: "You would think
there is a limit, that reality would set in at some point,
that people would start saying holy shit, that's a lot of
money. That's especially true with something like hockey,
where they're not going to get anywhere near the types of
rate increases that they are going to get for football,
because it's just not doing as well" (B&C, 8/24 issue).
