A Bit Of Everything Sports

Point Shots - The Song

I would be remiss if i didn’t touch on the acquisition of the ‘Hockey Song’ by ctvglobemediatoday from Copyright Music & Visuals.At first i thought, wow, CBC you just got bitchslapped by CTV. They just came into your sandbox and stole your Tonka Truck!When the CBC couldn’t negotiate a deal and let the deadline pass on a possible contract extension I instinctively questioned the thought process. How can you not reach a deal? How hard is it to keep this National tradition going? Why would you trade in history to have armatures submit new music in a contest? The CBC has never been ones to do things well, see Road to Avonlea... but especially in the hockey field. They hang onto the wrong people for too long (Bob Cole and Harry Neal) and let the right people go too early (Dave Hodge,Chris Cuthbert and Brian Williams). Then they have had trouble showing “other” games on Saturday nights, not that a Leafs-Panthers game isn’t compelling. At this point i realize that my initial outrage may have been misplaced. The main thing is that the CTV did make the effort to get the rights and will use it the way it should be, for hockey and the fact that hey signed a very “Canadian“ deal recently with all their games featuring a Canadian team and the Olympics. Sure it will be a change to hear it on Wednesday nights and not Saturday but maybe this public broadcaster, who should steer clear of any bidding wars for music. Weather they were playing hardball or not with the rights holder really doesn’t matter in the end. Maybe the CBC use this as a fresh start to revive the Saturday franchise. With Jim Hughson stepping to the front next year and the emergence of quality younger people like Kelly Hrudey, Cassie Campbell (Maybe Gary Galley, we arn’t sure yet) and Elliotte Friedman who really do an excellent job, this may just be good in the long run.
Nothing is forever and like people always say “If Gretzky can be traded, anything can happen”
Lets just hope that this works out best for everyone, not just the networks but especially the fans.