TORONTO – CBC will continue to have Hockey Night In Canada until at least 2014.
The country’s public broadcaster and the National Hockey League today announced a new six-year broadcast agreement for national English-language broadcast and multimedia rights to NHL games in Canada. The new agreement commences with the 2008/09 season and runs through 2013/14. The agreement is subject to approval by the NHL’s Board of Governors at its June 20 meeting.
"Hockey is part of the Canadian fabric and we’re proud and pleased to continue what is the longest-standing sports rights partnership in the world; one that dates back to the very beginning of the CBC," said Richard Stursberg, executive vice-president, CBC Television, in a release. "This is the beginning of a new and exciting chapter in our partnership. We’ll be offering Canadians more hockey, via more platforms, than ever before."
"CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada has played an important role in building the passion that Canadians of all ages have for our game," said NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, referencing over a half-century (54 years, actually) of NHL broadcasts on CBC. "The NHL is thrilled to continue our longstanding partnership with this great Canadian institution and build on a tradition that has become a staple for millions of Canadians from the time the first puck is dropped in October through the presentation of the Stanley Cup eight months later."
And, for the first time the agreement allows the CBC to make hockey available to Canadians via new platforms as they emerge. Other highlights of the agreement include:
* Canadians will have access to more games than ever before
* Effective immediately, a multimedia package including live and on-demand video streaming of all CBC broadcasts online at CBC.ca
* The ability to make game coverage and exclusive content available on mobile phones and via video on demand
* Continued exclusive Canadian coverage on Saturday nights including traditional double-headers and more regional telecasts
* Continued extensive coverage of Canadian teams in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, ensuring national coverage of all Canadian playoff teams
* Exclusive Canadian coverage of the Stanley Cup Final
* Exclusive Canadian broadcaster of the NHL All-Star Game and NHL Awards
* CBC’s Hockey Day in Canada
This was a deal (reportedly worth $85 million per year, a $15 million annual increase over its current agreement) CBC Sports had to have. It lost curling and Canadian Football League rights to TSN and the 2010 and 2012 Olympics to a partnership between CTV, TSN and Rogers Sportsnet.
One difference to this deal is that TSN will be able to have access to Canadian teams playing in the early rounds of the playoffs, where now they only telecast American teams’ playoff series’.
