CBC to stop airing ‘Hockey Night in Canada’ this fall after nearly 75 years – National

“Hockey Night in Canada,” a program featuring National Hockey League games that has been part of the national fabric for nearly 75 years on CBC television, will not return to the public broadcaster next season.

A sub-licensing agreement between Rogers Communications and the CBC that allowed HNIC to air on the network expired at the end of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The two sides did not extend the partnership for the 2026-27 campaign, the first year of Rogers’ 12-year, $11-billion broadcast rights deal with the NHL. The CBC previously aired national games on Saturdays, along with all four playoff rounds each year.

“After a successful 12-year partnership, Sportsnet and CBC today announced the public broadcaster will no longer carry NHL broadcasts after the current season as it moves forward with a new sports programming strategy following the unprecedented success of the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games,” Sportsnet and the CBC said Tuesday in a joint statement. “Watching hockey on Saturday night is a time-honoured tradition for Canadians, and Sportsnet is privileged to continue delivering that tradition.

“This has been a terrific partnership, and both parties look forward to continued opportunities to collaborate in the future.”

While the CBC still holds the “Hockey Night in Canada” trademark and could incorporate the brand into future coverage, it’s the first time the traditional program won’t be available to Canadian viewers via the public broadcaster.

“I can’t imagine it,” said Michael McKinley, author of “Hockey Night in Canada: 60 Seasons.” “I mean, I can imagine it. I don’t want to imagine it.”

In a separate statement, the CBC said it plans to launch a new Saturday night prime-time show that will “highlight Canada’s athletes as they compete at home and around the world.”

Specifics on the programming for the time-slot weren’t available, but the network plans to showcase the upcoming Commonwealth Games, women’s professional leagues and more than 20 major world championships.

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“It’s definitely a bit of an end of an era,” CBC Sports executive director Chris Wilson said in a phone interview. “But we’re choosing to look at it more as an opportunity as opposed to a loss.

“But (we) fully understand that it’s going to take an opportunity away from some Canadians to see it on CBC. But that’s unfortunately where we landed, and we’re excited for the next chapter.”

The CBC first aired “Hockey Night in Canada” on television in 1952. It was a Saturday night mainstay for generations of hockey fans.

“The CBC brand was so dynamic and so finely created and presented that it defined a way of (the) telling of the sports story,” McKinley said in a recent interview.

Legendary broadcaster Bob Cole poses prior to calling his last NHL hockey game ahead of first period action between the Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs in Montreal, Saturday, April 6, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham HughesBroadcasters like Dick Irvin, Bob Cole, Ron MacLean, Don Cherry, Dave Hodge and Foster Hewitt — to name a few — helped provide the soundtrack that Canadians would cherish.

Traditional baby blue blazers — complete with a puck and stick HNIC logo on the jacket pocket — were as familiar as the announcers’ voices.

“The CBC’s interest in sports has basically been in amateur sports for quite a while, and other professional sports are on sports channels (like) Sportsnet or TSN,” Hodge said in a phone interview. “Obviously, hockey is on both of those as well. And lately it has come that it’s almost indistinguishable that a game is on this channel or that channel, they all look the same.

“Nobody wears any baby blue jackets with Hockey Night in Canada crests to identify it as a Saturday night game. I think that this was coming. It was inevitable.”

Things began to change when Rogers first secured a 12-year, $5.2-billion rights deal with the league in 2013, with many games available on the Sportsnet broadcast platform.

The telecom giant and the CBC agreed on a sub-licensing deal for English-language broadcasts of HNIC, and a separate French-language deal was made with TVA.

“I think that as the national broadcaster, as the entity that is responsible for telling Canadian stories to Canada, hockey is an essential Canadian story,” McKinley said. “I think it was part of (the CBC’s) mandate to do it. They got it right for a long time.”

Under the setup, Sportsnet produced the games, retained editorial control and managed the advertising.

The CBC’s inclusion helped broaden the reach across the country. It also kept the tradition intact and allowed the broadcaster to promote some of its own programming.

“It was the original appointment television for Canada every Saturday night,” said James Nadler, chair of the radio and television arts media program at Toronto Metropolitan University.

The first sub-licensing deal, a four-year agreement that started with the 2014-15 season, was followed by a one-year extension.

When a seven-year sub-licensing deal was finalized ahead of the 2019-20 campaign, Rogers said it ensured “that Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts continue to reach the maximum number of Canadians every Saturday night on CBC, Sportsnet and City.”

Rogers also said that HNIC “consistently ranked among the Top 5 programs, reaching on average 7.5 million Canadians each week.”

In addition to traditional television broadcasts, HNIC games were available via the CBC website, apps and other Rogers/Sportsnet platforms.

“Saturday night NHL hockey is woven into the fabric of Canada and our partners at Sportsnet will continue this great tradition, as they have for the last 12 years,” NHL chief communications officer Jon Weinstein said in an email.

Rogers agreed to a different sub-licensing deal a few years ago with Amazon Prime Video.

That two-season agreement, which expired this spring, allowed the outlet to stream games on Monday nights across Canada.

– With files from Canadian Press sports reporter Daniel Rainbird in Montreal.