Ok, I Give?

Why on Earth would NBC do that?

For the last couple of Penguins games the telecast has been on the Versus Network. Popular wisdom has been that their coverage has been well... meh, but they have done something that has gone over very well here in town. They had allowed the Penguins and the Arena to use the telecast on a giant screen in the parking lot. I happened to be downtown (dahntahn) one night this was going on and the local response was great. From the shots on television there appeared to be quite a number of people that could not get tickets to the game but still wanted to come down and be part of the action.

Overall very cool.

Apparently NBC deosn't think so. They have the next game - critical game six, with the cup on the line and they have decided they won't be allowing the use of the telecast in that way.

So my question is: Why on Earth would they do that?

Are they worried about their local ratings in Pittsburgh? Do they have to pay their on-air talent more for the additional airing? It can't be that advertisers are complaining. Seems like the people that go will watch whether they are at home on their sets or at the arena on theirs.

They've got maybe 20 hours to change their minds. I sure hope they do. This was something positive for the NHL and for Pittsburgh. Be a shame to shut it down, whatever the reason.