NHL Cancels Games Through Dec. 30

Labor strife has axed 526 games so far

By Tim Baysinger -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/10/2012 5:25:37 PM

The NHL announced Monday that all games through Dec. 30 have been canceled, as the league and the NHL Players Association still cannot agree on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

With the new cancelations, 526 regular-season games will have been lost, equaling 42.8% of the season. While optimism surrounded talks last week, the two groups again broke off discussions without a new deal agreed upon.

The lockout has made life difficult for the league's main U.S. TV partner, NBC. Hockey programming was supposed to fill much of NBC Sports Network's winter schedule. At last week's B&C/Multichannel OnScreen Summit, Jon Litner, group president, NBC Sports Group said that "it is hurting our business."

While there is still hope that a season can be salvaged, there would likely need to be an agreement within the next few weeks.