The 2010 Stanley Cup is down to the final four teams, and many of those matchups will be televised on Versus.  Versus has not had tons of luck in the five years of their NHL contract. However, they have improved their luck this year.  What hurt them this year was a dispute with DirecTV but luckily for Versus that fight ended before the 2010 Stanley Cup betting playoffs kicked off.

During the first two rounds of Stanley Cup betting, Versus had their highest viewership.  In fact, it is the highest viewership for the NHL since 1994. The ratings are up 25 percent from last year. In the conference semifinals, Versus had 1.04 million viewers, which was up from last year. “When we first started, there were a lot of naysayers who said we weren’t big enough to deliver to these audiences,” said Jamie Davis, president of Versus. “I think we’ve proven ourselves.”

The NHL got more attention on ESPN and ESPN 2 when it was televised by those two channels, but in the last year of their contract, the average viewership had dipped below what Versus achieves now.  When the matches were on ESPN 2 the ratings were really shaky.  ESPN might have retained the NHL, but they didn’t want to pay for it.  Versus jumped in and paid the NHL more money than ESPN was willing to pay and things are now sailing along for them.  The current three-year deal with Versus and NBC is finalized next year but discussions are already underway for the next one.

“Versus has provided a home for hockey, particularly in the playoffs,” said John Collins, NHL CEO. “Now you have the casual fan finding Versus.”

ESPN might like to get back into doing hockey, but they don’t want it as an everyday sport.  Versus is giving the NHL the level of coverage that ESPN wouldn’t.

The conference finals in 2010 Stanley Cup are mainly on Versus. Versus is even airing two games of the Stanley Cup Finals. What harms Versus somewhat is that the Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins are finished and that the Montreal Canadiens is not a beloved team in the US.

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