Rogers taking the cheap way out in Stanley Cup playoffs coverage

Rogers got a beautiful gift last spring by having 5 Canadian teams in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Admittedly, the teams were crammed into 3 series. Rogers only produced 5 series, a all-time low in the modern era.

That was manna compared to this spring's coverage. The only games Rogers produced in the first round were on the CBC, and that was only because Rogers had to do so. Every Rogers Sportsnet telecast that aired were from local U.S. feeds, unless a NBC-produced feed was the only U.S. feed available. Rogers was forced to carry the NBC feed for Game 3 STL-CHI; Game 5 NYR-PIT; and Game 6 DAL-MIN. The best theory is that using local feeds was cheaper than running NBC-produced feeds.

NBC doesn't allow local feeds in the second round.

As for U.S. viewers, the Detroit-based games in the Red Wings series were simulcast on U.S. television. U.S. viewers got to see Bob Cole and Garry Galley via the CBC. NBC could have carried more CBC simulcasts but chose to stick with NBC-owned-Comcast feeds. In games where NBC chose the Washington feed, U.S. viewers literally had the worst crew in hockey instead of the best (Jim Hughson/Craig Simpson/Glenn Healy).

Others would argue that TSN has the best crews, and U.S. audiences got to see a lot of Gord Miller, Ray Ferraro, and Chris Cuthbert. Miller and Ferraro called the first 5 games of the Dallas-Minnesota series. Cuthbert worked a lot in the first round with Ferraro for a couple of games, including the Florida-NY Islanders double OT finale. Miller matched up with former TSN colour analyst Pierre McGuire for Game 6 in St. Paul.

Cuthbert will work for NBC in the second round while Miller and Ferraro will cover the World Championships for TSN.

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As childish as it was for Rogers to take the cheap route, the ratings showed that Canadians weren't going to tune in anyway. The first 5 nights of the Stanley Cup playoffs had a 61% drop in the ratings. Last year, the numbers would have been extraordinary so a sharp drop was expected.

The 5-night average was 513,000 versus 1.306 million. The viewers aren't tuning out that much because Rogers is using local feeds.

Ken Campbell of The Hockey News, who reported those numbers, pointed out that each game costs Rogers about $100,000 to produce. We would be really curious as how much Rogers saved by using U.S. local feeds.

Chris Zelkovich gave us a contrast that compared American to American. Last year, a PIT-NYR game on the opening weekend averaged 1.6 million viewers; the best number from this year's opening weekend was PHI-WAS with 967,000.

Rogers definitely gets a boost from showing games on the CBC and pocketing the money: 6 of the 7 top rated games from the first weekend aired on CBC.

Rogers isn't losing money as much as not making enough money, especially after promising better ratings that the NHL delivered for the company. Rogers might want to improve its hockey coverage if for no other reason than greed.

Gord Cutler and the others at Rogers who have lost their jobs did not deserve such a fate. To the folks at Rogers, I recommend you hire me as a consultant. Bring me to Toronto, put me up in a 3-star hotel or better, and I can help improve your coverage and ratings.

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CBC carried all of the games in the 3 series assigned to the network: PHI-WAS, DET-TB, and SJ-LA. These were the other games on the network in the first round:

Game 1 NAS-ANA (Paul Romanuk/Mike Johnson)
Game 2 NYR-PIT (Dave Randorf/Greg Millen)
Game 6 STL-CHI (Dave Randorf/Greg Millen)
Game 6 FLA-NYI (Dave Randorf/Garry Galley)
Game 7 STL-CHI (Dave Randorf/Greg Millen)

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Second-round predictions? No more CBC simulcasts of U.S. games, but that is an easy prediction. Rogers has 4 crews who could cover 4 series, and has to rely on NBC for any U.S. feed. Figure that the #1 crew will cover Pittsburgh-Washington on the CBC.

Rogers will give CBC a combination of the other Eastern series and the "Norris" final to occupy prime time in the Eastern time zone on nights when Pittsburgh-Washington are not playing. CBC will carry Game 1 of the second round in Tampa. San Jose and Anaheim/Nashville will likely be Rogers sim subs. 

Feel free to add your own predictions in the comments section.

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Springtime elections often run into problems with the Stanley Cup playoffs in Canada. Rogers simulcasted the CBC feed of Game 4 of the Detroit series on OLN Canada so that those in Manitoba could watch the game. CBC in Manitoba showed election coverage instead of the game. Rogers owns OLN Canada.

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We got CBC simulcasts for Games 3 and 4 of the Detroit series. CNBC carried the CBC feed for Game 3; NBCSN for Game 4. The U.S. audience got a treat with Bob Cole and Garry Galley on the call. Searchlight is the CBC music search for new Canadian artists.

"Still Standing" had a pair of promos in Game 3. "The National" did get a promo in Game 4.

Game 3: Still Standing (1st); Baroness von Sketch Show; 2016 Summer Olympics; Hello Goodbye (2nd); Searchlight; Still Standing (3rd).

Game 4: Searchlight; 2016 Summer Olympics (1st); Hello Goodbye (2nd); Baroness von Sketch Show; The National; Still Standing (3rd).

Comments

[Tyler]

The league has done both Rogers and NBC a favour by trying to schedule games in the Pens-Caps series with no other game up against. That should help ratings.

It appears Rogers will mostly simulcast the Preds-Sharks series, aside from game 2 on Sunday night. I'd expect the Romanuk/Johnson crew to work that one. They may see duty on that series again if the Blues-Stars series is over early. Randorf/Galley basically sticking with the Isles-Bolts series.

[Chad]

I see Bob Cole is getting a rest. So unless he's calling Game 2 in San Jose, Cole will be enjoying the Newfoundland spring, such as it is. As for Pens-Caps, both NBC and Rogers is grateful for a series casual fans would actually watch. I do wish Fleury was in there for Pittsburgh.

[Tyler]

For whatever reason, Cole was assigned game 1 of Isles-Bolts but Randorf has the rest of the series. However, Randorf worked a game with Galley in the first round when I expected to see Cole so maybe there was some sort of trade involved. It would appear Cole's season is now over.

[daniel anderson]

what I don't like about Emrick(and I'm not being mean: I think he's one of the best) is that he screams it whenever someone scores. not even Hughson, Cole, Randorf or Romanuk does that...