from Bill Shea of The Athletic,

Talks are ongoing to extend the NHL’s 10-year, $2 billion broadcast rights deal with NBC that ends after the 2021 season. The league’s 12-year, $4.9 billion Canadian TV rights contract with Rogers Communications ends in 2026....

So how much more money will the NHL get from NBC? Now, it averages $200 million a year while the NBA – which also has 82-game regular seasons for teams but higher overall ratings – gets a combined $2.7 billion annually from ESPN, ABC and Turner Sports.

“I think the NHL will get a nice, solid bump in its rights fees,” Lewis (Jon Lewis, founder of Media Watch) said, without going into specific numbers.

He noted that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has signaled that the next U.S. TV deal could be broken up across multiple networks, not unlike the NFL, NBA and MLB, and that games are likely to be spread across cable and streaming.

“For reasons that have been in place long before COVID, you might see a shift in how these games are presented,” Lewis said. “We could see a shift away from traditional cable.”

ESPN, Fox Sports, and Turner Sports are reportedly interested in getting a share of the NHL’s TV and streaming business.

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