I love sports that provide additional coverage on the Web. It's the best way to reach your fan base and it's just plain dumb to not take advantage of it. You don't have to pay for airtime or fight to get your content scheduled in at the right time. The Web is always there. It never sleeps. It never breathes. It never stops.
The NHL has been a little sketchy with their online coverage in the past. Sure, they've had the fans.nhl.com blog community for a while and finally rolled out Center Ice Online a couple years back. I'll give them some points on those two. I won't give them points on the YouTube highlights deal though. Game highlights that are more than a day old are irrelevant except for archival purposes.
When the NHL launched the NHL.tv portal last year, I was happy but not blown away. The coverage, at least for the Avalanche, was spotty at best. The pre-game videos would be uploaded a day after the game ended or there would be no post-game reactions. Sometimes they didn't even have game highlights. I wanted it to be a go-to place but, for myself, it failed in that regard.
Hockey is a sport that can only be truly appreciated by watching it. Unlike baseball, you can't just look at a scoresheet and know how the game went down. So unless you provide quick access to game highlights, you're really missing the boat on covering the needs of your fans. And if you aren't bookending that with pre- and post-game coverage, you're leaving your fans to drown.
When the NHL launched the NHL.tv portal last year, I was happy but not blown away. The coverage, at least for the Avalanche, was spotty at best. The pre-game videos would be uploaded a day after the game ended or there would be no post-game reactions. Sometimes they didn't even have game highlights. I wanted it to be a go-to place but, for myself, it failed in that regard.
I've got my hopes up again this year though as they've revamped their look once more. But looks are one thing and substance is a whole different hockey rink. Can they put up enough fresh content to keep fans coming back for more?
To kick things off, there is a "Best of Avalanche TV" clip up to go along with a slew of new The Hockey Show clips.
Will this be the start of something truly wonderful? We've already got a slew of reading material online but who doesn't like staring at talking heads for entertainment? And when it's on my schedule, not someone else's, it's all the better. That's why I got a PVR. The networks don't own my time anymore. My PVR does.
Oh, and don't try to watch the video using Chrome. The video appears to load but it never starts playing. I'll blame Google for that one since they get free rides on a lot of other spotty decisions.*
*Please don't shut my blog down.
*Please don't shut my blog down.
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