View From The Ice: Buccigross Interviews NHL's John Shannon

NHL's John Shannon Sits For Interview With ESPN's John Buccigross

ESPN.com on Monday posted a Q&A with NHL Senior VP/Broadcasting John Shannon by John Buccigross, who notes that he did not ask Shannon questions "about Versus or ESPN" or whether ESPN and the NHL "will be partners again." Buccigross: "This is something that we'll find out, either way, in the future." A major topic discussed was the distribution of NHL Network. Below are some excerpts from the interview. 

Buccigross: Besides getting DirecTV, how can people get the NHL Network in the States?

Shannon: We are with the big seven cable and two satellite companies in the [U.S.]. … Our first job in all of this is to take care of the 25 million people that we believe are hard-core fans and try to get the network to them and let them know there is a network for them. And we have another number of 28 million avid fans that are second tier. … We needed to make the network fiscally responsible and didn't feel we had to make an extra set of programming issues. I think our goal in the long term is to have 'Made in the USA' content. … Our obligation is to the league and the owners to try to generate revenue, as well.

Buccigross: How happy are you in the way NHL games are being broadcasted by the 30 local networks?

Shannon: We are better than we were two years ago. I think camera position and awareness of camera positions is an important thing. I think we are making inroads there and helping them with their commentators to make them more complete broadcasters.

Buccigross: What about the future of the NHL on television?

Shannon: Ideally, what you would like to find in the next 10-20 years is a way to make the ideal camera positions in every arena, make sure every game is done in high definition, or I would hope we are talking 3-D high definition. ... We need to do a better job of improving the audio capability and how that is done (ESPN.com, 1/14).