How to get Canadian content in 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs coverage

Unless you have access to a CBC signal in the United States, those south of the border will have little Canadian content in the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs.

There is very little reason for the NBC family of channels to carry a Canadian feed without Canadian teams being involved. Rogers is producing 2 series where NBC will use local feeds rather than simulcast a CBC feed.

The NBC family of channels will have lots of TSN love with Gord Miller, Chris Cuthbert, and Ray Ferraro working games in the 1st round. Ferraro and Cuthbert will be in Tampa tonight and Ferraro will be with Miller in Dallas on Thursday night. The best way to track their games is through their Twitter feeds.

• Gord Miller Twitter feed
• Chris Cuthbert Twitter feed
• Ray Ferraro Twitter feed

You can always peek into the NBC press release world to find all of the NBC announcing matchups.

Why Canadian teams struggle to contend for the Stanley Cup

NHL Network games in 2015-2016 season analysis

For those who get a CBC feed, your best scenario is the Rogers Sportsnet schedule and Sportsnet press releases, though we haven't seen too many Sportsnet press releases lately. You can find a nightly schedule either at the CBC Sports Web site or the CBC TV schedule page (put in your city to get the proper schedule for your local market).

Gary Bettman wants Canadians to watch, even though their teams aren't in the playoffs. Then again, Canadians don't usually listen to Bettman.

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Our friends in Windsor will have an over-the-air option for the Detroit Red Wings as that series will air on CBC. The other 2 primary CBC series will be Philadelphia-Washington and San Jose-Los Angeles.

We also know that the #1 crew (Jim Hughson/Craig Simpson/Glenn Healy) will do the Flyers-Capitals, Bob Cole and Garry Galley will call the Red Wings series. Paul Romanuk and Mike Johnson will set up shop in California, likely including Game 1 in Anaheim Friday night. Galley goes back to his old partner in the 1st round, though that looks to be temporary. 

Dave Randorf and Greg Millen will likely call Game 2 in Pittsburgh on Saturday and possibly games later in other series in the 1st round.

Using 3 primary crews shows that Rogers is cutting back on expenses. The Sportsnet channels can air U.S. simulcasts, but CBC games have to be original productions. We'll be curious as to whether Rogers will send a crew to a potential 1st round Game 7 if that game won't air on CBC.

Last year, Rogers covered 5 series. This year, that total is down to 3 series. Rogers is potentially looking at even further cutbacks next season. Only 10 more years. 

Here is the CBC schedule for Games 1-4 (all times Eastern).

Wednesday April 13
Detroit at Tampa Bay, 7p
Thursday April 14
Philadelphia at Washington, 7p
San Jose at Los Angeles, 10:30p
Friday April 15
Detroit at Tampa Bay, 7p
Nashville at Anaheim, 10:30p
Saturday April 16
New York Rangers at Pittsburgh, 3p
Philadelphia at Washington, 7p
San Jose at Los Angeles, 10:30p
Sunday April 17
Tampa Bay at Detroit, 7p
Monday April 18
Washington at Philadelphia, 7p
Los Angeles at San Jose, 10:30p
Tuesday April 19
Tampa Bay at Detroit, 7p
Wednesday April 20
Washington at Philadelphia, 7p
Los Angeles at San Jose, 10:30p

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We noted last week that NBC could recruit more Canadian announcers, such as Dean Brown and Mark Lee. Looks like you can add Rick Ball, John Shorthouse, John Garrett, and Drew Remenda to the list. Dave Randorf and Greg Millen could even fill in for a night or two in the first round.  An embarrassment of riches for NBC if the network is smart enough to take advantage. 

NBC could run CBC feeds for the Flyers-Capitals and Kings-Sharks but will use NBC-owned Comcast local feeds instead.

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Things I will miss in the Stanley Cup playoffs:

• Ginette Reno singing the anthem in Montréal
• Mark Donnelly singing the anthem in Vancouver
• Canadian TV feeds in the 1st round
• watching NBC freak out when Canadian teams would do well
• overtime hockey preferably not too deep into overtime
• the NBC family forced to show games in cities they otherwise wouldn't visit (e.g., Calgary, Winnipeg)
• giving a damn who wins

Things I won't miss in the Stanley Cup playoffs? "Heard on NBCSN: The best thing about having no Stanley Cup playoffs in Canada? No need to clear customs." Thanks to Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun for that quote.

Players have a reasonable expectation of not liking to go through customs during the playoffs, especially with a few trips to Canada in each series. As for the NBC people, how many of them have even gone to Canada in the last few years? We've seen NBC change the schedule (in 2010) to avoid carrying the Montréal Canadiens in the conference final. We didn't want NBC to come to Canada in the first round last year, and Chris Cuthbert, who is Canadian, made most of those trips. The NBC studio people don't go to Canada, though Mike Milbury used to go. Clearing customs is more difficult when your purpose isn't as obvious. The few NBC folks that come to Canada have an extremely good excuse to cross the border.

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The NHL Network ran the Rogers Sportsnet One feed for the Sunday rebroadcast of the Ottawa Senators game in Boston.

We did get CBC feeds on both ends of the Saturday doubleheader via the NHL Center Ice free preview. This is an odd time of the year for promos since the regular schedule is winding down. One of the promos went to Searchlight, an effort to find Canadian music talent.

We got peeks into 2 of the summer shows: the returning Still Standing with Jonny Harris and the new Baroness Von Sketch Show. Scott Oake got to read the final promo in the early game. One pattern we have seen occasionally is running a promo before a period starts, such as we saw before the 3rd period of the late game. Is that technically inside a period?

As for in-break promos, we saw notices for the Baroness Von Sketch Show and Still Standing as well as the Tuesday comedy block of the Halifax Comedy Fest (in the Schitt's Creek timeslot) and the season finale of Mr. D. CBC News Network even got some love during the breaks.

Early game: 2016 Summer Olympics; The National (1st); Still Standing; Searchlight (2nd); Hello Goodbye; Baroness Von Sketch Show (3rd).

Late game: 2016 Summer Olympics; The National (1st); Still Standing; Searchlight (2nd); Hello Goodbye; Baroness Von Sketch Show (3rd).

Comments

[Tyler]

Well, this was unexpected: Sportsnet carried MSG feed for Rangers-Penguins and SN360 used the FS-Midwest feed for Hawks-Blues last night. Both of those local crews are among the more even-keeled around the league but really surprising not see NBC-produced feeds carried by Rogers.

[Chad]

Guesses: 1) Rogers doesn't want to show TSN announcers on NBC, though that wasn't an issue Wednesday night; 2) local U.S. feeds are cheaper than using NBC feeds; 3) Rogers productions look good by comparison.

[Tyler]

I'm thinking it is #2 because they used NBC feeds plenty in the first round last year regardless of who the commentators were.

[Chad]

While 1) and 3) are positive factors for Rogers, 2) is the most plausible answer. The strong emphasis on saving money overrules any other practical element of Rogers' coverage.

[Tyler]

It will be interesting to see what happens in round 2. Last year Rogers produced all four series in their entirety. If they only go with three crews this year, they'll have no choice but to air NBC feeds. However, it's unlikely TSN talent will be used by NBC by that point.

[Chad]

I'm pretty sure Gord Miller and Ray Ferraro will get ready for the world championship after the 1st round. Chris Cuthbert did work the second round last year for NBC, and the network definitely needs him this year. In the U.S., there are no local feeds in the 2nd round, so every feed would be a NBC feed. Travel may come into consideration in the 2nd round for Rogers. If both NY teams or Florida teams or LA teams advance, they might keep a crew in those areas.

[daniel anderson]

what surprises me is why doesn't NBC use Roger's crews for their 3 series and use their people/Comcast crews for the rest? it would be a good balance IMHO

[daniel anderson]

Ive been watching Red Wings/Lightning and ive seen Bob Cole read at least one promo per period at least(as the case was tonight) but NBC does do more promos than CBC does maybe?

[Chad]

NBC isn't using Rogers crews on the other 2 series because the network is using Comcast channels that it owns for the feeds. As we've seen in past years when Vancouver plays San Jose in the first round, NBC won't deviate from the San Jose feed. The bigger surprise is using the Comcast Washington feed over Rogers. The Washington announcers are the worst in the NHL, even worse than Jack Edwards in Boston.

[Chad]

Figure that Rogers is doing quite a few promos for its contest during the games as well. In the end, Rogers and NBC own the rights lock stock barrel. The CBC on-air promos are the concession to the CBC to run the Rogers games on their airwaves. Don't think CBC is getting that much value for the promos, but crumbs are better than starving.

[Tyler]

Nothing can be worse than listening to the Florida announcers...

[daniel anderson]

as far as Chris Cuthbert...i remember the one night when he had to do a game by himself at the old Capital Center in Landover when the lights went out before a game at the Montreal Forum he was by himself with maybe two or three cameras(this was back in the day when CBC would send someone to cover a "update" game in case of issues at the main game) what i was impressed was that he did the game solo without a color man it was in 1988

[Chad]

A famous moment for Cuthbert: would love to watch some of that, maybe on YouTube.

Florida announcers aren't good, though I like Denis Potvin. Washington announcers are still much worse.

[Tyler]

Daniel: That's awesome that you remember that. I'm a little young to remember that, but I've heard Chris talk about it a few times in various interviews. Ah, the good old days. :)