The NHL is approaching a deal with yet another premium TV network for an all-access show. According to Puck Daddy, the NHL and Showtime are finishing up negotiations for an all-access show covering the four teams in the conference finals and Stanley Cup Final.
The league has aired a Winter Classic all-access show on EPIX over the last two seasons. Prior to the deal with EPIX, the Winter Classic show aired on HBO for four seasons. This new deal with Showtime apparently won’t replace the EPIX deal, but will reportedly exist in addition to it.
Showtime has been getting more and more into the reality sports genre over the last year-plus, a genre typically dominated by HBO. In the fall, the network aired a Notre Dame football all-access series and last spring, Showtime created their own Mayweather-Pacquiao series to go head to head with HBO’s series.
The ideal landing spot for a league looking to air an all-access show on a premium network is HBO, but Showtime is probably the next best option – it has experience with sports and also has high distribution for a premium network. We’ll see if it ends up paying off for the NHL and Showtime in a couple months.
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