Carolina Hurricanes 2014-15 TV Schedule Shows Continued Exposure Growth

For the third consecutive season, all 82 games in the Carolina Hurricanes' 2014-15 season will be televised either locally or nationally.

The new TV schedule released today by the Hurricanes covers the remaining 79 games not already claimed by NBC Sports Network, with 67 on mother station Fox Sports Carolinas and an additional 12 on sister channel SportSouth.

The 'Canes home opener against the New York Islanders on Oct. 10 will be televised on FS-Carolinas, with the following night's rematch on SportSouth. A stretch of two games later in October and three consecutive games in November will also air on the secondary channel.

Nine of the 12 SportSouth games are against Western Conference opponents.

The team's final 19 contests of the season are all scheduled for FS-Carolinas broadcasts. 

Games on NBCSN: Oct. 14 vs. Buffalo, Jan. 27 vs. Tampa Bay, Feb. 24 vs. Philadelphia

Games on SportsSouth: Oct. 11 @ NY Islanders, Oct. 23 @ Calgary, Oct. 24 @ Edmonton, Nov. 15 @ Boston, Nov. 16 vs. San Jose, Nov. 18 @ Dallas, Jan. 4 vs. Boston, Jan. 6 @ Nashville, Jan. 13 vs. Colorado, Jan. 30 vs. St. Louis, Feb. 12 vs. Anaheim, Mar. 6 vs. Minnesota

All other games on Fox Sports Carolinas.

Gregg Forwerck/Getty Images

The tradition of televising every 'Canes game began in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season, then was expanded to a full year for the first time in 2013-14. It's a big change from a decade ago, when the club excitedly announced that 10 games in the 2002-03 campaign would be televised in glorious HD.

Last year, 17 games were relegated to SportSouth—a network not typically available on local cable TV provider Time Warner Cable, although moved to a special events channel on game nights. 

The five-game reduction of that total for this coming season is the latest step forward in the Hurricanes' annually expanding media exposure.

Mark Jones / Freelance

The Raleigh-Durham metropolitan area ranked 24th in Nielsen's 2014 ranking of U.S. television markets, ahead of the Charlotte area (among many others) and up from 29th in 2005, with more than 1.165 million TV homes.

In population itself, the area has grown a whopping 60.5 percent since 1997—the year the Hurricanes announced their move south from Hartford. If translated directly to TV market size, one can reason that the RDU region may have added an additional 460,000-some TV homes since the arrival of NHL hockey.

The 'Canes have impressively taken advantage of such significant growth in the local media presence.

The next goal? Crawling out of the league basement in terms of national TV appearances.

Mark Jones has been a Carolina Hurricanes Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report since 2009. Visit his profile to read more, or follow him on Twitter.