From “CBC takes early lead in battle for NHL TV rights” in the Globe and Mail:
The buzz this week has the CBC emerging as the favourite to retain National Hockey League broadcasting rights. A source well connected to the NHL speculated the CBC will hang onto the rights by signing a relatively short-term deal with the league, perhaps only three or four years in length.
Insiders say the network made a presentation to the NHL about two weeks ago in New York and, as the incumbent rights holder, is operating now in a window of exclusive negotiation. Although it has been speculated an agreement could be announced as early as this month, others say a complete presentation by Bell Globemedia, which owns CTV and TSN, has yet to be heard.
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CBC has to win this contract. HNIC has been a Canadian institution on the “Ceeb” for decades now and it won’t be the same on another network.
Amen to that. And NHL HQ knows this. Do they really want to mess up the one good TV/PR deal they still have anywhere in North America?
While not a huge hockey fan myself, I too hope that the CBC is successful here. The tradition of HNIC is as huge as TV traditions get, and I feel it’s important that some popular broad-based programming still air on pubcasters.
I do however wish that CBC could team-up with or even purchase someone like The Score to offer a better rounded package when they apply for the rights for events like the Olympics, NHL Hockey, CFL Football, World Cup, etc. Either that, or re-positioning Country Canada into something a bit different than it currently is.
Not only has HNIC been a Canadian institution for decades, the CBC in my opinion does the absolute best broadcast job.
I travel a lot due to my business and I have watched hockey broadcasts in many American markets. I have to say every network that I have watched a hockey game on has a lot of ground to catch up on before they come close to producing a game to the standard set by the CBC.
While TSN does an “OK” job on broadcasting games, given a choice I would choose CBC over any other network to watch my Canucks dismal season
The CBC has had years of broadcasting the sport and knows how to deliver when it comes to hockey. In my mind, there is no choice but to grant broadcast rights to the CBC.
Just my 2 cents
If another network might actually recognize that people in Atlantic Canada are not all Leafs fans, then I would certainly prefer them to the “idiot Cherry and his beloved no talent leafs Network” coverage we now get.
Tonight, for example, we have the red hot Pittsburgh Penguins, with Sidney Crosby, a Maritimer, leading the league in nearly everything, and we get yet another Leafs game. It makes me actually consider getting a dish.
I want a network to provide National Coverage, not the Toronto-centric crap, which is now, unfortunately, emblematic of the CBC.
This talk about history, and the “right” to cover a game based on past performance is no longer valid - in recent years CBC Sports has abdicated their position as a National service by turning their back on Quebec and the Maritimes. Just look at available coverage on the QMJHL compared to the OHL and CHL for proof.
I am a Bruins fan - but that does not mean I don’t want to see the Habs - I do want to see them. I just want to see them lose!