Poor Stanley Cup coverage in the USA

Why is it that NBC has missed telecasting the first two games of the
Stanley Cup Finals? However it begins telecasting with Game 3 on
Saturday.

Invid Fan...

OLN paid for the first two games, as part of the package.

Why hasn't NBC covered the entire NHL post-season like the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation?

Invid Fan...

The CBC also let games to to a cable network in Canada, though not in
the finals. They covered all of the Edmonton series but let half the
Sables/Carolina series be cable only.

Don't Americans love hockey. All but 6 NHL teams are located in the
US.

This doesn't make sense.

Robert...

I guess it depends on where you live. Comcast cable had both games.

Default User...

Not NBC though, which was what was stated above. Every cable system
that has OLN carried the first two games.

evwill...

Television viewership for NHL games, including the Stanley Cup Finals,
is extremely poor on a national basis in the United States.

Daniel Damouth...

I hate to be hateful, but I sort of hope that ice hockey, as a
televised sport, dies (along with baseball). They are inferior sports.
I'd like more coverage of sports that I personally prefer, such as
soccer.

I like to see intelligent passing.

-Dan Damouth

Casey McDonald's Guidance Counsellor, Ian J. Ball...

That's probably because, for all intents and purposes, hockey is a
*regional* sport in the U.S.

Maybe the national sports cable & broadcast nets should give up on
national airing rights for hockey, and let the local guys (primarily in
N.E. and the upper Midwest) pick up the slack?...

Everett W.