from Chris Zelkovich of Yahoo,
Ratings were down across the board, but Rogers is claiming success on its $5.2 billion gamble on the National Hockey League.
"We made money in the first year, which I think is slightly miraculous," said Scott Moore, Rogers' head of Sportsnet and NHL properties. ``It was a big nut to cover as far as rights fees go. We did it with only nine months to turn everything around and start new advertising relationships."
It's not clear on how Rogers accomplished that considering that the Stanley Cup playoffs are what usually produce profits for NHL broadcasters, with the regular season acting as a loss leader.
But Moore said advertisers were happy despite ratings 12 per cent lower than last season's final series. He admitted that some advertisers received make-goods -- rebates for failing to reach audience targets -- but ``we built that into the pricing so that doesn't affect our revenue. Our advertisers were happy.
"Overall the Stanley Cup playoffs were by far the Number 1rated show every single night they were on for two straight months."
Create an Account
In order to leave a comment, please create an account.