Prime Video Secures Rights to Stream ‘Prime Monday Night Hockey’ in Canada, Expanding NHL Offerings
The deal announcement comes on the same day that Prime Video became the streaming partner of the Seattle Kraken in the Northwest.
The NHL has settled on a new broadcast partner in one of its most important markets. Amazon’s streamer Prime Video has secured the rights to stream every nationally broadcast NHL game in Canada on Monday nights for the next two seasons, in a deal that will be the league’s first exclusive national broadcast package with a digital-only streaming service in Canada.
Key Facts:
- Amazon’s interest in Monday night NHL broadcasts in Canada was first reported in early April.
- The deal will allow Prime Video to make hockey viewing a weekly event, which it also wants to do with NHL games.
- Prime Video will also stream Seattle Kraken games to the team’s local audiences starting in the 2024-25 season.
Prime Video’s desire to get its hands on a package of NHL rights in Canada was first reported in early April. The Monday night package of games was formerly owned by Rogers Communications, which is facing the same problems of audience loss thanks to cord-cutting that American cable distributors are dealing with.
That’s why Rogers has decided to sell this bundle of games to Prime Video for the next two seasons. The platform has already dubbed this lineup “Prime Monday Night Hockey,” and it will include all national regular season Monday night NHL games in English for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 NHL seasons. Prime Video will hire a new broadcast team to present the games, and the deal is the league’s first national broadcast package exclusively shown on a digital streaming service.
“With Prime Monday Night Hockey, we’re offering our customers even more from their Prime membership,” said Magda Grace, head of Prime Video, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. “We’re committed to driving more innovation for fans as we bring the NHL into more Canadian homes and across more devices on Monday nights than ever before. We’re thrilled to be offering Prime Monday Night Hockey as part of our one-stop entertainment destination, which includes add-on channels like Sportsnet for even more hockey and sports content, the latest movies to rent or buy, popular and award-winning Amazon Originals to stream with Prime, and so much more.”
Is This What Prime Video Has in Mind for the NBA?
Prime Video is seen by many as a frontrunner to become the NBA’s third broadcasting partner in its next national rights package. That league is now free to negotiate with Amazon and other companies after emerging from its exclusive negotiating window with current partners ESPN and TNT on Monday, April 22.
In October 2023, a report emerged that Prime Video not only wanted a package of NBA rights, but it wanted to turn its NBA package into a weekly event akin to its streams of “Thursday Night Football.” That’s exactly what it’s done by acquiring the Monday night NHL package in Canada from Rogers, and that deal could serve as a blueprint in its negotiations with then BA going forward.
Amazon has already made a big, new hockey deal this week. On Thursday, it announced that it had come to terms on an agreement with the Seattle Kraken to become that team's streaming partner for all games not appearing on national channels in the United States. Prime Video will show Kraken games in Washington, Alaska, and Oregon starting in the 2024-25 season.
Prime Video is continuing to make moves to add to its sports inventory, and its new deal with the NHL is just the latest example. Amazon wants to turn Prime Video into a streaming platform with as many types of high-demand programming as possible, and those efforts continue with the addition of NHL rights in the country where the sport is most popular.
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 10,000+ movies, TV shows, and Prime Originals like “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” “Jack Ryan,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “The Boys,” and more. Subscribers can also add third-party services like Max, Showtime, STARZ, and dozens more with Amazon Prime Video Channels. Prime Video also offers exclusive live access to NFL Thursday Night Football.