NHL Finds a Home on American Cable TV

Hockey has landed safely in America's living rooms. Reports say the NHL has a new broadcast deal with OLN - known to many sports fans as "that channel where I watched Lance win the Tour de France every summer."

OLN stands for Outdoor Life Network. But the full name is no longer used, as the channel seeks to expand its appeal beyond the hunting and fishing crowd. There is much speculation that OLN wants to build itself into a sports network to rival ESPN, which declined its right to match the OLN bid.

When ESPN dropped the NHL last spring it was seen by many as a death blow to hockey on American television. But with countless cable networks fighting for viewers and desperate for content, the league was bound to end up somewhere. According to the buy-low-sell-high principle, this is the perfect time to buy the NHL.

OLN is owned by Comcast, America's largest cable provider. The network does not have as many subscribers as ESPN. But according to some reports, the Comcast deal includes more than television rights. "Comcast will bring the NHL Network to cable systems in the United States, and provide on-demand game broadcasts and computer streaming of live games," says the Associated Press.

Update: The NHL has confirmed the OLN broadcast deal. The details: