Change In Broadcasting

Throughout Canadian history, there have not been many factors that have united the country.

Whether that is in a positive or negative way, no events have united the English speakers, natives and Francophones.

As technology developed it gave more outlets for unification and national pride.

As many people know, the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) has ingrained itself in Canada’s recent history; and none of their programs have done so more strongly than Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC).

Hockey Night and the CBC have affected Canadian identity, because they have both been constants in Canadian culture for over 70 years and have been a welcoming feature for new immigrants.

While technology and prime ministers have changed. HNIC and the CBC have remained a constant centerpiece in the fabric of the nation.

A regular occurrence in the CBC’s history is having HNIC as their highest viewed program, and this continues to be the case even though they do not own the Canadian NHL rights anymore.

Despite not owning the Hockey rights anymore, CBC continues to find advantages to broadcasting the Saturday night games.

When CBC lost the Olympic rights to CTV in 2010 and 2012, it took a massive toll on their programming, and forced the network to fill hours of TV time in the weeks before the games.

As the network lost the NHL rights, it would have been forced to fill a similar time-frame every week, as well as lose their most profitable advertising avenue.

Rogers and CBC reached a deal to allow the CBC to broadcast hockey on Saturday night, with a catch.

All of the revenue would go to Rogers and none to CBC.

CBC would allow Rogers to continue to use the name “Hockey Night in Canada” but Rogers would run the whole production.

Ahead of the 2014 season, Rogers began their overhaul on the CBC’s successful HNIC show.

Rumors floated around about the removable of both Don Cherry, and George Stroumboulopoulos as well as also relieving Ron Maclean of his hosting duties both in an effort to bring more youth into the show.

While the operation was run by Rogers and continues to be, CBC has been able to advertise their own programs for free during the Saturday night broadcasts.

The draw of free advertising and having hockey continue to fill time was still worthwhile for CBC to strike the deal with Rogers.

After only two seasons of hosting, Stroumboulopoulos left the show and Rogers media re-appointed Ron Maclean as host.

The show which had seen declining viewership under Stroumboulopoulos quickly shot back up the rankings with the addition of Maclean.

As HNIC began to thrive again, Rogers opened a new feature show on Wednesdays, creatively named “Wednesday Night Hockey.”

The new show was more “Hip” and catered to a younger, faster paced audience but still was hosted by the same crew as the traditional Saturday night broadcast.

Although the CBC may not own the rights anymore, there is still an advantage for them to show hockey and Saturday night hockey hold onto its special place in the hearts of Canadians.

Hockey night in Canada has been helped and harmed by the Rogers agreement, although it changed things.

The network finally embraced the fact that they are a valuable piece of Canadian identity.

This can be seen through the HNIC commercials narrated by host Ron Maclean where he says “If you want to teach someone about Canada; turn on the TV Saturday night, and it becomes crystal clear.”

Stay Tuned for Part 2 May 7th