How CBC lost Hockey Night in Canada

...By now we’re all had a chance to come to grips with the stunning revelation last November that Rogers Communications had secured 12 years of NHL broadcast rights on all Canadian platforms for the impossibly rich price of $5.2 Billion.

It was a number no other broadcaster could match. And therefore, after 60 years with “Hockey Night in Canada” as its flagship, audience share crown jewel and in-house mint to finance other programming, the CBC was without Canada’s game.

As internal CBC documents reveal, they had made a pitch, but one it appears based more on winning sympathy than arguing from strength on what it could contribute to the NHL Brand and the nation.

It appears CBC was hoping to land what hockey insiders call “the hometown deal”, one of those contracts that teams offer a star athlete, based not on money or perks, but hoping they can pull on some heartstrings or his childhood dream of playing for the guys he grew up watching.

Really? That felt possible to somebody, anybody at CBC?

More at The Legion of Decency 

h/t Five Feet