The National Hockey League announced a national media partnership with OLN that will include a minimum of 58 regular-season games broadcast on Monday and Tuesday nights, Video on Demand, HDTV, and on-line streaming. The first game to be telecast will be the New York Rangers versus the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday, October 5.

The NHL may have chosen OLN because it is owned by Comcast. Comcast is a media company that also owns cable television systems throughout the United States, regional sports networks that have the rights to broadcast some NHL teams, and majority ownership of the Philadelphia Flyers. Comcast has been deeply involved in the National Hockey League for a number of years.

OLN needed the NHL because it had nothing comparable to the Tour de France in terms of audience potential for the primary rating periods of the year. The NHL has been a major sport in this country and can be again, not withstanding the labor dispute that resulted in the cancellation of the 2004-2005 season.

This finally ends a long relationship between the NHL and ESPN. There are many reasons for me to like and support ESPN, but their coverage of the hockey took a backseat to basketball once ESPN established a relationship with the NBA.

On OLN, the NHL will be the big draw during the cold weather months. Some people say that OLN's distribution will be a bit of an impediment, because it is not available on every cable system in the country. OLN is available in the key NHL markets. I think that the product on the ice will determine how well the national television audience develops beyond its core markets.