SAUNDERS: Penguins win makes cents for NBC

By Dusty Saunders, Special to the Rocky

Published May 25, 2008 at 10:07 p.m.

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Photo by Bruce Bennett / Getty Images

Pittsburgh's Jordan Staal celebrates during the Eastern Conference finals. NBC executives are hoping the Penguins can make it a lengthy Stanley Cup Finals against the Detroit Red Wings.

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A survey isn't necessary to determine that NBC Sports executives will be rooting hard tonight for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

In fact, NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol and his crew may have traded their familiar blue blazers for black-and-gold jerseys or perhaps old-fashioned tuxedos (penguin outfits) as they watch the second Stanley Cup battle on Versus cable.

Such cheering surpasses a Sidney Crosby fan club, team loyalty or sports sense.

It's a matter of dollars and cents.

A Pittsburgh win over Detroit would tie the series, thus insuring NBC of at least three televised contests.

Versus, which aired Saturday's contest, also covers tonight's second game.

Game 1 turned out to be the highest-rated and most-watched cable telecast of the championship round in six years, with a 1.8 national rating - drawing more than 2.3 million viewers. The rating is a 157 percent increase over last year's opener and a 100 percent rise from two years ago.

NBC, beginning its playoff run in Game 3 Wednesday night, obviously wants a seven-game series, which would allow the network to rake in more advertising dollars to offset production costs and other expenses.

NBC does not pay a rights fee to the NHL. The two organizations have a partnership agreement, sharing any profits - and losses - of the telecasts on an annual basis.

NBC, noting that overall NHL ratings have risen slightly this season, recently signed a similar deal for the 2008-09 season, which, again, includes selected games beginning in January plus Stanley Cup action.

The network is trying hard to move the NHL from its national niche category to the major status held by the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball.

Meanwhile, the rumor mill is churning out reports that Versus is considering utilizing a "glowing" puck next season as a way of enticing part-time viewers who complain the ice action is difficult to follow.

Remember when Fox Sports, in the mid-90s, used Foxtrax, a lighted puck that displayed a tail?

The gimmick failed to attract new viewers. And die-hard hockey fans complained the device cheapened the game.

WHERE THE ACTION IS: It was the Detroit Pistons vs. the Detroit Red Wings on TV Saturday night in competition from the Motor City.

ABC covered the third Pistons-Celtics clash in the NBA Eastern Conference finals while Versus aired the Red Wings-Penguins battle.

And the same Detroit domination will exist tonight when ESPN takes over the Pistons-Celtics rivalry opposite the Stanley Cup battle on Versus.

Food for thought: How long will it be before the Nuggets and the Avalanche compete for local and national viewers in a similar TV conflict deep into playoff competition?

BROADCASTING NAMES: Charissa Thompson, who gained some local fame on FSN Rocky Mountain as an on-the-street reporter, is now a co-host of Fox Sports' Best Damn Sports Show Period, working with John Salley and Chris Rose.

She'll also be a sideline reporter on Fox Sports' NFL coverage this fall.

* The flamboyant Don Cherry, coach of the Colorado Rockies NHL franchise (1979-80), is an ESPN analyst during the Stanley Cup Finals. And based on his TV wardrobe, Cherry, now an analyst in Canada, is as flamboyant as ever.

* Hannah Storm, former CNN and NBC sports personality and co-host of the CBS' Early Show, is joining ESPN as co-host of a new SportsCenter report beginning in August.

>FANFARE: My radio signal got mixed up last week.

KKFN-AM (The Fan) leaves the 950 AM frequency this Friday, meaning sports coverage will then be heard only on 104.3 FM.

Meanwhile, the 950 AM spot will be vacant. How long?

That's still to be determined, although ESPN Radio, now on KPEN-AM (1600), is the obvious tenant.

But station executives want to firmly establish The Fan's new frequency.

A quick move of ESPN to 950 AM might initially dilute the audience strength of The Fan on its new frequency.

REMINDER: The annual Bolder Boulder, no longer a live TV event, will be covered in a two-hour tape show at 8:30 tonight on FSN Rocky Mountain.

Coverage includes the men's and women's 10K races in their entirety.

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