{"id":759491,"date":"2026-06-25T14:11:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T14:11:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/759491\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T14:11:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T14:11:10","slug":"hockey-night-in-canada-its-game-over-for-nhl-hockey-on-cbc-but-a-new-era-beckons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/759491\/","title":{"rendered":"Hockey Night in Canada: It\u2019s game over for NHL hockey on CBC, but a new era beckons"},"content":{"rendered":"

After nearly 75 years, the final horn has sounded<\/a> on CBC\u2019s iconic Hockey Night in Canada program. The recent decision by CBC and Rogers Communications to end the sub-licensing deal that allowed CBC to air National Hockey League games has been met with a mix of anger, regret, disappointment and sadness<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Some called for defunding the national public broadcaster and others bemoaned the failures of successive federal governments to properly invest in the CBC. Many other Canadians, however, mourned the loss while simultaneously breathing a sigh of relief when the CBC finally handed over NHL broadcasting rights to private, for-profit networks.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s certainly a good time to reminisce and reflect<\/a> on the significance of this cherished tradition of Canadian culture. <\/p>\n

But a more fulsome discussion moves beyond emotion and nostalgia for a bygone era. It recognizes the historical relationship between CBC and Canada\u2019s game, how the NHL and the media landscape have fundamentally changed and considers the opportunities that may lie ahead.<\/p>\n

The \u2018Hockey Night in Canada\u2019 tradition<\/p>\n

What developed into a time-honoured tradition uniting hockey fans across the country originated in the 1920s with the first radio broadcasts<\/a>. Radio broadcaster Foster Hewitt\u2019s<\/a> greeting \u2014 \u201cHello Canada and hockey fans in the United States and Newfoundland\u201d \u2014 became just as recognizable as his signature call \u201che shoots, he scores!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Canadian radio broadcaster Foster Hewitt in his office in 1945.
\n (WikiMedia Commons\/Archives of Ontario)<\/p>\n

In 1936, the newly established Canadian Broadcasting Corporation took over the Saturday night broadcast of NHL games and renamed it Hockey Night in Canada. Radio helped propel the game\u2019s growth for the next two decades. By 1952, CBC and the NHL were ready for prime-time television. <\/p>\n

Despite fears<\/a> that televised games would hurt ticket sales in the Toronto and Montr\u00e9al markets, the NHL supported Hockey Night in Canada because of its potential to reach a national viewing audience. Canadians watched, sponsors signed on and the game exploded in popularity from coast to coast. <\/p>\n

\"Two<\/a><\/p>\n

Governor General David Johnston invests hockey broadcaster Dick Irvin into the Order of Canada during a ceremony at Rideau Hall in Ottawa in May 2014.
\n THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Sean Kilpatrick<\/p>\n

In the following decades, hockey became synonymous with Hockey Night in Canada and it became a Saturday night staple. When fans recall their favourite NHL moments, they hear the voices of those who brought them to life. Among the announcers were Hewitt, Ren\u00e9 Lecavalier, Danny Gallivan, Dick Irvin and Bob Cole. <\/p>\n

Their voices captured the \u201cfeel and flow\u201d<\/a> of the game for those tuning in. Hockey Night in Canada was the conduit through which generations of Canadians experienced professional hockey. And they did so for free, in the comfort of their own homes, alongside family and friends. <\/p>\n

A changing landscape<\/p>\n

The final quarter of the 20th century witnessed transformative changes in both the sports media industry and professional hockey. In short, they became big business. <\/p>\n

Cable sports entertainment competed for content, which expanded to NHL hockey, especially following the trade of superstar Wayne Gretzky<\/a>. The NHL\u2019s subsequent exposure in the United States brought higher revenues for the league and eventually its players. <\/p>\n

Competition gradually stiffened among media outlets to secure television rights, placing enormous pressure on CBC as it saw its funding drastically cut<\/a>. By 2013, it could no longer compete with Rogers Communications for sole NHL broadcasting rights and instead struck a deal to sub-license them. Since then, however, fans have turned digital, live-streaming hockey games through their personal electronic devices and watching them on the Rogers Sportsnet app. <\/p>\n

CBC has also felt the erosion of trust in public institutions, not helped by decisions made by their for-profit partner.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

The signage of a Huawei office is pictured in Kanata, Ont. in May 2022.
\n THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Sean Kilpatrick<\/p>\n

Particularly damaging was the backlash created when Rogers Media signed a multi-year deal<\/a> with Chinese telecom giant Huawei as Hockey Night in Canada\u2018s major sponsor. Accusations of Huawei being a threat to national security quickly followed, prompting calls to boycott the company\u2019s products.<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The latest blight on Hockey Night in Canada and its broadcasters is the proliferation of in-program advertising by sports betting companies<\/a>. Growing numbers of Canadians find this trend of the NHL cozying up to gambling alarming and want it banned<\/a>. <\/p>\n

A new era dawns<\/p>\n

Though the end of Hockey Night in Canada provides closure for many, it hits particularly hard as the country\u2019s sovereignty is under threat. The loss is yet another blow to the cultural fabric of the country, which has recently lost the Snowbirds<\/a>, the Hudson\u2019s Bay Company<\/a>, door-to-door postal delivery<\/a> and even the beloved Canadian Cherry Blossom<\/a> candy. <\/p>\n

There have long been calls to protect Canada\u2019s icons and traditions, including Hockey Night in Canada, as a matter of cultural citizenship<\/a>. CBC\u2019s mandate<\/a> includes providing programming that entertains and contributes to a shared national consciousness and identity, which for all of its history featured hockey as the national game. <\/p>\n

The end of the sub-licensing deal, of course, does not preclude CBC from continuing its efforts to unite Canadians in this way. <\/p>\n

In fact, a renewed CBC focus on the youth, amateur and professional women\u2019s hockey<\/a> may indeed strengthen Canadian identity. The public broadcaster can achieve this if allowed to operate unfettered from the strict for-profit strategies of corporate media giants and the risky and morally troubling relationships they engage in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After nearly 75 years, the final horn has sounded on CBC\u2019s iconic Hockey Night in Canada program. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":759492,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-759491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=759491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/759491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/759492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=759491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=759491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=759491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}