[mr.x]

Game over for the CBC
The public broadcaster will have little to draw viewers if it loses Hockey Night in Canada

By BILL BRIOUX -- Toronto Sun, Oct. 05, 2006


For more than half a century, Hockey Night In Canada and the CBC have gone together like Don Cherry and plaid.

But Grapes might as well get himself fitted now for a CTV/TSN jacket. When the NHL's current contract with the CBC expires at the end of the 2007-08 season, look for them to get the puck out of there.

Hockey Night In Canada returns tonight at 7 p.m. with Toronto facing off against Ottawa in the first half of a double header. Calgary at Edmonton follows.

Fact is, the Leafs have a better chance of winning their first Stanley Cup in 40 years than the CBC has of re-signing with the NHL.

It's not just that CTV, which has coveted HNIC for years, is reportedly prepared to make a $1.4-billion, 10-year offer. It's not just that picking up HNIC would give CTV the one night of the week it doesn't automatically win now -- Saturdays.

Rather, it's that so many Canadians have stopped watching CBC that the NHL almost has no alternative. After all, you wouldn't play hockey in a dark rink.

The CBC brass know this. Last week in Ottawa at the CRTC's television policy review, the network basically admitted it would soon be out of the hockey business after a 70-year association on TV and radio.

CBC president Robert Rabinovitch said it was "distinctly possible" that the NHL would skate over to CTV. This would mean a loss of revenue for CBC estimated at $100 million a year, the committee was told. The CBC brass went on to say that if they lose hockey, they want more taxpayer money. Otherwise, Rabinovitch said, "we will have to seriously re-evaluate almost everything about English television."

So that's their pitch: We give up, and give us money.

Way to rally the troops after CBC chairman Guy Fournier's "bestiality and bowel movement" meltdown. (The 75-year-old Fournier, one of the most powerful and influential men in Canadian culture, resigned last month after blathering on like an idiot in print and on TV.)

If CBC isn't already seriously re-evaluating almost everything about English television, it may be too late. Ratings for this season are so low they're shocking even for dwindling CBC standards.

Hockey: A People's History, on billboards and bus shelters all over town, drew just 390,000 viewers Sept. 24. Nine times as many Canadians (2.7 million) watched Desperate Housewives that night at the same hour on CTV.

About a year ago, CBC programmers were all excited about a quirky little animated series called What It's Like Being Alone. The series finale Sept. 18 drew 163,000 viewers.

It gets worse. That miniseries on Rene Levesque? Part of CBC's high-impact programming strategy? A washout Sept. 21 with 131,000 viewers. Don't even ask about last season's Kraft Hockeyville fiasco, which plunged below 100,000.

This after a nightmare summer during which CBC programming head Kirstine Layfield got roasted for reaching across the border to try to boost her schedule. The One, a copycat ABC star-search series, was one of the biggest bombs ever, yanked after two weeks in the States.

Right idea, wrong show. CBC will have to take more chances if it wants to stay in the TV business, and Canadian nationalists be damned.

Otherwise, all that Canadian-made content they have lined up for next week -- Moses Znaimer's new gossip magazine comedy Rumors (Sunday), Chris Haddock's new crime drama Intelligence (Monday) and the South African-based medical drama Jozi-H (Friday, Oct. 13) -- is doomed.

The hard lesson for CBC programmers is you can't launch new shows if nobody is watching your network. Ask former WB executives.

The prospect of losing the one top-20, million-viewers-a-week-plus show on your schedule -- leaving a huge 400-hour programming hole -- is like Fox losing American Idol, times a billion.

It is condo time at 205 Wellington West. It is game over for CBC.

[Faster]

What does this have to do with Vancouver 2010?

[dave199]

Faster, on Oct 6 2006, 10:29 AM, said:

What does this have to do with Vancouver 2010?

My thoughts exactly and Mr.X says he doesn't post useless **** on these boards

Anyways, CBC is TOAST!! I hope the government doesn't give them any taxpayers money when Canadians don't even tune into the station. Thats my only thought on this issue.

[mr.x]

dave199, on Oct 6 2006, 11:30 AM, said:

My thoughts exactly and Mr.X says he doesn't post useless **** on these boards

Anyways, CBC is TOAST!! I hope the government doesn't give them any taxpayers money when Canadians don't even tune into the station. Thats my only thought on this issue.

well actually this would be the first time in awhile that non-related information has been posted. secondly, non-related topics are always posted in the London, Beijing and 2014 forums so why not here?

[taichi]

Nooooooo! How can you say such a thing? I like watching CBC. Especially hockey. I like watching sports on CBC. I don't want it to be toast! I wan't to continue to watch CBC!

Taichi Nomura

[dave199]

taichi, on Oct 8 2006, 03:22 PM, said:

Nooooooo! How can you say such a thing? I like watching CBC. Especially hockey. I like watching sports on CBC. I don't want it to be toast! I wan't to continue to watch CBC!

Taichi Nomura

OK there buddy!!

The CBC lost their contract to broadcast the Olympics begining 2010 and it is imminent that they are going to lose their NHL broadcasting rights to CTV again after they outbidded them for the Olympic broadcasting rights as well. If this is no clue that CBC is TOAST, I don't know what is since this is the programming that brought in the ratings and money for them.

[mr.x]

lol, well on the bright side..............



CBC wins World Cup soccer rights
Last Updated: Friday, September 15, 2006 | 11:42 AM ET
CBC Sports

The world's best soccer players are coming to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Radio-Canada through 2014.

CBC/Radio-Canada reached a comprehensive programming agreement with FIFA, soccer's global governing body, on Friday for Canadian broadcasting rights from 2007 to 2014.

The deal features the 2010 and 2014 World Cup soccer tournaments. It also includes the 2007 men's under-20 World Cup in Canada, the 2007 women's World Cup in China and the 2011 women's World Cup.

"A central tenet of CBC/Radio-Canada's mandate is the sharing of major national and international events," said Robert Rabinovitch, CBC/Radio-Canada president and chief executive officer.

"Soccer is a game that touches new Canadians and old, it touches all cultures and all communities. It is one of the most popular sports in Canada, both to watch and to play. We're looking forward to helping the continued growth of the game across the country."

CBC/Radio-Canada will act as host broadcaster in July for the men's under-20 tournament, which takes place in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Edmonton, Victoria and Burnaby, B.C.

"This is truly a momentous day, an historic day for all of Soccer in Canada," said Kevan Pipe, chief operating officer of the Canadian Soccer Association.

"To have CBC/Radio Canada partner with FIFA and the Canadian Soccer Association for the next eight years will take the 'beautiful game' to an even higher level in our country."

The agreement includes rights for all CBC/Radio-Canada platforms, including its eight national radio and television networks, websites, regional stations and affiliates.

CBC/Radio-Canada will be able to make FIFA games available for viewing on mobile phones and through video-on-demand.

Telelatino has also teamed with CBC/Radio Canada as a broadcasting partner under the agreement.

The global television audience for the 2006 World Cup in Germany surpassed 30 billion viewers over the tournament's four weeks.



so i guess CBC Sports isn't over quite yet, even with the loss of the Olympics, NHL, and probably the CFL. the opening and final match of the 2006 World Cup each raked in 9 million viewers in Canada, and there were 2-4 million watching the other games. quite impressive, considering Canada doesn't even have a team playing.

[mr.x]

Though quantity isn't always quality, here's an excerpt from Wikipedia on Canadian 2010 coverage:


In Canada, a consortium of Bell Globemedia and Rogers Media properties will broadcast the 2010 Games. Specific outlets tentatively include CTV, TQS, TSN, RDS, Rogers Sportsnet, OMNI Television, OLN Canada, CTV Newsnet, RIS, Discovery Channel, Report on Business Television, The Biography Channel, Rogers radio stations, as well as third-party broadcasters APTN and ATN.

With Bell Globemedia's takeover of CHUM Limited, more stations may be included as well, making probably the largest grouping of TV channels from one country to air Olympic-related live footage.

Although not confirmed, free content is also being offered to Radio-Canada, mainly due to its larger reach of francophone viewers. [16] [17]

The CTV network alone is promising 22 hours a day in coverage during the Games. CTV's Downtown Vancouver studio is likely to be the broadcast headquarters for the coverage.


Just think....Brian Williams sitting against the window:

[pooette]

wow. service spread accross that many networks.... i don't know. how specialized will they make it? there's only so many hours of curling i can handle. but i can tell you there won't be much olympic footage being watched by yours truly unless something changes. i don't get CTV. or anything besides global and CBC. meh.
i can just watch them for real i guess.

[mr.x]

to go even more off-topic, Global BC has purchased a helicopter.....now, CTV Vancouver won't have the exclusive bragging rights to owning a helicopter, Chopper 9.