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Rogers Sportsnet's Moore Discusses NHL Ratings As Net Usurps TSN As Canada's No. 1

Rogers President of Sportsnet & NHL Properties Scott Moore, whose net has "moved ahead of TSN as Canada's No. 1 sports broadcaster" just one year into its 12-year contract with the NHL, sat down for a Q&A with Kevin McGran of the TORONTO STAR. The Blue Jays' run to the ALCS "helped spur Sportsnet to the top" even as its hockey ratings are "actually down two of the three nights this year over last." Excerpts from the interview are below:

Q: Your Wednesday night ratings are up, your Saturday and Sunday ratings are down. What is behind the movement?
Moore: Saturday night early is driven almost entirely by the Leafs. That’s a good news/bad news story. Leaf fans are starting to become more engaged. They’re starting to see there’s a plan. There is some light at the end of what may be a longish tunnel. Sunday, we moved Hometown Hockey from City (TV) to Sportsnet. Anytime you move something, it takes a while for people to find it. We’re not as widely distributed on cable as City. I was a little surprised. Wednesday is tougher to explain. I think it’s matchups and better games.

Q
: How would ratings improve if the Leafs were a winning team?
Moore: Twenty per cent. We did the analysis. Leaf ratings on Saturday nights are down 20 per cent and overall Saturday night is down 15 to 20 per cent. If they were clearly a playoff team, it would be 30 or 40 per cent. They’re going to be .500 or better next season, and hopefully we’ll see some increase in the ratings.

Q
: What about the quality of hockey. How much do you think people are tuning out low-scoring games?

Moore: I think that gets overstated by hockey purists who always want to tinker with the game. It has more to do with different ways that people are consuming media. People are tuning in for shorter periods of time. Might turn to Twitter if the game is not that exciting. We all have shorter attention spans.

Q: Any regrets about the continued limited roles both Don Cherry and Ron MacLean have on Saturday nights?
Moore: We realize Don has a lot to say and he’s getting a little bit more time than he did last year. We’re giving him more flexibility. As for Ron, it’s clear to me, when we launched Sunday night, that type of show, nobody could do it the way Ron does. I don’t think we’d have the ability to do that kind of show without Ron. You can’t do a doubleheader on Saturday night and do Sunday. That property is important to us (TORONTO STAR, 1/18).

CLEAR AS DAY: SPORTSNET.ca's Luke Fox noted this Saturday's Canadiens-Maple Leafs game on "Hockey Night in Canada" will be the NHL's "first 4K broadcast." Of the eight regular-season NHL contests aired in 4K this season, "each one will feature the Leafs and/or the Canadiens." The Senators "appear in four." Moore: "Where it will be really spectacular is when sports bars, like (Toronto's) Real Sports, put in 4K projector sets on their big, big screens. No matter where you’re sitting in the bar, you’ll see spectacular shots." Fox noted 4K "requires four times the bandwidth and delivers four times the pixels of an HD TV." Although Sportsnet and the NHL have "agreed to two 4K playoff broadcasts, Moore can’t guarantee the tech will be showcased during the Stanley Cup Final" (SPORTSNET.ca, 1/18).

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