Media Rights & Streaming ·
NHL’s Prime Video Pivot Turns Local Rights Into A Platform
Prime Video’s six-team NHL expansion turns a regional-rights reset into a test of pricing, production and first-party fan economics.
Amazon’s Prime Video will become the exclusive local streaming home for six NHL teams when the 2026-27 season opens, putting a global platform at the center of a regional-rights reset.
The Carolina Hurricanes, Anaheim Ducks, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues will offer in-market regular-season games, pregame and postgame shows, and team programming through Prime Video. Amazon already carries the Seattle Kraken locally.
The timing matters. Four participating clubs were previously carried by Main Street Sports Group’s FanDuel Sports Network, which wound down after failing to make local rights payments in 2026. The Ducks and Stars came from Victory+, an ad-supported service that also collapsed after losing key team relationships. For the NHL, the immediate priority is continuity. For Amazon, the opportunity is to turn scattered local audiences into a repeatable distribution product.
The model is deliberately flexible. The Hurricanes, Blue Jackets, Wild and Blues are expected to sell Prime Video packages at $19.99 a month or $99.99 for a season, without requiring an Amazon Prime membership. The Ducks and Stars will make every locally distributed game available through Prime Video, with select broadcasts also available over the air. Their packages will be included for Prime members, making advertising, sponsorship and audience growth more important than direct subscription revenue.
NHL Chief Media Officer David Proper told Sports Business Journal that clubs received several proposals before choosing Amazon. “At the end of the day, we negotiated all of them as far as we could and then took them to the clubs, and the clubs opted for the Amazon opportunity,” he said. His comment captures the league’s posture: provide shared support, but let teams decide what their markets can sustain.
That approach also distinguishes the NHL from the NBA and MLB, which are moving toward more centralized local-rights packages. NHL Productions is supplying production, graphics, replay, technical support and studio programming, creating a common operating layer without yet creating one national local bundle. Better presentation can make smaller markets more saleable to distributors and sponsors.
For investors and operators, the test is not simply whether Amazon can stream games. It is whether clubs can convert dependable distribution into measurable inventory, lower production costs and first-party fan relationships. Winners will use the platform as a data and sponsorship engine while preserving local identity.
The Greatest Good in sports media is not maximum reach alone. It is durable access, responsible economics and a better fan relationship, built so that growth serves the communities that make the league valuable. #LITSportsGlobal #TheGreatestGood
中文版
NHL Prime Video轉向把本地版權變成平台
當2026至27年球季揭幕，亞馬遜Prime Video將成為六支NHL球隊的唯一本地串流平台，令全球平台站在區域媒體版權重整的核心。
卡羅來納颶風、阿納海姆鴨、哥倫布藍夾克、達拉斯星、明尼蘇達荒野及聖路易斯藍人，將透過Prime Video提供本地常規賽、賽前及賽後節目，以及球隊內容。這項協議擴大亞馬遜與西雅圖海怪既有的本地NHL合作，亦正值區域體育網絡難以維持分散商業模式之際。
時機至關重要。四支參與球隊過去由Main Street Sports Group旗下FanDuel Sports Network轉播，但該網絡在2026年未能支付本地版權費後逐步結束營運。鴨及星則來自免費、廣告支援的Victory+，該平台在失去主要球隊合作後亦告瓦解。對NHL而言，首要任務是維持球迷觀看渠道。對亞馬遜而言，機會在於把分散的本地觀眾轉化為可重複的分發產品。
模式刻意保留彈性。颶風、藍夾克、荒野及藍人預計以每月19.99美元或每季99.99美元銷售Prime Video方案，球迷毋須成為Amazon Prime會員。鴨及星會透過Prime Video提供所有本地轉播賽事，部分比賽亦會在免費電視頻道播出。兩隊內容將包含在Prime會員方案內，因此廣告、贊助及觀眾增長比直接訂閱收入更為重要。
NHL首席媒體官David Proper向《Sports Business Journal》表示，球會在選擇亞馬遜前收到了多個方案。他說：「歸根結底，我們盡力與所有方案洽談，然後把它們交給球會，而球會選擇了亞馬遜的機會。」這番話反映聯盟的立場：提供共用製作及談判支援，但讓球隊自行判斷市場可承受的觸及率、定價及控制權。
這個做法也令NHL有別於正走向更集中本地版權套裝的NBA及MLB。NHL Productions將提供製作、圖像、重播、技術支援及棚內節目，在尚未建立全國本地版權套裝前，先打造共同營運層。這是一項帶有商業後果的科技決定，因為更高質素的製作可以令較小市場對分發商及贊助商更具吸引力。
對投資者及營運者而言，考驗不只是亞馬遜能否串流賽事，而是球會能否把穩定分發轉化為可量度的廣告資產、更低的製作成本及第一方球迷關係。勝出的球隊會把平台用作數據及贊助引擎，同時保留足夠本地身份，令訂閱及廣告真正具備價值。
體育媒體的「至善」不只是最大化觸及率，而是持久的可及性、負責任的經濟模式，以及更良好的球迷關係，讓增長回饋令聯盟具價值的社區。#LITSportsGlobal #TheGreatestGood
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