Amazon will begin streaming NHL games in Canada on Prime Video starting in October, a launch that could herald greater power at the negotiating table when the NHL’s current broadcast rights with Rogers Communications expire in 2026.
Monday, Magda Grace, Prime Video's general manager for Canada, Australia and New Zealand, said The Hollywood Reporter Its aim is to ensure production and public success when Top notch Monday Night Hockey will kick off on October 14 with the Montreal Canadiens and the Pittsburgh Penguins taking to the ice for a classic matchup.
That’s before the 2024-25 and 2025-26 NHL games in Canada come exclusively to Prime Video members on Monday nights at no additional cost. “We can’t really speculate on future deals and negotiations. We’re really focused on October 14, getting it right and learning as we go,” Grace said.
Of course, Amazon Prime Video has already proven that it can bring live television audiences to its digital platform by becoming the exclusive home of the NFL in the United States. Thursday Night Football games. But to expand its NHL presence in Canada with more live games on different nights, Amazon will have to compete head-to-head with Rogers Communications, the current Canadian television rights holder for the NHL.
A spokesperson for the Canadian telecommunications and cable giant confirmed DAY that Rogers will make another bid for local TV rights to NHL games when they expire after the 2025-26 NHL season. Rogers also did not disclose whether it will go to the table with the NHL on its own for negotiations or whether it will enlist a partner to help it remain relevant as a traditional linear TV provider while continuing to offer NHL games to Canadian fans.
There is speculation that Rogers’ partner could be Prime Video, after Amazon signed a two-year exclusive deal with Rogers for the right to stream Monday regular-season games north of the border for the next two years.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman kept his cards close to his chest when speaking with DAY on the upcoming 2026 NHL contract renewal talks. But Bettman made it clear that the NHL is looking for a big payday from the upcoming TV rights renewal talks in two years, just as streaming giants like Amazon hunt for newer, bigger audiences.
“Rogers has been a fantastic partner, but ultimately the market will determine the value of our rights,” he said. Bettman also pointed to the broader global sports broadcast arms race, where content from professional leagues, including the NHL, is valuable and increasing in value. “For us in Canada, we are the number one sport. We are the number one media property. So I anticipate a dynamic market,” the NHL boss added.
Bettman did not predict who might come to the negotiating table besides Rogers, who has an exclusive negotiating period before his current NHL deal expires in two years. “I don't want to speculate on what might happen with the negotiations. We'll honor all of our rights and obligations under the current agreement and see what happens,” he said.
But the Rogers that negotiates with the NHL over the next two years will be very different in scope and ambition from the media operator that beat out longtime Canadian TV rival Bell Media in 2013 to win a $5.2 billion, 12-year NHL rights package.
In 2026, Rogers is expected to compete with U.S. digital giants looking to broadcast live sports on TV to challenge Netflix’s streaming TV dominance, including in Canada. Prime Video’s Grace said its platform, in addition to airing live NHL games on Mondays, is also focused on offering Canadian sports TV channels like TSN and Sports domestically, and foreign services like DAZN and Fubo Sports Network, as standalone products available through their Prime Video accounts.
“Being a home for sports often means having third-party services. But we hope it's super easy to watch and discover, which is really what we're trying to do,” Grace explained. Prime Video will also launch globally on October 4. Faceoff: Inside the NHLa six-part docuseries produced with NHL Productions and offering access to the league’s top teams and players, on the ice and behind the scenes.
And Prime Video in Canada will launch on Thursday nights NHL Coast to Coasta live talk show hosted by Andi Petrillo and rotating analysts, where they go on a six-hour-plus deep dive into all the NHL game action that night around the league. “You'll be with the host and guest commentators, former players and coaches, watching and jumping in and out of games and catching the highlights, talking about the big moments that are happening that night,” Grace said of the NHL Coast to Coast series.
Another innovation coming to Canada is Rapid Recap, an AI-powered assist already in use in the U.S. during Thursday night NFL games on Prime Video, which allows viewers watching a game in progress to catch up on the action before watching the live stream.
Amazon’s Grace added that Canadians are very cultured when it comes to the NHL, so Prime Video’s live streams of games, talk shows and docuseries won’t be ignored by viewers. “Getting the broadcast right, making it the best streaming experience possible with live sports, is our top priority,” she said.
The Canadian industry has also changed elsewhere since the last NHL TV rights deal was negotiated a decade ago. While ice hockey remains a major draw in Canada, the allure of NHL rights has its challenges, including that no Canadian team has lifted the Stanley Cup championship trophy since 1993.
Additionally, the growing connection between sports on TV and streaming platforms has manifested itself in Canadian professional team ownership. Rogers already owns the Toronto Blue Jays and recently increased his 37.5 percent stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors, Toronto FC and Toronto Argonauts, to 75 percent.
Canadian telecommunications giant BCE Inc. has sold its 37.5 percent stake in MLSE to Rogers for C$4.7 billion (US$3.46 billion). The deal was aimed in part at helping Rogers strengthen Sportsnet in an increasingly competitive Canadian television market and take advantage of broader industry trends, where the value of NBA and NHL teams has increased dramatically in recent years.
The MLSE deal also comes as Rogers, like other North American telecommunications giants, knows its mobile and Internet subscribers are using more and more of their bandwidth to watch games involving their favorite professional sports teams. The exclusive deal with Amazon comes as Rogers, a traditional cable provider weakened by cord-cutting and cord-nevers, sees itself moving to where Canadians increasingly watch sports on TV, online, for additional revenue.
For its part, Amazon Prime is just behind Netflix as the dominant player in the Canadian TV market, where traditional broadcasters are losing market share to U.S. digital giants in viewership. That’s important because Rogers, like other linear TV broadcasters in Canada, hasn’t traditionally used scripted and unscripted series to drive advertising and subscriber growth, as it has in the U.S. market.
Instead, Canadian broadcasters have filled their prime-time schedules with U.S. series they rent from Hollywood studios and other foreign providers. And with ratings and ad revenues from those mainstream U.S. series in terminal decline as Canadians move online for TV content, Rogers is looking to transform its Canadian TV assets, including Sportsnet and its steady diet of NHL games, into a giant digital sports platform.