Jane McManus of the Journal News takes a look at the NHL's new cable television partner:
The Comcast-owned cable network was cleared for takeoff on Cablevision just a few weeks ago, and the growing pains are evident in the Stamford, Conn., studios.With a new set due after the Olympics hiatus, plywood boards and a vase of dying flowers hint of changes to come. There were six weeks to prepare after the NHL announced it was shunning traditional sports outlets for the former Outdoor Life Network. Let the rebranding begin.
(snip)
There are still some obvious kinks. OLN went with the Tampa Bay-Flyers game Tuesday rather than the matchup between the game's future stars, Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, but cut back and forth during the broadcast. It was a nice dilemma to have.
Here's a news flash: I don't find myself watching the OLN broadcasts very often at all. Why is that?
First of all, they've decided to camp out on Monday nights, not such a good idea as I anticipate that like myself, most hockey fans have some overlap with following the NFL.
Next, the quality of the broadcast (though it has improved) is inferior to the productions I see coming out of Canada from TSN, CBC and Rogers SportsNet. And with NHL Center Ice, I find myself shuffling past OLN and into the high 700s on my cable system to check those games out.
I don't want to bang on these guys too hard, because they had to go from a standing start to full speed in a matter of weeks. Then again, there's still a lot of room for improvement (though I have to say the play-by-play teams have been great).
