NHL on FOX

"The NHL on FOX" was a former TV show that televised National Hockey League games on the Fox Broadcasting Company and produced by Fox Sports. The program ran from the 1994–1995 NHL season until the 1998–1999 NHL season. FOX paid $31 million a year to televise the NHL.

Coverage overview

Regular season

FOX televised between five and eleven regionally distributed games on Saturday or Sunday afternoons during the regular season, where anywhere from three to six games ran concurrently.

FoxTrax

FoxTrax (colloquially called the glow puck, smart puck, or super puck) was a specialized ice hockey puck with internal electronics that allow its position to be tracked that was designed for NHL telecasts on FOX. Primarily, it was used to visually highlight the puck on-screen and display a trail when the puck was moving rapidly.

Early round playoff coverage

In the first three rounds of the playoffs, two games were televised each round.

Main broadcast teams, studio hosts and analysts

The main broadcast team was Mike Emrick and John Davidson, while regionally distributed games were handled by a variety of announcers. In the first four years of the deal, James Brown and Dave Maloney hosted the show from the FOX studio in Los Angeles. In the final year, it was Suzy Kolber and Terry Crisp.

All-Star Game, Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Finals

For the All-Star Game, Conference Finals, and Stanley Cup Finals, the games (which were national telecasts) were hosted from the arena. The 1996 and 1997 All-Star Games were televised in prime time.

tanley Cup Finals

FOX split coverage of the Stanley Cup Finals with ESPN. Game 1 of the 1995 Stanley Cup Finals was the first Finals game shown on network television since 1980 and the first in prime time since 1973. Games 1, 5, and 7 were usually scheduled to be televised by FOX; Games 2, 3, 4, and 6 by ESPN. However from 1995 to 1998, the Finals were all four game sweeps; 1999 ended in six games. The consequence was that - except for 1995, when FOX did televise Game 4 - the decisive game was never on network television. Perhaps in recognition of this, Games 3–7 were always televised by ABC in the succeeding broadcast agreement between the NHL and ABC Sports/ESPN. Also, the NHL's current broadcast agreement calls for Games 1 and 2 to be televised by Versus (formerly OLN) and Games 3–7 by NBC.

tanley Cup Finals broadcast schedules

*1995 - Games 1, 4, 7 on FOX; Games 2, 3, 5, 6 on ESPN
*1996 - Games 1, 3, 6, 7 on FOX; Games 2, 4, 5 on ESPN
*1997 - Games 1, 5, 6, 7 on FOX; Games 2, 3, 4 on ESPN
*1998 - Games 1, 5, 7 on FOX; Games 2, 3, 4, 6 on ESPN
*1999 - Games 1, 2, 5, 7 on FOX; Games 3, 4, 6 on ESPN

The end of "NHL on FOX"

Things ended badly between FOX and the league when the NHL announced a new TV deal with ESPN that also called for ABC to become the new network TV partner. FOX challenged that it had not been given a chance to match the network component of the deal, but ABC ultimately prevailed. As a result, it is widely rumored that FOX will not bid for NHL rights again under either side's current management (perhaps barring a large NHL ratings increase).

Personalities

* Kenny Albert: Play-by-Play
* James Brown: Studio Host (1994–1998)
* Terry Crisp: Color Commentary, Studio Analyst (1998–1999)
* John Davidson: Color Commentary
* Mike Emrick: Play-by-Play
* Mike Eruzione: Color Commentary
* Pat Foley: Play-by-Play
* Gary Green: Color Commentary
* Randy Hahn: Play-by-Play
* Rick Jeanneret: Play-by-Play
* John Kelly: Play-by-Play
* Suzy Kolber: Studio Host (1998–1999)
* Mike Lange: Play-by-Play
* Josh Lewin: Play-by-Play
* Dave Maloney: Studio Analyst (1994–1998)
* Jiggs McDonald: Play-by-Play
* Peter McNab: Color Commentary
* Joe Micheletti: Color Commentary/Ice Reporter
* Greg Millen: Color Commentary
* Bob Miller: Play-by-Play
* Denis Potvin: Color Commentary
* Daryl Reaugh: Color Commentary
* Mickey Redmond: Color Commentary
* Howie Rose: Play-by-Play
* Sam Rosen: Play-by-Play
* Craig Simpson: Color Commentary
* Paul Steigerwald: Color Commentary
* Pete Stemkowski: Color Commentary
* Dick Stockton: Play-by-Play
* Dave Strader: Play-by-Play
* Dale Tallon: Color Commentary

=Ratings=

tanley Cup Finals

External links

* [http://www.ilovewavs.com/TV/Sports/TV%20Theme%20-%20FOX,%20Hockey%20Theme.wav TV Theme - FOX, Hockey Theme.wav]
* [http://msn.foxsports.com/nhl FOX Sports - NHL]