• by Wayne Friedman , August 10, 2005

OLN, also known as the Outdoor Life Network, is reportedly closing in on a deal for the very indoor National Hockey League through a $100 million two-year deal that its media parent, Comcast Corp., has been negotiating.

But there are many steps to be taken before inking a deal--including getting ESPN to officially opt-out of its cable network deal with the NHL. Last April, in the midst of a year-long strike, ESPN decided not to renew its $70 million option to televise NHL games for 2005-06 and 2006-07. The network still has the right to match any new offer. A report in The Philadelphia Inquirer broke the story.

In a somewhat unusual setting, there were no OLN executives in attendance at a meeting in which Comcast and NHL officials sat down to discuss the deal. This prompted other rumors that Comcast might start its own stand-alone sports channel.

Powerful Comcast, the largest cable operator in the land, has made it no secret that it wants to pursue major entertainment content deals. In February 2004, Comcast made a hostile run to acquire the Walt Disney Co. In the recent past, other news stories surfaced that Comcast would pursue a new Thursday or Saturday night package of the NFL games--also destined for OLN.

Neither an OLN spokeswoman nor a Comcast Corp. spokesman would comment to MediaPost about the story.

Any new major sports league will instantly lift OLN as a major sports TV entity.

OLN analysts believe the network's more traditional moniker--Outdoor Life Network--would not be a marketing problem if it morphed into a full-fledged sports network.

Currently, OLN has programming that centers on outdoor sports--hunting, fishing, bull riding, x game sports, and cycling. But Gavin Harvey, president of OLN, has said in recent months that the network now wants to be for "viewers, not just the do-ers"--a reference to OLN's existing base of viewers who participate in the sports they watch.

Marketing experts say the OLN name is a moniker that can stick--just like ESPN, which also started out with its formal name, Entertainment and Sports Programming Network.