TORONTO — Rogers Communications and the NHL have reached an exclusive agreement with Amazon's Prime Video to carry Monday regular-season games in Canada for the next two seasons.
Rogers and the league said in a joint statement Thursday that "Prime Monday Night Hockey" will stream all national regular season Monday night NHL games in English for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 NHL seasons.
It marks the NHL's first exclusive broadcast deal with a digital-only streaming service in Canada.
The package will include a new broadcast team providing analysis and play-by-play.
The NHL's $5.2-billion, 12-year broadcasting agreement with Rogers is set to expire after the 2025-26 season, which will coincide with the end of the Prime deal announced Thursday.
Both Rogers and the NHL have ongoing partnerships with Amazon.
The NHL has worked with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to deliver in-game analytics and video highlights. Sportsnet, which is owned by Rogers, has been available through Prime Video since October.
"We’re committed to driving more innovation for fans as we bring the NHL into more Canadian homes and across more devices on Monday nights than ever before," Magda Grace, head of Prime Video, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, said in a press release.
Meanwhile, the Seattle Kraken is the first NHL team to have a streaming deal with Prime Video, the team announced Thursday.
Starting next season, all non-nationally televised Kraken games will be available to Amazon Prime members in Washington, Oregon and Alaska.
There has been a trend toward live sports or sports entertainment properties moving toward streaming services. Major League Soccer signed a 10-year deal with Apple in 2022 and Netflix will become the home of World Wrestling Entertainment's flagship "Raw" program next year.
In the United States, ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery have announced plans to launch a sports streaming platform this fall. It would serve as a hub for fans who currently have to navigate multiple subscription services to livestream their favourite sports.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 25, 2024.
With files from The Associated Press
The Canadian Press
