Amazon Prime to stream Wednesday NHL games, playoff series in Canada under Rogers deal

Toronto: Amazon's Prime Video will exclusively broadcast Wednesday night national NHL regular-season games in Canada in English and French beginning next season as part of a new 12-year licensing agreement with Rogers Communications Inc. announced Tuesday.

The streaming service will also carry select Stanley Cup playoff series, including two first-round series and one second-round matchup annually.

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The agreement spans the length of Rogers' $11 billion, 12-year deal with the NHL for national media rights on all platforms in Canada through the 2037-38 season. Terms were not disclosed.

"We're thrilled to expand our partnership with the NHL and Rogers in this landmark agreement, which brings even more premium live sports to Prime members in Canada," said Jay Marine, head of global sports at Prime Video.

Prime Video's lineup will include at least 26 national regular-season games, starting Sept. 30, and will be available to Prime subscribers in Canada at no additional cost; Rogers-owned Sportsnet retains the majority of national NHL games. A Rogers spokesperson said the playoff allocation will follow a draft format: Prime Video will receive the fourth and fifth selections among the eight first-round series and the third choice among the four second-round matchups.

The deal follows last month's announcement that Rogers and the CBC would not renew their licensing agreement, ending "Hockey Night in Canada" on the public broadcaster after the 2025-26 season. Rogers-owned Citytv will also no longer carry national games, ending NHL broadcasts on free-to-air television. CBC previously aired national games on Saturdays, along with all four rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Rogers, a telecommunications giant, first purchased Canadian NHL broadcast rights in 2013 on a 12-year, $5.2 billion deal that expired last season. Prime Video began carrying Monday night games in Canada over the past two NHL seasons.

John Shannon, a longtime sportscaster and TV producer in Canada, called the shift toward streaming platforms an "inevitability," pointing to the CFL's recent deal to stream Saturday night games on DAZN beginning in 2027 and Major League Soccer's partnership with Apple TV.

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"It speaks to what we've witnessed in both Canada and the United States with streaming companies being more involved in sports," he told the Canadian Press. "The world has changed. How we watch conventional television, through specialty channels, through streamers, and it's been coming. The NFL has embraced it, NBA has embraced it, the NHL and Major League Baseball have embraced it as well."