All-Russia State Television & Radio Broadcasting Company Acquire Russia Rights to NHL

The National Hockey League (NHL) and the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK | RTR) have announced the signing of an agreement giving the Russian broadcaster the rights to telecast live NHL games.

VGTRK | RTR will show multiple games per week, which will be shared between their free-to-air channel Rossiya 2 and their sports channel Sport 1. Rossiya 2 is received by more than 80 million people and Sport 1 by more than 3.5 million, making this deal a significant addition to the League’s International TV distribution.

John Collins, NHL chief operating officer, said: “Providing NHL games on television in Russia is important given that some of the League’s biggest stars such as Alex Ovechkin, Pavel Datsyuk and Evgeni Malkin were born, grew up and began their hockey careers there. This agreement is one way we are providing fans throughout Russia with the NHL content that they demand and the ability to follow their hometown heroes throughout their NHL careers.”

The addition of VGTRK | RTR as a broadcast partner follows a number of distribution agreements reached this season with international broadcasters throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa, as well as the landmark distribution partnership between the NHL and MTG to provide live coverage of all 1,230 regular-season games and every Stanley Cup Playoff game throughout the Nordic region, including Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway.