Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Watching Hockey In Canada

07/03/2015 at 12:30pm EDT

from Etan Vlessing of The Hollywood Reporter,

In hockey-mad Canada, TV audiences for NHL games are tumbling, thanks in part to cord-cutting and digital media.

It turns out the country's national game is hardly immune to a generational shift in overall TV viewing habits. "In our research, we noticed that for the NHL, as well as for other pro leagues, there is a migration to online and mobile at the expense of TV. I mean why not, we see that for many kinds of content," Kaan Yigit, president of Toronto-based Solutions Research Group, told the Hollywood Reporter.

For cable giant Rogers Communications, which last year threw CAN$5.2 billion (US$4.1 billion) at the NHL for the exclusive national TV and Internet rights to NHL game broadcasts in Canada over the next 12 years, the recent Stanley Cup playoffs began well, thanks to five Canadian NHL teams in action during early rounds.

But ratings slid in the final two rounds as Canadian teams fell by the wayside, according to Numeris audience data. An average audience of 2.39 million for the final round fell 12 percent from the average audience of 2.72 million viewers for the 2014 championship final round.

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About Kukla's Korner Hockey

Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

From breaking news to in-depth stories around the league, KK Hockey is updated with fresh stories all day long and will bring you the latest news as quickly as possible.

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