TORONTO – Rogers Media and CBC have inked a new seven-year sub-licensing agreement for English-language broadcasts of Hockey Night in Canada and the Stanley Cup playoffs.
The new deal, announced Tuesday, will begin with the NHL's 2019-20 season and run through the end of the 2025-26 season which is when Rogers’s 12-year, $5.2 billion national broadcast rights deal with the NHL is due to expire. It follows a previous four-year sub-licensing deal and one-year extension.
As part of the new deal, CBC will continue to air nationally-televised regular season games on Saturday night plus all four rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Hockey Night in Canada brand will continue on CBC and across all Rogers Media platforms, including Sportsnet and City, on Saturday nights. The deal also includes digital streaming rights, meaning Hockey Night in Canada games will also be available on the CBC Sports app, the CBC TV app, CBCSports.ca, Rogers NHL Live and Sportsnet Now.
Rogers said that Sportsnet will continue to produce the games, retain all editorial control, and manage the advertising, with games continuing to be produced from Sportsnet’s Hockey Central Studio at the CBC building in Toronto. Sportsnet will also continue to produce and televise national games on Sundays during Rogers Hometown Hockey and on Wednesday evenings with Scotiabank Wednesday Night Hockey.
A memo to CBC employees from Greg Stremlaw, executive-director of CBC Sports and Olympics GM, described the new agreement as “an improved deal for us on multiple fronts” and added that “CBC has not paid any money as part of the deal to have hockey on our network.”
“As an audience-first organization, we have now delivered on a significant aspect of programming that Canadians told us they wanted”, Stremlaw continued. “Our new deal also ensures CBC does not need to assume the significant costs to replace over 300 hours of prime-time content counter-programmed against hockey, not just on Saturday nights, but also throughout the prime-time Spring schedule during the two months of playoffs.”
Stremlaw added that CBC will continue to own key hockey trademarks such as Hockey Night in Canada, Hockey Day in Canada, and Coach's Corner, among others.
A CBC spokesperson declined to confirm to Cartt.ca whether CBC is receiving any money from Rogers as part of this deal. When asked what Rogers is paying CBC for access to its airwaves and studio space, a spokesperson at that company responded “we don’t discuss business terms but the deal is favourable to both parties.”
“CBC has been an excellent partner over the years and we are excited to extend our relationship,” said Rogers Media president Rick Brace, in the news release announcing the new deal. “Hockey Night in Canada is the most celebrated hockey brand in the country and is steeped in tradition. We are committed to working together to ensure it reaches the widest possible audience”
“The strong relationship we enjoy with Rogers Media paved the way for this new agreement; HNIC on Saturday nights is something Canadians have come to cherish and we’re thrilled that this long-standing tradition will continue for many years to come,” added CBC-Radio-Canada president and CEO Hubert Lacroix, in the release.
