NEW YORK – (December 17, 2001) – The National Hockey League has signed new international TV broadcast deals in the Czech Republic, Israel, Russia and Serbia, further expanding the global reach of the NHL.

The NHL has added GALAXIE (cable and satellite) in the Czech Republic to its international broadcast lineup. GALAXIE will broadcast a minimum of two games per week, as well as NHL PowerWeek, a magazine style program dedicated to bringing fans weekly game highlights. The program features ‘All Access,’ which lets fans see how the players spend their free time, ‘Cool Cuts,’ which adds pulse pounding music to the hockey world’s best agitators, ‘Power Performers,’ which highlights the week’s best goals, and ‘Net Protectors,’ which showcases the week’s best saves and hits. In addition, GALAXIE will broadcast the 2002 NHL All-Star Game presented by Nextel and the 2002 Stanley Cup Finals. NHL PowerWeek is also available on Prima Television.

The NHL will be the flagship property of a new Russian TV channel, TV7 (terrestrial). TV7 will broadcast two games per week, along with NHL PowerWeek, the 2002 NHL All-Star Game and the Stanley Cup Finals. NHL Programming is also available on NTV Plus.

Israel’s JCS signed its first broadcast deal with the League, and will air one game per week – with both Hebrew and Russian commentary – along with the NHL All-Star Game and Stanley Cup Finals.

‘Through our new international broadcast deals, we have the opportunity to speak directly to the NHL’s passionate fan base with greater distribution in the Czech Republic and Russia where more than 120 of our players are from – and introduce hockey to emerging audiences in Israel, Montenegro and Serbia,’ said Ken Yaffe, group vice president and managing director, NHL International. ‘These new developments are consistent with the League’s strategy to expand our reach internationally and leverage the League’s growing international appeal.’

Mylan Tanzer of JCS said, ‘Hockey is fast becoming one of the most popular sports in Israel, spurred on by the tremendous growth of the Russian speaking population. We expect that the telecast of NHL games will develop a strong following.’

For the first time ever, NHL games will be broadcast in Serbia on Radio-TV Serbia (RTS) and in Montenegro on Elmag. RTS and Elmag will broadcast a minimum of two games per week, as well as NHL PowerWeek, the 2002 NHL All-Star Game presented by Nextel and the 2002 Stanley Cup Finals.

With its broadcasts reaching more than 170 countries, NHL programming reaches all corners of the globe, including Australia, Japan, most of Europe and Mexico. As further evidence of the global popularity of the League, more than 20 percent of the traffic to the NHL.com Network comes from outside North America. Approximately one-third of the NHL’s players are from outside North America.

For more details contact:

Brian Walker
NHL Corporate Communications
212-789-2123; bwalker@nhl.com