The NFL would like to remind everyone they are still the 10,000-pound gorilla in the US sports market with its own network (which is even carried in HD on DirecTV, unlike MSNBC) and days of live coverage on ESPN just for its draft. Ha! Hockey’s marquee match up between the USA and Canada pales in comparison to watching guys in suits who might not even play in our mighty league!
If the NHL — yes, this is an NHL PR issue — was smart or clever or at least showed any sort of a sense of humor, they would remind everyone that MSNBC is available in more homes than the NFL Network, either by Tweet back or a cute Facebook update with a Someecard. The whole thing could devolve into an online battle of name calling or they could keep one-upping each other’s jokes until they realize they have no reason to fight because they are both so awesome and funny and will become internet BFF’s gossiping about MLB’s sad attempts to be relevant with their sad Tumblr page. And really, isn’t that what new media is all about?
What about the poor, lonely Golf & Tennis channels? Will they band together to form the PG/TN Association of networks designed to cover sports very few people need 24-hour coverage of, let alone whole separate networks dedicated to them? And will the NBA channel remain the ostracized stepchild, what with it’s utter and complete inability to even carry an actual NBA game, let alone the Amateur 3-Point content from the All-Star game?
DirecTV carries MSNBC.