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Could Some "Hockey Night In Canada" Games Be Moving To TSN??

J

Joseph_Gallant

Guest
As reported on this board, half of the traditional Labor Day doubleheader of CFL football on CBC will instead air on the TSN cable sports network, likely due to the continuing lockout of CBC personnel.

But supposed the lockout extends into early October, and the start of the NHL season??

On a normal Saturday night during the NHL regular-season, CBC's "Hockey Night In Canada" would broadcast a doubleheader, covering at least one early (7:15 P.M. ET) and late (10:05 P.M. ET) game (and sometimes multiple games in either slot, broadcast regionally). But if the CBC employee lockout continues, would the network perhaps cover (or try to cover) only one NHL game each Saturday night and allow TSN to cover the other game(s) scheduled for "HNIC"??

How would such a scenario work?? Based on the 2005/2006 NHL league schedule, I suspect there are three games that CBC would broadcast on Saturday, October 8th (the first Saturday of the regular-season). Two of those games, Montreal at Toronto and Buffalo at Ottawa) would be the early (7:15 P.M. EDT) game, and broadcast regionally (although I suspect the Ottawa/Buffalo game would only be seen on CBOT in Ottawa). The third, Vancouver at Edmonton, would be the late (10:05 P.M. EDT) game and broadcast across the entire network.

But if the CBC employee lockout continues on October 8th, I could see CBC trying (without announcers) to cover the Montreal/Toronto game and "handing-off" the Buffalo/Ottawa and Vancouver/Edmonton games to TSN.

If the CBC lockout does extend into October, it could ruin what the network hoped would be the triumphant return of it's most popular program. The games that are on CBC (likely only one game a week, broadcast to the full network) might still find an audience, but fans will be missing play-by-play announcers, complain about the technical quality of the coverage, and be quite irate that Don Cherry isn't on between periods.

It's interesting that while the schedules for broadcast (NBC) and cable (OLN) coverage of the NHL in the United States have been released, the CBC and TSN schedules, to the best of my knowledge, have not been announced.
 
> If the CBC lockout does extend into October, it could ruin
> what the network hoped would be the triumphant return of
> it's most popular program. The games that are on CBC (likely
> only one game a week, broadcast to the full network) might
> still find an audience, but fans will ... be quite irate that Don Cherry
> isn't on between periods.
>
That is, unless Don Cherry keeps his promise of jumping the pickets to do Hockey Night.
 
I wrote:

> If the CBC lockout does extend into October, it could ruin
> what the network hoped would be the triumphant return of
> it's most popular program......fans will ... be quite irate
> that Don Cherry isn't on between periods.

To which Rugrats 1 responded:

> That is, unless Don Cherry keeps his promise of jumping the
> pickets to do Hockey Night.

If he does, it's possible that once the lockout ends, some CBC workers who work at the network's Toronto studios (where Don Cherry does his "Coach's Corner" segments during the regular-season and early playoff rounds; I believe "Grapes" is on-site for the later playoff games including the Finals) might ask to be reassigned so they don't have to work with him.

Back in 1967, then-NBC co-nachor Chet Huntley crossed a picket line during a strike by AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists), of which Huntley was a member of (he believed on-air newsmen should be in a different union from on-air entertainment personalities), and did his half of the NBC news from New York as usual (Huntley's co-anchor, David Brinkley, did not cross the AFTRA picket line in Brinkley's home base of Washington, so Huntley anchored the news solo for the duration of the strike).

After the strike ended, several union people at NBC News headquarters in New York (but as far as I know, no one in AFTRA) asked to be taken off the "Huntley/Brinkley Report" and be reassigned to other areas in the news department where they would not have to work with him.
 
> I wrote:
>
> > If the CBC lockout does extend into October, it could ruin
>
> > what the network hoped would be the triumphant return of
> > it's most popular program......fans will ... be quite
> irate
> > that Don Cherry isn't on between periods.
>
> To which Rugrats 1 responded:
>
> > That is, unless Don Cherry keeps his promise of jumping
> the
> > pickets to do Hockey Night.
>
> If he does, it's possible that once the lockout ends, some
> CBC workers who work at the network's Toronto studios (where
> Don Cherry does his "Coach's Corner" segments during the
> regular-season and early playoff rounds; I believe "Grapes"
> is on-site for the later playoff games including the Finals)
> might ask to be reassigned so they don't have to work with
> him.
>
> Back in 1967, then-NBC co-nachor Chet Huntley crossed a
> picket line during a strike by AFTRA (American Federation of
> Television and Radio Artists), of which Huntley was a member
> of (he believed on-air newsmen should be in a different
> union from on-air entertainment personalities), and did his
> half of the NBC news from New York as usual (Huntley's
> co-anchor, David Brinkley, did not cross the AFTRA picket
> line in Brinkley's home base of Washington, so Huntley
> anchored the news solo for the duration of the strike).
>
> After the strike ended, several union people at NBC News
> headquarters in New York (but as far as I know, no one in
> AFTRA) asked to be taken off the "Huntley/Brinkley Report"
> and be reassigned to other areas in the news department
> where they would not have to work with him.
>
I heard a rumour(on this site maybe?) that Bob Cole, Harry Neale and possibly Ron MacLean weren't union and that they'd do HNIC if there was still a lockout...

Just a rumour...<P ID="signature">______________

Canada TV and College Radio</P>
 
I know that CBC's television news programs have been knocked-off the air due to the lockout.

On the other hand, perhaps on-air people aren't being locked-out, thus allowing (if the lockout continues into October) "HNIC" announcers to work.

But I also thought CBC has been broadcasting CFL games without announcers. But then again, the announcers working CFL games for CBC might not be among those locked-out, but may have decided that if there were picket lines, they would not cross them.
 
Couldn't they temporarily at least move Don Cherry and Ron McLean to one of the private affilates? CHEX Durham in Oshawa would be the closest to Toronto, amd CKWS in Kingston being closest to Ottawa. Coach's Corner would be based from CHEX Durham. CKWS would produce the Ottawa games for CBOT, while CHEX Durham would produce the Leafs games. One of the French stations in Quebec, such as CKSH in Sherbrooke, could produce the Canadiens games for the French network, and be translated into English through CHEX. In the meantime, CHAT-TV in Medicine Hat could produce Flames games and CKSA-TV Lloydminster could produce Oilers' games for the network; CFJC in Kamloops could produce Canucks games for the network. It could be done.

Thus, I believe the CBC should strike a deal with Corus (CKWS and CHEX-2), Jim Pattison (CHAT and CFJC), Newcap (CKSA), and TQS (CKSH).
 
Interesting idea, not just for the NHL, but for the rest of the CFL season.
 
> I believe the CBC should strike a deal with Corus
> (CKWS and CHEX-2)...

Why not just "CHEX"? I imagine they have better facilities than their Durham translator.

> Newcap (CKSA)...

I thought Lloydminster's CBC station was locally-owned? And do both CBC and CTV stations still leave the air early? I heard they are notoriously cheap.

> and TQS (CKSH).

I think CKSH is wholly-owned by Cogeco, not TQS (which is co-owned by Bell and Cogeco).
 
> > I believe the CBC should strike a deal with Corus
> > (CKWS and CHEX-2)...
>
> Why not just "CHEX"? I imagine they have better facilities
> than their Durham translator.
----------
It doesn't really matter, it's just closer to Toronto. CHEX-2 isn't exactly a translator either, don't let the numerical suffix fool you.

> > Newcap (CKSA)...
>
> I thought Lloydminster's CBC station was locally-owned? And
> do both CBC and CTV stations still leave the air early? I
> heard they are notoriously cheap.
----------
The CRTC approved the purchase of CKSA/CITL by Newcap Inc. from Mid West Television Ltd. on December 22, 2004.

> > and TQS (CKSH).
>
> I think CKSH is wholly-owned by Cogeco, not TQS (which is
> co-owned by Bell and Cogeco).
----------
The CRTC states the owner of CKSH, along with CKTM and CKTV, as TQS Inc. This was from a license renewal in December 2004.
 
I hope someone corrects if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember around '98 or '99 there was some sort of work problem at the CBC. I remember Bob Cole and Harry Neale broadcasting a Leafs-whoever game from the Islanders' arena on Long Island, the same place where MacLean and Cherry did Coaches' Corner. There was little mention made of them being in New York, but it was said maybe once or twice.
I don't remember if that was done more than one weekend.
 
I remember that -- at the time, the Hockey Night crew was announcing games at American venues, by watching the "international" feeds of Canadian games and announced as they watched. This was a loophole to circumvent the union action in Canada involving the technicians.

But, with technical and talent under one roof, will they be able to pull this off again, even if the talent (like Grapes) jumps the pickets?
 
> I remember that -- at the time, the Hockey Night crew was
> announcing games at American venues, by watching the
> "international" feeds of Canadian games and announced as
> they watched. This was a loophole to circumvent the union
> action in Canada involving the technicians.
>
> But, with technical and talent under one roof, will they be
> able to pull this off again, even if the talent (like
> Grapes) jumps the pickets?
>
That's how the first game from the ACC was done. They watched a clean feed from ESPN in Washington, DC and it was sent back with commentators to CBC in Toronto.<P ID="signature">______________

Canada TV and College Radio</P>
 
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