E-Media Tidbits

neulion.com NHL and NeuLion are teaming up to live-webcast hockey games in the 2008 season.

Pity the poor National Hockey League, which lacks the kind of national television exposure that truly top-tier sports enjoy. However, if necessity is the mother of invention, then the NHL hasn't lacked for innovative approaches in providing multiple-platform opportunities for fans, like me, to view games.

I'm an unabashed Detroit Red Wings fan, and my cable network provides me with ample access to Red Wings and most league games through its cable Center Ice package. For about $160 a year, I don't have to miss any game I want -- even if most of the rest of the country apparently couldn't care less.

Now the NHL has teamed up with NeuLion Inc. to show games live on the web starting with the upcoming 2007-2008 season. The deal is consistent with the NHL's strategy of using the Internet to compensate for declining U.S. television audiences, especially since the devastating lockout a few years ago.

"We need to be nimble in this space," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said to the Wall Street Journal's Peter Grant.

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"Center Ice" packages will be sold on NHL.com and on each of the 30 team sites for an annual price of $169 or daily passes at $15 (which seems high to me). The subscription will include HD video, highlights, pre- and post-game shows, player information and -- naturally -- social networking.

Not answered: If you get the package on cable, do you also get it online? NeuLion provides Internet TV technology to the New York Islanders and New York Rangers, serving daily content that fans can play, pause, fast-forward and rewind on screen.

The NHL has been experimenting in new methods of reaching fans, particularly on the Internet. The NHL was the first major professional sports league to show game highlights using YouTube and also provides hockey programming through MySpace, Amazon, and Joost.