Gary Bettman’s Q&A at EconSports
Unfortunately, I didn’t make the EconSports conference today. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was a spotlight speaker. paidContent.org’s Staci Kramer interviewed him on a variety of subjects.
There didn’t seem to be anything new to those who follow the sport, and the business side of it closely, but I did find this interesting about NHL.com’s new Gamecenter product:
Bettman didn’t give many specifics, but said the league has sold tens of thousands of subscriptions for its new Game Center Live streaming package—and that’s in line with the NHL’s forecasts. He also said that existing deals with TV and satellite providers prevent the league from making the same content available online through a single subscription. He admitted that the league’s own product does generate more revenue per subscription.
It appears to offer the same games as Center Ice, plus possibly more (NHL Network?) and of course anything that’s online-only, like the stats trackers. You can also purchase it for the entire season for roughly the same price as Center Ice. I’m the end, I’m not sure what’s not available online. Hopefully someone can clarify.
For the record: I have a Center Ice subscription, and watch almost everything via TV, whether it be live or DVR’d. Curiousity is about the only reason I’d get GameCenter. As it has the same price point as TV, I might for a month to review it, but wouldn’t just hop in for the off-chance I’d like to use it at some other time deeper in the season. It’d be interesting to see some other leagues team up with the NHL (like the AHL) and offer a true get-all online package. The market for that wouldn’t be super-large, but would probably be very passionate and interactive.
The trackback URL for this entry is:
Trackbacks:
Comments:
Next entry: Jumping the Gun
Previous entry: Mastercard's Timeline