re espn tell us about it nhmas gauss med harvard edu mark shneyder writes the problem espn faces is the tci cablevision connection in the merger of their prime and sportschannel networks prime sportschannel will try to wrestle away nhl from espn in the off season also tci and cablevision have control a large number of cable systems around the country with a total of million subscribers tci cablevision will do their best that espn never gets off the ground successfully and the nhl s value will suddenly skyrocket in this cable war between prime sc and espn nhl is more vital to the survival of a regionalized prime sportschannel since they virtually have no national major league sports contracts and only cover local nhl nba mlb sports teams note that this ominous prospect is fueled by the fact that various sc and prime outlets are wholly or partly owned by local nhl owners when if cablevision vp chuck dolan s purchase of the islanders goes through the islanders will be back solidly in the scny fold their original owners were and they ve remained due to a lucrative tv contract the flyer snyders own the philadelphia sc as well as the prism pay channel there are six teams affiliated with regional sc s another half dozen affiliated with prime outlets and other locals like hts and nesn who have barter arrangements with all this cross ownership i was surprised that espn got the deal this season gld je me souviens gary l dare gld columbia edu go winnipeg jets go gld cunixc bitnet selanne domi stanley
