RangerBoy
Dolan sucks!!!
According to industry sources, CBC will remain as the league’s major partner and will retain “Hockey Night in Canada,†its iconic franchise since 1953. But the network would see its rights fee go up and some of its current inventory go to other programmers.
CBC (the over-the-air, public Canadian Broadcasting Co.) now pays $121 million a year. In the new deal, CBC is expected to pay about $175 million a year. However, it would lose the rights to the NHL All-Star Game and some playoff broadcasts, sources said.
“It meant a lot to the NHL and CBC for the network to keep ‘Hockey Night in Canada,’†said one source. “The key was maintaining that relationship while still making a workable deal [financially] for CBC so they wouldn’t get hurt too much. It looks like a fair resolution was found.â€
In the current deal, CBC shows four of the eight first-round playoff series; two of the four second-round series; one full conference final plus four games of the other; and the Stanley Cup Final. The new agreement is likely to be without one of those four first-round series and without the four-game conference final package. However, CBC would retain its priority selection of series.
The NHL has successfully engaged TSN and Sportsnet in competitive bidding for the newly available inventory. TSN is likely to be the future rights holder of the NHL All-Star Game and is the leading candidate to own the rights to that second conference final, sources said. TSN’s current deal gives the network four first-round series, two second-round series and three games of the conference final series where CBC has the other four.
In its current deal, TSN pays $40 million annually. Sources said that TSN’s reluctance to pay substantially more has been the biggest stumbling block in the league’s overall negotiations with the Canadian networks, but the issues are expected to be resolved in the coming weeks.
Rogers Communications-owned Sportsnet is in the bidding for available playoff games but is also seen as the front-runner to purchase a new regular-season offering of a weekly Sunday night telecast. A featured Sunday night game would join CBC’s Saturday franchise, TSN’s weekly Wednesday broadcast of a game featuring at least one Canadian team, and NBCSN’s “Wednesday Night Rivalry†as tentpole weekly events.
RDS will keep the French TV package but TVA is looking to get involved. Two TV packages. More money.
http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2013/11/25/Media/Canada-TV.aspx