Toronto, Ontario, Canada – [highlight]NHL[/highlight] Commissioner Gary Bettman (L) and Rogers Communications President and CEO Nadir Mohamed (R) attend a news conference in Toronto November 26, 2013. Rogers Communications and the NHL today announced a 12-year broadcast and multimedia agreement that includes all national rights to NHL games in all platforms in all languages.
Media conglomerate Rogers Communications has launched a shot across the bow of the broadcasting landscape in a $5.2-billion deal for the right to broadcast NHL games across Canada for the next 12 years.
The deal, announced Tuesday, goes from 2014 to mid-2026, and is groundbreaking in its scope. It’s the first time a major North American sport has sold exclusive national broadcast rights to a single entity, Rogers Media president Keith Pelley noted at a press conference Tuesday morning.
Rogers will make an up-front payment of $150 million, and then annual payments starting at $300 million, which will escalate to $500 million in the final year of the deal. According to CRTC data, TSN and RDS only took in a combined total of $541 million in revenue last year. (REUTERS) by Harris Aaron Harris
