by TVA Sports. Selected games were simulcast with Punjabi-language commentary on Omni Television. In the United States, national coverage of playoff games aired on either NBC, NBCSN, CNBC, NHL Network, or USA Network. USA Network broadcast NHL games for the first time since they aired them from 1979 to 1985. During the first round, these national telecasts co-existed with those of regional rightsholders, after which NBC had exclusive rights to the remaining games. Seven first-round games were televised exclusively in the U.S. on NBC. In Canada, first-round viewership improved over the previous season, with one of the games in the Montreal-Ottawa series on CBC seen by 3.76 million viewers. However, following the elimination of Canadian teams from contention and an all-U.S. final, ratings dropped significantly, with Numeris estimating an overall decrease of 8% in average viewership on CBC, and a 14% decrease in average viewership for Sportsnet in comparison to TSN's 2014 playoff coverage. Game six of the Final, facing competition from a Team Canada match in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup on CTV and TSN, and the Toronto Blue Jays (in the midst of a major winning streak) on Sportsnet, was the lowest-rated deciding game since game seven in 2003. By contrast, ratings in the United States were strong for NBC and its cable networks. This also extended to the Montreal-Ottawa first-round series, where it faced no competition from a U.S. regional rightsholder: games six and three of the all-Canadian series on NBCSN ended up being the top and the second-most watched first-round contests on U.S. cable, respectively. Game seven of the N.Y. Rangers-Tampa Bay Eastern Conference Finals produced a 2.65 metered market overnight rating, making it NBCSN's second-highest rated non-Final NHL game. Game seven of the Anaheim-Chicago Western Conference Finals then generated a 3.27 metered market rating, the highest rated non-Final overnight NHL game on NBC. During the Final, game six was seen by 7.6 million viewers nationally on NBC. Ratings for game six were especially strong in Chicago and Tampa Bay: it was the most-watched NHL broadcast locally in Chicago history, and the second-highest in Tampa Bay. Overall, it was the second-most-watched Stanley Cup Finals since 1995, averaging a 3.2 rating and 5.6 million viewers on NBC and NBCSN, trailing only the 2013 Stanley Cup Finals. References Stanley Cup playoffs playoffs