CBC will carry Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals Saturday night in its typical viewing setup: The NHL on CBC in Canada on a Saturday night.
If the CBC decided to not carry Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday nights and the playoffs in the spring, how would the NHL landscape look in Canada?
Rogers get to run 7 hours of hockey programming on CBC on virtually all Saturday nights from early October to mid April. The programming runs most every night from mid-April to mid-June. Rogers sells the advertising and makes all the money. Rogers does simulcast some early games on City TV and gains all advertising revenue from City TV, essentially double dipping. And City TV doesn't run CBC in-break promos, though the channel does simulcast CBC in-game promos.
Rogers also simulcasts most late Saturday games on Sportsnet, again double dipping by competing with the CBC feed and gaining all advertising revenue, though keeping CBC in-game promos on both outlets.
So CBC doesn't get exclusivity in a considerable number of its regular season games. Some playoff games have also been simulcast on Sportsnet adding valuable extra playoff revenue.
Rogers gets all of this in exchange for what are supposed to be 6 on-air promos per game. In the few weeks we have been able to track them, CBC doesn't always get 6 promos nor is the placement always advantageous to the public broadcaster. The CBC does get to run in-break promos for shows but only at the end of the period, the worst time to get eyeballs. When the CBC had the rights, local ads would run at the end of the period.
Rogers also rents Studio 41 in the CBC headquarters in downtown Toronto and compensates CBC for employees who work on Hockey Night in Canada on-camera and behind the scenes.
So what would the NHL look like if Rogers couldn't use CBC?
City TV is an over-the-air network depending on where you live. You can get a good over-the-air signal in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, and Montréal. The network has decent signals in Lethbridge, AB; Victoria, BC; Woodstock, ON; and Ottawa: these signals are repeaters of other City TV signals, e.g., Ottawa's signal is essentially City TV Toronto. There are no OTA signals in Saskatchewan, the Maritime provinces, and Newfoundland and Labrador.
City TV would run double duty, something the channel rarely has done. I can only recall a single time City TV ran a late game. Rogers has de-emphasized City TV's role in the NHL because of the need for more eyeballs on the cable properties, thanks to pick-and-play cable packages. City TV carried the Hometown Hockey games in 2014-2015 but hasn't done so since that first year. City TV hasn't been used in the playoffs since the channel runs American TV in prime time.
Rogers Sportsnet has certainly benefited from CBC availability when Rogers has other sports conflicts including NBA and MLB. And again, Rogers makes all the money.
The late Saturday games don't draw huge numbers. Sportsnet might find it better financially to let City TV run regular programming starting at 10 pm Eastern.
Rogers also knows that CBC can draw better ratings than Sportsnet due to availability and force of habit. So Rogers has a lot to lose if CBC doesn't carry the games. Yet CBC acts like the passive network in the deal. Rogers recently agreed to add an extra year to the deal so that at least 5 of the 12 years in the deal will involve the CBC.
'Young Drunk Punk' was more of what Canadian TV should be
CBC should give Don Cherry 30 minutes on Friday nights
What should the CBC get in terms of compensation?
- A hockey show that could run on Friday nights where the NHL is discussed. Ron MacLean and Don Cherry could certainly be part of that team. This way, the CBC could financially benefit from the NHL.
- More in-game promos though Rogers has a hard time handling 6 promos in a NHL game.
- Have the CBC run City TV programming along the line of when the CBC ran Young Drunk Punk after airing on City TV. Or having City TV pick up the costs for producing shows such as Young Drunk Punk for airing on CBC.
- Have the CBC make editorial choices for producing the games and getting a fee if ratings go up. CBC would be more likely to employ people such as Glenn Healy and Mike Johnson as well as Tim Thompson, who ran the great montages that Rogers didn't want.
- A real cut of hockey revenue, perhaps the difference of the money Rogers makes by airing the games on CBC.
- Pay the CBC extra money to run certain games, such as playoff games, when Rogers really needs the extra outlet.
Let's look at the CBC on Saturday nights without hockey.
CBC runs an early evening newscast on its stations at 6 pm Eastern/7 pm Atlantic. That newscast could stretch to an hour or offer up a half-hour to the local stations.
The 7 pm start time would work really well to air Canadian films in their entirety, uncut and unedited. The CBC could run arts programming in the early slot and offer more "racy" content later. Arts could run until 9 pm followed by an hour of Canadian short films.
Ballet. Music. Film. Comedy. Experimental programming currently running online.
CBC runs The National on CBC News Network on Saturdays. That policy could change to give CBC viewers a Saturday night newscast. Or the CBC could use that hour to show more arts programming.
What the 2015 Canadian federal election means to CBC and other arts funding
Helping CBC Part I: Show more Canadian content
Helping CBC Part II: Making money through cable channels
Helping CBC Part III: Filling programming holes
The counterprogramming would be a a great way to showcase Canadian talent that isn't necessarily on skates. Saturday night programming that isn't the NHL doesn't usually draw well. There would be low expectations in running arts programming on Saturdays.
The CBC doesn't receive revenue from hockey but the public broadcaster also doesn't pay to produce the games. Even with low ratings, the CBC will make more money but the costs of the rights to the arts programming would have to be a consideration.
Right now, the CBC covers 7 hours of programming leading up to After Hours ending at 1:30 am Eastern. The CBC wouldn't need to cover all 7 hours. CBC Vancouver wouldn't have to start its evenings at 3:30 pm.
The CBC should run more arts programming on other nights but there is pressure to make some money on those nights. A Saturday night block would set a good example to see how viable this could be on Canadian airwaves.
American markets that get the CBC would lose that window into the NHL but would gain so much more in seeing Canadian arts on Saturday nights.
CanadianCrossing.com CBC coverage
When the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea come along in February, CBC will be the predominant broadcaster. Thanks to Gary Bettman's irrational stubbornness, the NHL will compete against the Olympics. There will be Saturday nights where the public broadcaster won't be the site for the NHL but international sports, some of which might be hockey.
That could be a sample of what the CBC could do to bring back its public broadcaster status on Saturday nights.
photos credit: CBC Sports/CBC Arts
As a Canadian taxpayer I am not a fan that Rogers basically gets free use of the CBC on Saturday nights during the regular season and basically every night it wants come playoffs as a platform for Rogers to make money (or try to make money?). In my opinion the president of the CBC could've and should've negotiated a better deal for CBC as it is Rogers that is currently reaping any and all of the rewards. All CBC gets is some promo spots for its other programming and not having to think about how else it would fill those slots that have long been occupied by NHL hockey.
Whether it is true or not, there seems to be a perception that NHL hockey largely defines the relevance of the CBC. Many said the same thing about SRC (French language CBC) back in 2003 when they were shut out of NHL rights when RDS bought the whole package. "La Soirée du Hockey" was just as big in French speaking Canada as "Hockey Night in Canada" in English speaking Canada yet SRC seems to have survived just fine and found a way to fill the programming spaces that previously went to hockey, so I'm sure CBC would find a way as well.
Posted by: KWH84 | June 02, 2017 at 08:42 PM