When future historians look back on the demise of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the date Nov. 26, 2013 will loom large.
That's the day the CBC lost Hockey Night In Canada.
On the surface, it doesn't look so bad. The CBC will continue to broadcast Saturday night games and the Stanley Cup final for the next four seasons under the blockbuster 12-year, $5.2 billion deal Rogers Communications inked Tuesday with the National Hockey League.
The details, however, show the CBC got completely hosed and their senior managers know it.
CBC president Hubert Lacroix informed CBC staff in an internal memo Tuesday morning that job losses are coming as a result of the deal as Rogers seizes control of CBC's NHL coverage. Rogers will decide what Hockey Night In Canada looks like, what features it shows and who will be the on-air talent. Ron MacLean, Don Cherry and Jim Hughson may have contracts with the CBC but Rogers will decide what role, if any, they will have in Hockey Night In Canada starting next season.
That's not even the worst of it for the CBC under this sub-licensing agreement with Rogers. Lacroix was asked at the news conference announcing the deal how the CBC will make money under this new arrangement. His shocking answer was that Rogers will keep all of the revenue and simply pay CBC a flat fee to air the games.
"We think the ability to still have 'Hockey Night In Canada' is something important to us ... and that's what we get out of this," he said. The only other benefit - and it's not a tangible one - is that the CBC will be able to promote its other programming during Hockey Night In Canada broadcasts.
Lacroix and the CBC knew this day was coming. They couldn't compete on the money front and there would have been many more job losses if the public network had been shut out of NHL hockey altogether, an option that could still happen four years from now.
Initially, it looked like TSN was the big loser but it's not as bad as it could have been for the "Toronto Sports Network."
It still gets 10 Toronto Maple Leafs games next year for regional broadcast and 26 the year after that. The network also gets more than 60 regional Winnipeg Jets games through 2021. It will also have a significant block of Toronto Raptors games, FIFA soccer (but not next year's World Cup - that belong to the CBC and Rogers Sportsnet) and access to ESPN programming out of the U.S., which includes a nice slice of the NHL, some Major League Baseball, a hefty chunk of NASCAR and the majors for tennis and golf.
If that doesn't work out, there's always Vic Rauter and curling.
It's a risky deal for Rogers, in that the company has to provide oodles of extra coverage for the NHL, not just on TV but through all platforms, including satellite radio, online and wireless. Rogers has also committed to national broadcasts of Wednesday and Sunday night hockey.
Yet there is so much to gain. Content is king in the broadcast world and Rogers has locked up arguably Canada's most sought-after sports content for the next 12 years. With that content comes audience and with audience comes advertisers. Rogers is now in the position to lock up major national advertisers and sponsors to long-term deals.
Locally, CKPG finds itself in the position of possibly being back broadcasting NHL hockey. CKPG is the local City-TV affiliate and City may be in the mix to carry some NHL action Saturday nights, along with the Sportsnet channels.
Nationally, however, the glum chums are over at the CBC. The Mother Corp. begins life as an NHL broadcaster in name only starting next season. Tuesday's deal will have huge and long-term implications for CBC funding, since the network relied so heavily on Hockey Night In Canada for the revenue for the rest of its operations. With dwindling funding coming from the federal government and potentially no hockey money at all in four years, the CBC's very survival is at stake.
What the CBC looks like in five or 10 years is anybody's guess but there's no doubt it will be a shadow of its former self.
