Nashville Predators announce 4-year extension with Fox Sports Tennessee

by Dirk Hoag on Jul 7, 2010 3:27 PM EDT

The National Hockey League's Nashville Predators, the team's television broadcast partner FOX Sports Tennessee and its sister station SportSouth announced today a new four-year broadcast deal that will see the networks televise 60 Nashville Predators regular-season games this season (2010-11), 65 regular-season games during years two (2011-12) and three (2012-13) and 70 games in the fourth year (2013-14) of the deal. The goal in year one of the agreement is to broadcast a minimum of 45 games in high definition, with increases each year thereafter.

"We had two primary goals as we entered negotiations for this new broadcast deal," Nashville Predators Executive Vice President Chris Parker said. "We wanted to increase the number of games and we also wanted to increase the rights fee paid to the Predators for those games. We are excited to say that we accomplished both goals. For the first time in franchise history we will broadcast more than 55 games in a regular season, starting with 60 this year and up to 70 in the final year of the deal. Additionally, we increased our overall rights fee substantially. FOX has been a tremendous partner since Day One and they continue to see increased value in the Predators, their fans and the NHL as a broadcast product."

Sixty Predators games will be broadcast between FOX Sports Tennessee and SportSouth this season, reaching cable and satellite households across Tennessee, Kentucky and northern portions of Alabama and Mississippi. Additionally, the Predators deal was an integral component in helping FOX Sports Tennessee get SportSouth added to the channel lineup on Comcast Cable in Nashville.

The FOX Sports Tennessee broadcast duo of play-by-play announcer Pete Weber and color analyst Terry Crisp enter their thirteenth season calling Predators action. In addition to game telecasts, Weber and Crisp will continue to co-host Predators LIVE, an expended postgame-coverage program on FOX Sports Tennessee featuring highlights, analysis and postgame interviews. Predators players and personnel will also be featured in FOX Sports Tennessee original programs Predators Snapshot and Under the Lights.

FOX Sports Tennessee has been a Predators broadcast partner since the inaugural season. Look for the full 2010-2011 Nashville Predators broadcast schedule to be released in the coming months.

FS-TN's been a good partner for the Predators, the biggest complaint I'd have is that for casual fans, finding the games can be a challenge as the satellite providers like DirecTV and Dish Network bounce them around to various channels occasionally.

The big thing to keep an eye on this fall is to what extent HD broadcasts increase. The overall commitment to increase the number of games covered overall (from 55 last year, and 30 of those were HD) is excellent, however. Slowly but surely, we're inching closer to 100% HD coverage of the Preds!

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How good is it?

As one of the three remaining households in the world with a CRT tv, how much better is hockey in HD?

by howdy2u on Jul 7, 2010 6:12 PM EDT reply actions

awesome

I usually come home from school, well whenever I can, for HD games.

by flyalder on Jul 7, 2010 7:08 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

The NHL comes alive on HD

Hockey is above all a sport best appreciated in the arena, but HD brings it as alive as possible at home. It is isn’t a sport built for television the way, say, football is but HD eliminates the confusion regular low-res TV creates. Non-hockey types who have found themselves in front of a Predators game in HD at our house invariably make three comments: 1) for the first time they have been able to follow the puck in play, 2) they’d never appreciated how fast and unceasing the action is, and 3) what a blessing it is not to have to wait through four commercials stacked up before every other play. Add first rate announcers like Pete Weber, Terry Crisp and Tom Callahan and you have an entire winter’s worth of entertainment that, with any luck, will stretch toward the summer solstice.

by Hockey Hillbilly on Jul 7, 2010 7:10 PM EDT up reply actions

Widescreen

I think that it also benefits just as much from the widescreen as from the higher resolution. One of my favorite ‘features’ of going to live games is being able to see plays developing away from the puck. The widescreen allows you to see so much more of the ice away from the puck.

by BradHerman on Jul 8, 2010 10:20 AM EDT up reply actions

i just hope they get to the point where they’re televising every road game. As a FST I really get annoyed when I can’t watch the games on tv. I’m at all the home games so the home telecasts do me no good.

The worst of it was a couple of years ago when the Preds went on an important, late season swing through Canada. They were on the verge of a playoff spot but none of the games were televised. Road games should be the priority. Any home games can be decided on after that.

by Predaceous on Jul 8, 2010 9:57 AM EDT reply actions

Now I'm looking at DirecTV packages...

damn you! But like Predaceous said, the focus should be on away games. I go to the games I can, and prefer that to anything. But, I just cancelled Comcast because all I’d watch is a few Preds games and some football.

by DonBorvio on Jul 8, 2010 1:43 PM EDT reply actions

If you get Center Ice on DirecTV, you’ll catch all but one or two games a year. The ones that the Preds don’t broadcast are carried by the other team, and you can pick up their feed.

More fun than a stick to the face!
On the Forecheck is SB Nation's blog covering the Nashville Predators.

by Dirk Hoag on Jul 8, 2010 1:55 PM EDT up reply actions