Quote:
Originally Posted by Erick Estrada
I'm still stunned the league would turn their backs on TSN. TSN has done a lot of good for hockey over the years with their WJC coverage, women's hockey coverage, trade deadline days, draft days, etc. TSN was covering all this stuff before RSN jumped on board and to me this sends a bad precedent that the league is more worried about money than the quality in that their product is portrayed and turning their backs on partners. At the end of the day Canadians will tune in to even the shoddy Sportsnet West broadcasts but personally if it's my brand I want it's broadcasting held to a high standard.
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The way Bettman was dodging questions about this, you almost wonder if this became personal, and, if so, whose egos were involved. Did the TSN brass do something to rankle GB or the NHL BoG? Did the latter take issue with TSN's coverage of the lockout, for instance?
It seems to me that TSN's coverage of the NHL in general--though still by and large pandering--has always had more of a critical edge than Sportsnet. Certainly, in comparison, the latter's coverage of the Blue Jays is laughably soft. Did the league want to cozy up to the media corp that it thinks will be more receptive to the company message regarding how the NHL should be branded?
Probably not, but with the egos involved there is little that would surprise me.