What is OLN up to? The (North American) National Hockey League just announced that their TV deal was shifting from ESPN to Comcast, and that Comcast "is expected to put its NHL games on OLN."
Quoting further, "the hunting and fishing the network was founded on a decade ago is now mostly replaced with events ranging from the Tour de France and America's Cup to the All-Star BBQ Showdown."
I wonder whether this shift means that there will be more room on OLN for cycling and whether OLN now feels that cycling is closer to the center of their future core audience.
There is a lot of talk that ESPN's reluctance to outbid Comcast's bid for the NHL may have just moved OLN into the spot to become their first direct competitor. If Comcast is smart, that is exactly what they will do with OLN. Let ESPN continue to carry eating competitions while OLN takes off. Cycling programming could play a part in that for sure. It has done a lot to put OLN where it is today.
