April 7, 2008

Stanley Cup 2008 Goes Web TV At NHL.com

NHL.com will be launching a major web TV initiative just in time for the 2008 Stanley Cup playoffs. A new online video player, 3 years worth of archived clips and footage and 7 channels featuring hours of programming per day are just the beginning of the NHL's strategy to move online.

The new video player, produced with NeuLion, will be a major improvement on last year's NHL Integrated Video Portal and home to 7 new channels to be organized around themes. The Hockey Show will feature new episodes every weekday from preseason to Stanley Cup and will have a VOD option, while The Playoff Channel will feature documentary-type vids called Journey to the Cup. The third channel that's been revealed so far, LiveWire, will focus on live events such as press conferences and also feature original programming. All the stations will have a sponsor who will use the stations as a targeted approach to launching products during the playoffs.

The new web TV move is only the beginning though. This summer, each NHL team will get its own channel to produce video for fans, and in the fall two new channels will launch as will NHL.com's entire website. The first channel coming this fall will be devoted to user-generated content, giving a fans an online voice. The second channel, called MyNHL, takes your registration information to target you with channels you'll probably like, and will allow you to take video from the website and embed it within your own.

The NHL has made a big move into the world of broadband as of late, signing deals with online video sites Hulu and Joost, and forming strategic relationships with YouTube and Sling Media.

Via paidcontent