Steve Lepore at Puck The Media has some suggestions on how to improve NBC’s NHL coverage.

[TMC]

http://puckthemedia.wordpress.com/2012/02/02/hey-heres-five-unsolicited-suggestions-for-nbcs-hockey-coverage/

The second half of the week is always a little light on Puck the
Media. That’s because, well, this is a niche blog (as about 38
different people from the world of hockey, television, and my family
have ingrained into me) and some weeks, there just isn’t a lot of
material. I’m always looking for something new and something that
involves the readers, so why not try this? Five weekly suggestions for
hockey coverage on television. Anything. Nothing’s off limits.

This week, and probably most weeks, it’ll be about the NBC and NBC
Sports Network coverage (and while you’re at it, the network in
general), but suggestions for CBC and TSN are welcome. If you come up
with something, leave it in the comments, send it to me on Twitter
@stevelepore, or e-mail at stevem...@gmail.com. And one more rule,
this isn’t the place for you to tell everyone that you hate Pierre
McGuire or Don Cherry or just flat-out hate everyone (or “Bring Back
Community!“) or how great it would be if they cancelled Darren Rovell.
In that case, well, you’re anti-social and may want to consider
consulting a therapist. The point is, this is meant to be
constructive, and in no way direct, angry, cynical criticism. Though,
to be cynical, it isn’t as if anyone from NBC will listen. Here goes.

1. Trade Deadline Special. NBC has done a fantastic job this week at
the Super Bowl. Russ Thaler, Mike Florio and crew should be very proud
of the hours of watchable programming they’ve brought to NBC Sports
Network’s mid-day, which has proven really middling until Sports Talk
gets going at 6 ET. Why not bring the ‘Special Event Live’ format to
the NHL trade deadline on February 27? I mean, Pierre McGuire was
always a vital part of TSN’s extravaganza and you’ve got him
exclusively, what else do you need? Test the waters this year with a
two-hour show from 2-4 p.m. ET, you can even re-air it from 4-6 p.m.
The network is broadcasting a Devils-Rangers game that night. I know
there’s often a sense of looking at TSN and wondering why you’d
compete with the best, but you’ve already taken a very key cog in that
show’s success (though Dreger and McKenzie are probably unbeatable) so
why not take a shot?

2. Thursday and Saturday night Overtime. Why is this not already
happening down the stretch? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but NBC
has started ditching much of it’s morning programming (from around 7
a.m.-11 a.m. ET) for reruns of Sports Talk, Overtime and NHL 36, among
other things. Filling up that morning block is one of the many reasons
to have an episode of Overtime every night of the week down the
stretch. What’s the point of having the show on Friday and Sunday,
while skipping out on Thursday and Saturday? Thursday and Saturday are
easily the two most productive nights of the NHL schedule.

3. Why not try doing a game in Spanish? No, we’re not asking Doc
Emrick to learn his famous call of “Drive!” in Spanish. Did you know
that, in their inaugural season, the Florida Panthers broadcast games
on the radio in Spanish? Now, they’ve never done it again, but it
could be worth the experiment, similar to Hockey Night in Canada
airing games in Punjabi. The NHL has pushed their “Hockey is For
Everyone” campaign for many years now, but it has seemed largely
directed toward African Americans/Canadians and women. Why not try an
olive branch for the many Spanish-speaking citizens of this country.
Why not air one of the NHL’s NBC Game of the Week telecasts on
corporate partner Telemundo, which has tried this with NFL games? I
know the audience for it must be next to nothing, but it couldn’t
seriously hurt to try, could it? Even just an SAP button (those still
exist, right?).

4. Jeremy Roenick on game coverage. JR’s been working hard every night
on NHL Overtime, and it shows, but sometimes it still seems as if he’s
just got too much energy for the room. Also, he makes up at least one
new word per episode. I liked some of his work over the All-Star
Weekend, so why not give him a shot at working a game in the booth?

5. Please, no more 7:30 p.m. ET starts for CST and PST teams. This
just seems like common sense. The network has aired multiple St. Louis
home games at 6:30 p.m. local time, multiple Minnesota Wild games at
6:30 p.m. local time (oftentimes with the San Jose Sharks and Los
Angeles Kings, whose fans are tuning in at 4:30 p.m.). Not only does
this likely hurt attendance early on in the game, wouldn’t it stand to
reason that it hurts ratings? Can’t we at least scoot these games over
to 8 p.m. ET to give the central time zoners a bone here?