indescribableAs every hockey fan in Canada knows by now, the CBC has lost the rights to "The Hockey Theme". The song had been the iconic theme of Hockey Night in Canada for something like 40+ years. But now, CTV has bought the rights to the theme music in perpetuity. Here's the story, from the CBC and the CTV points of view.
The CBC Story
The CTV Story
From the point of view of a hockey fan, this is completely outrageous when you realize that the CBC and CBC Sports decided not to pay for the music that has come to be associated with their broadcasts of Hockey Night in Canada on most Saturday nights during the hockey season. Hockey and Canada are synonymous with that theme music, and the CBC, in their penny pinching fashion and with their short-sightedness of late, have done a disservice to Canadian hockey fans everywhere. On the other hand, CTV had the wisdom to realize that Canadians, even those who aren't hockey fans, would not want to see the theme music just disappear into the sunset, and made the move that CBC should have done years ago in purchasing the theme song in perpetuity.
This is a sad day for the CBC Hockey Night in Canada, but it's a good one for Canadian hockey fans, and the two primary networks for that theme song, TSN and RDS.
Silly CBC. Canadian Broadcasting Company indeed. :(