Hawkvision was a short-lived subscription TV service founded by

Wirtz Corporation Wirtz Corporation is an American holding company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It was founded in 1926 by Arthur Wirtz as a family-owned corporation to oversee his real estate holdings. The company shortly thereafter expanded into liquor dist ...

and

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division i ...

owner

Bill Wirtz William Wadsworth Wirtz (October 5, 1929 – September 26, 2007) was the chief executive officer and controlling shareholder of the family-owned Wirtz Corporation. He was best known as the owner of the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hoc ...

. The service broadcast Chicago Blackhawks games. It operated in conjunction with Chicago's local version of

SportsChannel SportsChannel is the collective name for a former group of regional sports networks in the United States that was owned by Cablevision, which from 1988 until the group's demise, operated it as a joint venture with NBC. Operating from March 1, ...

, and access cost $29.95 per month.

Overview

In 1992, Wirtz, who had a reputation for stubbornness and frugality, ended all Blackhawks broadcast agreements with

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

and

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

outlets. While vilified for this decision by many Blackhawks fans, he felt that broadcasting regular home games was unfair to the team's season-ticket holders. Only Blackhawks games picked up by national broadcasters (which only happened when the Blackhawks made the playoffs) were shown on basic cable (complicated further by

SportsChannel America SportsChannel is the collective name for a former group of regional sports networks in the United States that was owned by Cablevision, which from 1988 until the group's demise, operated it as a joint venture with NBC. Operating from March 1, ...

having various issues with carriage). Hawkvision only broadcast for a short time, ending after the season. However, regular Blackhawk home games did not resume airing on television until the season after Wirtz's death. His son

Rocky ''Rocky'' is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise and stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and Burge ...

took over the team's operations and agreed to allow WGN-TV and

NBC Sports Chicago NBC Sports Chicago (formerly Comcast SportsNet Chicago) is an American regional sports network that broadcasts regional coverage of professional sports teams in the Chicago metropolitan area, as well as college sports events and original sports- ...

to carry those games. Similar subscription TV services were utilized for the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

and

Winnipeg Jets The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, p ...

by rightsholder TSN from 2010 through 2014.

References

{{Navboxes, list1= {{Chicago TV {{National Hockey League on national television {{Chicago Blackhawks {{NHL on SportsChannel America {{U.S. premium television services {{SportsChannel America American subscription television services Television stations in Chicago Television channels and stations established in 1992 1992 establishments in Illinois Television channels and stations disestablished in 1995 1995 disestablishments in Illinois Defunct television networks in the United States SportsChannel National Hockey League on television