CBC Sports

Last updated

CBC Sports
CBC Sports Logo.png
Division of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Owner Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Key peopleChris Wilson, Executive Director
Headquarters Canadian Broadcasting Centre, Toronto, Ontario
Major broadcasting contracts Hockey Night in Canada (controlled by Rogers Media beginning 2014)
Olympics
IAAF Golden League
Grand Slam of Curling
Official website cbcsports.ca

CBC Sports is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for English-language sports broadcasting. The CBC's sports programming primarily airs on CBC Television, CBCSports.ca, and CBC Radio One. (The CBC's French-language Radio-Canada network also produces sports programming.)

Contents

Once the country's dominant sports broadcaster, in recent years it has lost many of its past signature properties – such as the Canadian Football League, Toronto Blue Jays baseball, Canadian Curling Association championships, the Olympic Games for a period, the FIFA World Cup, and the National Hockey League – to the cable specialty channels TSN and Sportsnet. The CBC has maintained partial rights to the NHL as part of a sub-licensing agreement with current rightsholder Rogers Media (maintaining the Saturday-night Hockey Night in Canada and playoff coverage), although this coverage is produced by Sportsnet, as opposed to the CBC itself as was the case in the past.

As a result of funding reductions from the federal government, increased costs for licensing, and decreased revenues, in April 2014, the CBC announced it would no longer bid for professional sports broadcasting rights. [1] The CBC has since used its digital platforms to provide overflow coverage of events not on television, and simulcasts of television coverage. Since then, the CBC's in-house sports coverage has been largely focused on Olympic sports, other domestic amateur and semi-professional competitions such as the Canadian Hockey League (CHL), along with coverage of Spruce Meadows' show jumping competitions.

The majority of CBC Television's sports coverage is broadcast on weekend afternoons, under the blanket title CBC Sports Presents (formerly Road to the Olympic Games from 2015 to 2022, and CBC Sports Weekend prior to 2015). [2] [3] CBC Sports also streams all of its programming, as well as other event coverage not shown on television, via its website and digital platforms.

Former CEO of Curling Canada Greg Stremlaw was the head of CBC Sports from April 10, 2015 [4] [2] to January, 2019. [5]

Sports properties

Current/upcoming

Olympics and Pan Am

Hockey

Alpine Skiing

Baseball

Curling

Cricket

Equine sports

Figure Skating

Football

Rugby

Track & Field

Other Sports

Past properties

Hockey

Horse racing

Soccer

Baseball

Multi-sports competitions

Basketball

Football

Figure Skating

Curling

Canoe Sprint

Tennis

Notable personalities (past and present)

Ron MacLean and Scott Russell talk on an escalator at Sherway Gardens. CBC Live at Sherway Ron Mclean Scott.jpg
Ron MacLean and Scott Russell talk on an escalator at Sherway Gardens.

Directors

Hall of Fame

CBC Sports Hall of Fame recognizes those broadcasters of CBC Sports who have made a unique and lasting contribution to CBC and to the sports broadcasting industry. [29]

Proposed CBC SportsPlus channel

In 2008, the CBC received CRTC approval for a sports specialty channel, "CBC SportsPlus", which would have aired a mix of amateur and professional sports. The application was controversial, with CTVglobemedia, Rogers Media, and The Score among others filing interventions against the channel for being unduly competitive with existing sports channels (therefore violating the CRTC's then-policy of genre protection among specialty channels). They showed particular concern for the CBC stating that it planned to devote 75% of its programming to professional sports. The CRTC approved the license application, but restricted it to only devoting 30% of its schedule per-week to professional sports, with only 10% of this quota allowed to be devoted to "professional stick and/or ball sports". [30] [31]

The channel, however, never launched.

Related Research Articles

<i>Hockey Night in Canada</i> CBC broadcasts of the National Hockey League in Canada

CBC Television has aired National Hockey League (NHL) broadcasts under the Hockey Night in Canada brand that is primarily associated with its Saturday night NHL broadcasts throughout its history in various platforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Citytv</span> Canadian television network owned by Rogers Communications

Citytv is a Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The network consists of six owned-and-operated (O&O) television stations located in the metropolitan areas of Halifax, Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, and Vancouver, a cable-only service that serves the province of Saskatchewan, and three independently owned affiliates serving smaller cities in Alberta and British Columbia.

The Sports Network (TSN) is a Canadian English language discretionary sports specialty channel owned by CTV Specialty Television, owned jointly by Bell Media (70%) and ESPN Inc. (30%), itself a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. TSN was established by the Labatt Brewing Company in 1984 as part of the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels. TSN is the largest specialty channel in Canada in terms of gross revenue, with a total of CA$400.4 million in revenue in 2013.

Sportsnet is a Canadian English-language discretionary sports specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media. It was established in 1998 as CTV Sportsnet, a joint venture between CTV, Liberty Media, and Rogers Media. CTV parent Bell Globemedia then was required to divest its stake in the network following its 2001 acquisition of competing network TSN. Rogers then became the sole owner of Sportsnet in 2004 after it bought the remaining minority stake that was held by Fox.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Cole (sportscaster)</span> Canadian sportscaster (born 1933)

Robert Cecil Cole is a Canadian former sports television announcer who has worked for CBC and Sportsnet and former competitive curler. He is known primarily for his work on Hockey Night in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Chevrier</span> Canadian sports announcer (1937–2007)

Don Chevrier was a Canadian sports announcer. He worked in television and radio, and was born in Toronto, Ontario.

Sportsnet 360 (SN360) is a Canadian discretionary specialty channel owned by Rogers Media. The channel was launched in 1994 as the licence-exempt service Sportscope, which featured a display of sports news and scores. In 1997, the network was re-launched under Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) licensing as Headline Sports, adding anchored segments to its rolling sports news programming. In 2000, the network gained the ability to air occasional broadcasts of live sporting events, and was re-launched as The Score. In 2012, the network's parent company Score Media announced that it would sell the network to Rogers Communications, which owns the competing Sportsnet family of sports television networks; in 2013, the network was re-branded as Sportsnet 360.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rod Black</span> Canadian sportscaster

Rod Black is a Canadian sports announcer best known for his work with CTV Sports and TSN from 1990 to 2021. He is now a host and brand ambassador for NorthStar Bets, a brand of NorthStar Gaming.

Dave Randorf is a Canadian sportscaster who serves as the play-by-play announcer for the television broadcasts of the National Hockey League's Tampa Bay Lightning. He is best known for his work at TSN hosting the network's Canadian Football League studio show as well as TSN's and CTV's coverage of figure skating. He also did play-by-play for the NHL on TSN, World Hockey Championship, and the National Lacrosse League on TSN.

CTV Sports was the division of the CTV Television Network responsible for sports broadcasting. The division existed in its own right from 1961 to 2001; between 1998 and 2001, CTV Sports also operated a cable sports network, CTV Sportsnet, now owned by Rogers Media and known simply as Sportsnet.

Sports broadcasting contracts in Canada include:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Cuthbert</span> Canadian play-by-play sportscaster

Chris Cuthbert is a Canadian sportscaster. He currently serves as the lead play-by-play commentator with CBC Sports/Sportsnet for Hockey Night in Canada, and calls most national and regional games for the Toronto Maple Leafs on the network. Formerly, he worked for TSN, NBC, and CBC Sports in a multitude of roles. He and Glen Suitor were the lead broadcast team for the CFL on TSN from 2008 to 2019 before Cuthbert gave that lead play-by-play role to Rod Smith.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium</span> Consortium of broadcasters that aired 2010 and 2012 Olympic coverage

Established in 2007, Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium was a joint venture set up by Canadian media companies Bell Media and Rogers Media to produce the Canadian broadcasts of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England, as well as the two corresponding Paralympic Games. Bell owned 80% of the joint venture, and Rogers owned 20%.

Sportsnet One is a Canadian English-language discretionary digital cable and satellite specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media; it operates as a national sports channel complementing the Sportsnet group of regional sports networks. In addition to the national feed, the service operates a number of additional part-time "companion channels" which carry programming restricted to the local broadcast territories of the teams involved, such that the main feed remains available nationwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TVA Sports</span> Canadian sports network

TVA Sports is a Canadian French-language sports specialty channel owned by the Groupe TVA, a publicly traded subsidiary of Quebecor Media. The channel is a general-interest sports network, and the first major competitor to RDS, the only other French-language sports channel in the country.

<i>NHL on Sportsnet</i> Television series

NHL on Sportsnet is the blanket title for presentations of the National Hockey League broadcast held by a Canadian media corporation, Rogers Communications, showing on its television channel Sportsnet and other networks owned by or affiliated with its Rogers Media division, as well as the Sportsnet Radio chain. Sportsnet previously held the national cable rights for NHL regular season and playoff games from 1998 to 2002. In November 2013, Rogers reached a 12-year deal to become the exclusive national television and digital rightsholder for the NHL in Canada, beating out both CBC Sports and TSN.

<i>Tim & Friends</i> Canadian TV series or program

Tim & Friends is a sports talk show hosted by Tim Micallef that was produced by the Canadian sports television network Sportsnet where it aired. The program, originally known as Tim & Sid and hosted by Micallef and Sid Seixeiro, was established in 2011 as an afternoon radio show on CJCL. The program gained a television simulcast on The Score in 2013. On July 1, 2015, the program was re-launched on Sportsnet as a dedicated television program. On October 14, 2019, the Tim & Sid telecasts began simulcasting on CJCL, replacing Prime Time Sports as its late afternoon drive program. Seixeiro left the show in 2021, and the show was rebranded as Tim & Friends. During the summer of 2021, Tim & Friends stopped being simulcasted on CJCL and again became a dedicated television program. Tim & Friends concluded its run in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Hockey League on television</span> Overview of North American professional ice hockey on television

The National Hockey League (NHL) is shown on national television in the United States and Canada. With 25 teams in the U.S. and 7 in Canada, the NHL is the only one of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada that maintains separate national broadcasters in each country, each producing separate telecasts of a slate of regular season games, playoff games, and the Stanley Cup Finals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NHL on television in the 2010s</span>

On April 19, 2011, after ESPN, Turner Sports, and Fox Sports placed bids, NBC Sports announced it had reached a ten-year extension to its U.S. television contract with the NHL worth nearly $2 billion over the tenure of the contract. The contract would cover games on both NBC and sister cable channel Versus, which became part of the NBC Sports family as the result of Versus parent Comcast's controlling purchase of NBC Universal earlier in 2011.

References

  1. "CBC to cut 657 jobs, will no longer compete for professional sports rights". CBC News. April 10, 2014. Retrieved April 10, 2014.
  2. 1 2 "CBC Sports launches Road to the Olympic Games". CBC Sports. Retrieved October 23, 2015.
  3. CBC Public Relations (October 20, 2022). "CBC SPORTS TO PROVIDE EXTENSIVE COVERAGE OF THE ISU GRAND PRIX OF FIGURE SKATING SEASON, BEGINNING OCTOBER 21" . Retrieved July 7, 2023. CBC SPORTS PRESENTS will be live on location to provide broadcast coverage on CBC TV and CBC Gem.
  4. "Greg Stremlaw Appointed CBC's Head of Sports". CBC.ca. Archived from the original on September 11, 2015. Retrieved September 4, 2015.
  5. "'Opportunity knocks': Greg Stremlaw leaves CBC Sports for United Soccer League". CBC.
  6. "Canadian Hockey League announces new multi-year broadcast partnerships". CHL. July 21, 2021. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
  7. "CBC Sports becomes exclusive English-language digital broadcaster of U SPORTS National Championships through 2025". U Sports. September 20, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
  8. "CBC Sports to showcase Canada's Little League Baseball". CBC Sports. Retrieved August 11, 2017.
  9. Mann, Colin (July 25, 2023). "CBC Sports airs Global T20 Canada" . Retrieved July 26, 2023.
  10. "CBC to broadcast 2019 Vanier Cup" (Press release). 3downnation.com. November 2, 2019. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
  11. "CBC Sports becomes exclusive English-language digital broadcaster of U SPORTS National Championships through 2025". U Sports. September 20, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
  12. "CBC Sports, Toronto Wolfpack announce broadcast agreement". CBC Sports. Retrieved March 20, 2017.
  13. "CBC Sports becomes exclusive English-language digital broadcaster of U SPORTS National Championships through 2025". U Sports. September 20, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
  14. "CBC Sports becomes exclusive English-language digital broadcaster of U SPORTS National Championships through 2025". U Sports. September 20, 2021. Retrieved October 21, 2023.
  15. "CBC signs broadcast deal with Toronto FC". CBC News . April 11, 2007. Archived from the original on April 4, 2023.
  16. "CBC Sports, Mediapro Canada partner to provide 20-game package of CPL season". CanPL.ca. April 18, 2019. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  17. "CBC/Radio-Canada premier media partner of 2017 North American Indigenous Games". CBC Sports. January 20, 2017.
  18. "CBC Sports signs broadcast deal with Raptors". CBC News. August 1, 2007. Retrieved October 3, 2007.
  19. "Year-old Canadian Elite Basketball League signs broadcast deal with CBC". Penticton Herald. Retrieved December 19, 2019.
  20. "Rogers extends sponsorship of Rogers Cup". Sportsnet.ca. Retrieved May 19, 2015.
  21. DeGeer, Vern (October 30, 1965). "Good Morning". The Montreal Gazette. Retrieved February 27, 2024.
  22. Artiss, Laurie (April 7, 1967). "Hot of the Press Items". The Leader-Post. Retrieved February 27, 2024.
  23. "New Sports Chief Named". The Windsor Star. December 23, 1970. Retrieved February 27, 2024.
  24. "Appointments". Cinema Canada. February 1977.
  25. "Smith appointed new chief of CBC Television Sports". The Globe and Mail. July 22, 1988.
  26. "Nancy Lee Appointed COO of Olympic Broadcast Services". Broadcaster. November 17, 2006. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved November 24, 2014.
  27. Kennedy, Brendan (November 10, 2010). "Shakeup in sports broadcasting". Toronto Star.
  28. Rody, Bree (July 5, 2019). "CBC ups Chris Wilson to head sports". Media In Canada. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
  29. "CBC Sports Hall of Fame adds 4 members". CBC News. September 27, 2010. Archived from the original on September 29, 2010.
  30. "CBC's all-sports channel bid comes under fire". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved January 9, 2020.
  31. Government of Canada, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) (August 20, 2008). "Archived - CBC SportsPlus - Category 2 specialty service". crtc.gc.ca. Retrieved January 9, 2020.