Ottawa Steps Into CBC Dispute

[Joseph_Gallant]

It's finally happening, and was perhaps inevitable.

This Monday (September 26th), Canadian Labor Minister Joe Fontana has requested CBC management and leaders of the Canadian Media Guild (the union that has been locked-out by the CBC) to Ottawa in an attempt to end the CBC lockout.

Although I believe Monday is the opening day of the Fall session of Parliament, the real reason for the timing of this meeting is eleven words long: "Hockey Night In Canada" is scheduled to return on October 8th. By the time Monday's talks begin, it will be T-Minus 12 days and counting to the scheduled return of "HNIC".

"HNIC" is the only CBC television program that consistently makes the top 30 in the BBM ratings (and is in fact usually at or near the very top of the BBM ratings).

There are three scheduled games on October 8th: Two starting at 7:10 P.M. EDT (Buffalo at Ottawa, scheduled to be broadcast only on CBOT-4 in Ottawa; and Montreal at Toronto, which is scheduled to air on the rest of the network) and one "late" game at 10:05 P.M. EDT (Vancouver at Edmonton, which is scheduled to be seen across the full network).

Should hockey fans tune-in their local CBC station at 7 P.M. ET that evening and hear a management type announce that "'Hockey Night In Canada' will not be seen until further notice", you can bet that hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of Canadians will make angry phone calls to the CBC, the league, local newspapers, their local MP's, and even the Prime Minister's office to demand their "HNIC"!

To me, it's obvious that there is a deadline: October 8th. It would be ironic if the return of the NHL, which just ended a lockout, to Canadian over-the-air network television is delayed due to another lockout.

Click here for a story from the CMG website to get details from the union's perspective. Click here for a news story from CBC's website. Note that this story is indicated as being from "CBC News". I don't think very many news stories on the CBC website have been credited to "CBC News" since the lockout started.

 

[Radiofreewill]

About damn time. While it's been fun watching a major broadcaster reduced to this shambles, there's a limit to how much of that shambles is watchable.<P ID="signature">______________
The only thing I gotta do is stay terrestrial and die!</P>

 

[rugrats1]

> Should hockey fans tune-in their local CBC station at 7 P.M.
> ET that evening and hear a management type announce that
> "'Hockey Night In Canada' will not be seen until further
> notice", you can bet that hundreds of thousands (if not
> millions) of Canadians will make angry phone calls...
> to demand their "HNIC"!
>

At the least, CBC management would broadcast the Toronto-Montreal game on all stations, with Buffalo-Ottawa and Vancouver-Edmonton untelevised. To cancel Hockey Night wholesale during the lockout is an act of war in Canada.

> I don't think very many news stories
> on the CBC website have been credited to "CBC News" since
> the lockout started.
>
I didn't even know that there was a "CBC News" during the lockout, with all its staff either on the streets or at college radio stations.

 

[Calgaryperson]

Wow...

The National Hockey League really does have some pull around this country. Before the season starts, THATS when Ottawa intervenes. No, not at the start of the new TV season, not when breaking news strikes but just before the NHL starts.

And there will STILL be folks who say that we're better off without the CBC.

(For the record, I don't watch hockey regularly).

/rant<P ID="signature">______________

Canada TV and College Radio</P>

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

Rugrats 1 commented (regarding the scheduled October 8th return of "Hockey Night In Canada"):

> At the least, CBC management would broadcast the
> Toronto-Montreal game on all stations, with Buffalo-Ottawa
> and Vancouver-Edmonton untelevised. To cancel Hockey Night
> wholesale during the lockout is an act of war in Canada.

I do know that CBC managament has produced without announcers) some CFL football games during the lockout.

But if the CBC lockout continues on October 8th, we could see the following:

(1) Given that the Toronto Maple Leafs will play the Montreal Canadiens in Toronto, home of the largest CMG local, the union could decide to mount a massive picket line at Air Canada Centre, whether or not it becomes the only NHL game CBC tries to cover that night.

(2) The picket line may be so "loud" and "angry" that CBC management personnel might be heckled as they go in (I believe Air Canada Centre, like many new arenas, has their own in-house TV production setup, so CBC would not need to send a remote truck there for a Leafs' game it covers for "Hockey Night In Canada"; otherwise, a remote truck might not get to park close enough to the building for cameras to be hooked-up to it).

(3) Other unions working in the building (electricians, ticket-trakers, ushers, concession workers, non-Police security personnel, and yes, even the players) might decide to honor the picket line. Should that happen, the game itself might have to be cancelled.

(4) Although the CMG locals in Ottawa and Edmonton (the two other cities where "HNIC" games on the 8th will originate from) are much smaller than the local that's based in Toronto, I could see the locals in those two cities also setting-up picket lines if the CBC tries to televsie all three scheduled "HNIC" games that evening. CMG members from Calgary may be sent-up to Edmontoin to bolster the picket line there, and a few Toronto people not picketing there may be sent to Ottawa to bolster the picket line there. The CMG would, at the very least, be hoping to prevent CBC from televising the games. Again, if other unions who have members working in those arenas decide to honor the picket lines, those games also might be in jeopardy.

(5) CBC's CFL coverage gets moderate ratings. "Hockey Night In Canada" is CBC's most popular program, one of Canada's five most popular TV shows, and often during the NHL season is the most popular program on all of Canadian television. The "stakes are higher", and I think the CMG will (assuming the lockout is still underway on October 8th) make a real effort to try to prevent the "triumphant return" of "HNIC". Thus, I think the union will move agressively to "rain on CBC's parade".

I personally think that if the CBC lockout is still underway on October 8th, there's a very good chance that massive picket lines outside of areans in Toronto, Ottawa, and Edmonton will likely prevent the CBC from being able to televise any of the three scheduled "HNIC" games that evening. That's when the angry phone calls from outraged viewers will begin.

And that's why talks will begin tomorrow (September 26th) in Ottawa. The government is not dumb. They know that "HNIC" is about to return, and were it's return to be delayed due to a CBC labor dispute, they would have been criticized for not doing enough to give Canadians their "HNIC".

 

[Joe_Capitano]

> (2) ... (I believe Air Canada Centre, like many new arenas, has
> their own in-house TV production setup, so CBC would not need to
> send a remote truck there for a Leafs' game it covers for
> "Hockey Night In Canada"; ...).

Hmmm. One can see it now. We see the game, but with it we see in-house ads and continuity as well - and no Bob, Harry, Scott, or especially Ron or 'Grapes'. The CMG would love that. And, what if the union - if any - which covers the ACC's Production team won't cooperate? Odds are they'll side with the CMG.

But beyond sports, you just know Parliament is just feeling really comfy cozy about not having the Governor General's installation televised on the very public broadcaster they subsidize. As they say in this one Geico ad, "This is not awesome." It's a good thing CPAC's running what was the CBC Parliamentary Network these days.

Lest we forget, whatever happens to HNIC will be seen not only in Canada, but by every statesider who either lives close enough to a border station (like me), who gets the CBC via Canadian DBS services, or those who fork over the bucks for the NHL subscription package. The embarassment will be huge.

Going from memory, I recall the night in the 80s when, after a few days of affecting the telecast by covering commercial announcements, the CBC's technical crew walked out (or was shown the door) right smack in the middle of a playoff game. USA was televising the same pictures Canadians watched, which meant all of North America was forced to look at the crowd for the better part on an hour before managers could take over. Then, when the game ended, the feed was cut before Don Wittman could throw to break. A logo card came up, a taped "One Moment Please" was heard, the music began and the CBC was shut down.

There's one good week left to end this before HNIC might be affected. It's time. Someone get those negotiators into a room (especially the CBC guys), lock it, throw away the key, and make them hammer out the final terms.

And then, fire Rabinowich. Enough with the lockouts and the non-stop color bars after sign-off (in CBC labor action terms, the equivalent of an upside-down U.S. flag).

(...and I wanna hear Moe Koffman's flute again at 6:30, As It Happens.)

 

[rugrats1]

>
> Hmmm. One can see it now. We see the game, but with it we
> see in-house ads and continuity as well - and no Bob, Harry,
> Scott, or especially Ron or 'Grapes'. The CMG would love
> that.

But didn't Don Cherry said that he was not going to honor the pickets?

> Enough with the lockouts and the
> non-stop color bars after sign-off (in CBC labor action
> terms, the equivalent of an upside-down U.S. flag).
>
Doesn't the CBC usually show test patterns after closedown, anyway? If they appear during prime time, when regular programming was supposed to be on, then that's a signal of concern.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

Rugrats 1 notes:

> But didn't Don Cherry said that he was not going to honor
> the pickets?

I think he did.

I just hope he can do play-by-play.

If CBC can get management crews to produce telecasts out of Toronto and Edmonton on October 8th (unless the lockout is over), and if "Grapes" can try doing play-by-play, he could sit in front of a monitor at the CBC Broadcast Centre in Toronto, watch the games and do a play-by-play description.

It could be a very colorful description!

 

[Joe_Capitano]

> But didn't Don Cherry said that he was not going to honor
> the pickets?

No, exactly the opposite. He's indicated he won't be back until the dispute is settled. Click Here for the proof. I'd send you to the Globe and Mail, but they want your money first.

> Doesn't the CBC usually show test patterns after closedown,
> anyway?

Yeah, but they don't routinely run the transmitter all night (except during the Olympics or needed maintenance time). Every time the CBC has been in the midst of a labor dispute or strike, the transmitter keeps radiating after sign-off. Like I said, it's their version of the Upside-down U.S. flag.

 

[rugrats1]

> > Doesn't the CBC usually show test patterns after
> closedown,
> > anyway?
>
> Yeah, but they don't routinely run the transmitter all night
> (except during the Olympics or needed maintenance time).


Of course, you can never tell if you're watching the CBC on a dish or on cable with a direct fiber link to the CBC studios -- they're always on with their test patterns all night.

 

[Joe_Capitano]

> Of course, you can never tell if you're watching the CBC on
> a dish or on cable ...

I have neither. I get my CBC using a good ol' fashioned outdoor antenna. And the CBC hasn't turned off the juice after signoff since the lockout began (at least not in Vancouver).