Update - CTV Buys the Hockey Night in Canada Theme

CBC drops the ball, and CTV picks it right up. Given, the CBC is not a dedicated sports network like TSN and RDS (owned by CTV), but I thought it had hockey wrapped up. Apparently taking care of hockey fans is not Canadian enough to warrant a little splurging. Too bad.

By the by - can I point out how much I love this paragraph, found at the end of the article linked above: "CTV, together with TSN and RDS, boast the most powerful and prestigious sports programming lineup in the country featuring the NHL and Stanley Cup Playoffs, NFL games and the Super Bowl, every CFL game including the Grey Cup, International Hockey including the World Juniors, NBA, Blue Jays Baseball, all four golf Majors, all four tennis Grand Slam events, Season of Champions Curling, NASCAR and F1, and this month's NBA Finals and UEFA EURO® 2008." A little self love?

Okay, back to the matter at hand. The CBC is very quickly losing its hold on the hockey market, and I for one am pretty dissapointed by that. TSN already has (as read above) the IIHF and World Juniors, not to mention (at least) the hockey events at the 2010 Olympics. Now, the question becomes, who gives a shit? Well, TSN is a premium channel, while CBC is basic cable which everyone has access to, as it is funded by your tax money. This is important for the large group of people who don't want to splash extra money for a couple of sports channels.

Why does this matter? Well, I go back to my earlier post - CBC's mandate, I will re-copy it.

"

• be predominantly and distinctively Canadian,
• reflect Canada and its regions to national and regional audiences, while serving the special needs of those regions,
• actively contribute to the flow and exchange of cultural expression,
• contribute to shared national consciousness and identity,"

I'll say it again - hockey falls into all these catagories. And by not buying up the HNiC song, the CBC is displaying it's lack of interest in maintaining the station's relations (haha rhyme) with hockey fans. Hockey fans, believe it or not, make up a large portion of Canadian society. By alienating this group of the population, the CBC is just further boasting their absolute ignorance Canadian wants and interests. So rather than using my tax money for something I want to watch, my tax dollars are being spent on shit like Little Mosque on the Prairie (for the sake of diversity? Bollocks! It's a horrible show!).

The CBC has, of course made some really good mini-series (Trudeau anyone? Canada-Russia 72?) and did well to lock up Ron and Don, but they seem to be in the process of washing their hands of the Canadian sports-following population. Normally, I would say good riddance, beyond Coach's Corner (and other Ron&Don moments) there's not much advantage to watching hockey on CBC other than the Canadiana of it. But then it comes back to - why are you wasting my tax dollars on something I don't want to watch, when I have to pay extra to watch what I do want to watch?

I say the CBC becomes an opt-outable fee. They've made the mini-series I want to watch, the only other reason I watch CBC is The Simpsons at 5 and hockey. I can watch The Simpsons on pretty much every other channel, and hockey's found a new home, so I say to you, CBC, you can fuck right off.

The Biggest Non-Sports News News in History

Hockey. Canada. What images and sounds are brought to mind? Whitby Dunlops in the '50s? Henderson scoring in '72 (quoth the Hip: "If there's a goal that everyone remembers, it was back in '72/We all squeezed the stick and we all pulled the trigger" (then it turns into lovey-dovey drivel - I love the Hip though)). The Salt Lake City double in 2002 with a Loonie under center-ice? All generations have their own, definitive Canadian hockey moment. All hockey generations in Canada, though, are united by a single jingle, introduced in 1968, commonly known as Canada's second national anthem, beloved by all. Dada da daaa da daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa - oh yes, it's the Hockey Night in Canada song.

You all know the story - the license has run out, and now the composer of the epic tune, Vancouver's own Dolores Claman, wants a bit of a raise. $500/play was the norm, and she wants "an industry standard" increase of 15% in fees. And the CBC doesn't like that, not one bit.

Now, we could get into math about how, in TV terms, that's really not a whole hell of a lot. In fact, I'm pretty sure it costs more to produce another shitty episode of Little Mosque on the Prairie (great premise, crappy undertaking) than it would to pay for an entire season of playing the HNiC theme, but I'm no good at math, and am very lazy. So we'll get into he morals of the thing.

What is the CBC around for? Why is it a crown corportation? Why is it Canada's "national public radio and television broadcaster"? Canadian Broadcasting Corporation indeed. Well, we find various excerpts from quote it's mandate, found easily here, but probably more difficult-ly on the CBC website, so I'm sticking with the Wiki.

"

• be predominantly and distinctively Canadian,
• reflect Canada and its regions to national and regional audiences, while serving the special needs of those regions,
• actively contribute to the flow and exchange of cultural expression,
• contribute to shared national consciousness and identity,"

How could anyone argue that splurging a little doesn't fulfill these mandates? And please note, a little. Canada's culture is hockey. We are a very multicultural country (take it from me, I know), but there's one thing shared between the thousands of races and creeds we find here, it's (again, trust me on this one) hockey!! Ever wanted to find Canadians whilst traveling in other countries, but forgot your Timmy's travel mug back home? Start singing the HNiC song, our second national anthem. I'm willing to bet, as are many others (judging by the comments found on the story on the CBC), that more Canadians could sing you the Hockey Night in Canada song than the real national anthem (it's called O Canada, those of you who don't know).

Now, you might say "but it's time for change! This song is 40 year old!". Or, you might be your run-of-the-mill internet blog-flamer, in which case you might say "WTF STFU YOU n00b!!". If you are the second case, I would kindly ask you not to comment, as you are, for all intents and purposes, the people primary education left behind. If, on the other hand, you are in the first group, this is a good point. Hockey's changing. The nature of the game, right down to the rules, keeps changing. So why not change the song many of us have come to relate to the game? Because this song is a bit like an old blanket - comforting. Certainly to me. All memories of NHL and Olympic hockey, good or bad, can be flushed back from hearing the song. Horrible, heart-in-mouth memories of the playoff exits against the Leafs, memories of epic regular-season thrashings of the Leafs, and all things in between, come back to that song. It's a historic little bit of Canadiana, it comes back to our roots as a people united. I say again, ever want to find Canadians in other countries, start singing the HNiC theme (tried, tested and true! Canadians in Punjab, who would've thought?).

The justification from the CBC, the money issue, is ridiculous. It is part of their mandate to "reflect Canada", to be "predominantly and distinctively Canadian", to "contribute to shared national consciousness and identity". So live up to that. Hockey Night in Canada fans are a passionate bunch, we like our old standards, we love Don, and we'd like for things to remain. Oh, and also, find a better pre-game song artist than Nickelback or Kid Rock, for goodness sake. How about some Hip? Or The Guess Who? BTO? You know - good Canadian music. You boys up in the Seeb (if the BBC is the Beeb, the CBC is the Seeb) need to get your heads out.