Network Drops the Puck on Coverage with International Double-Header on Oct. 5;  Regular Season Schedule Features 56 Exclusive Games, Including Game of the Week

New York, NY (August 14, 2008)—VERSUS, the network that celebrates real competition and the exclusive cable home of the National Hockey League (NHL), today announced the television schedule for the 2008-09 NHL regular season.  The network will open its fourth year of NHL coverage with an international double-header on Oct. 5 when the Tampa Bay Lightning and the New York Rangers face-off in Prague at 12 p.m. ET, followed by a match-up featuring the Pittsburgh Penguins and Ottawa Senators in Stockholm at 2:30 p.m. ET.  Then, on Thurs., Oct. 9, VERSUS’ coverage returns to the U.S. with a double-header featuring the 2008 Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings’ home-opener as they take on the Toronto Maple Leafs at 8 p.m. ET followed by a 10:30 p.m. ET clash between the Colorado Avalanche and Boston Bruins. 

VERSUS’ 2008-09 regular season NHL schedule highlights some of the most exciting hockey games of the season with the Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins all making a season-high eight appearances on the network and the Detroit Red Wings, Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals making seven appearances each.  In total, VERSUS will televise 56 regular season games, All-Star weekend, wall-to-wall Stanley Cup playoff action and the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final.  All of the network’s regular-season games are exclusive and VERSUS’ regular-season schedule features a Game of the Week wherein VERSUS will be the only place on television to watch the NHL game in the U.S. at that time.  Every NHL game on VERSUS is produced and shown in HD where available. 

“We’re in a great place heading into our fourth season as the exclusive cable television home of the NHL.  The successes that we saw last season proves that VERSUS has truly arrived as the undisputed home of hockey in the United States,” said Marc Fein, Executive Vice President Programming, Production and Business Operations for VERSUS.  “We look forward to another exciting season, featuring the best games with the most national appeal, coupled with our all-encompassing coverage, gives us confidence that we will continue our positive growth trend.”   

VERSUS is entering this season on a huge high based on double-digit ratings and viewership growth last year in the regular season and through each round of the playoffs, including the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final.  Most notably, the Conference Final round of the 2008 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs and Games 1 and 2 of the 2008 NHL Stanley Cup Final were the highest-rated and most-watched NHL postseason games on cable since 2002, while Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final was the most watched telecast in network history.  

Mike “Doc” Emrick will return as the network’s lead play-by-play announcer and will be joined all season long by the best NHL announcers in the game today, including Eddie Olczyk, Joe Beninati and John Forslund.  The network will wrap up the evening with its stellar NHL studio show, Hockey Central, with host Bill Patrick and analysts Keith Jones and Brian Engblom.  Ratings for Hockey Central last season also saw significant viewership gains during both the regular season (up 30%) and playoffs (up 77%) compared to the 2006-07 season.