CBC Sports, Part I: new blood brings new hopes

Don't count the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. out of sports yet. The public broadcaster will become more aggressive in bidding on professional sports properties where and when it makes sense, says newly appointed executive director of CBC Sports Scott Moore. And inking a six-year extension with the National Hockey League for rights past the 2007-08 season this week has set the public broadcaster on the right course.Moore is optimistic about the CBC's continued role in bringing both professional and amateur sports coverage to the Canadians, even though the public broadcaster will lose the rights to Canadian Football League (CFL) games for at least five years beginning in 2008, as well as the rights to Canadian Curling Association tournaments for six years beginning in 2008-09, to private sports specialty service TSN."We're not an all-sports network; we're a general interest network but we will be involved in the sports business, both professional and amateur. Just because we lost a couple of rights deals, doesn't mean we're folding up out tent and going home," notes Moore."The message that I'm trying to get out to the marketplace in a strong way is that you're going to win some, you're going to lose some, but we are most definitely open for business and will continue to be aggressive in bidding for rights that make sense for us," he says. "Hopefully, we'll win more than we lose."But TSN today is the force to be reckoned with in Canadian sports broadcasting. In addition to CFL and curling deals, it has a multi-year broadcast agreement with NASCAR Busch Series and NASCAR Canadian Tire Series along with a two-year extension until 2007-08 to its rights deal with the National Basketball Association (NBA), including exclusive Canadian coverage of the NBA finals.It also has a four-year extension running until 2010 for the Professional Golf Association (PGA) Tour, a four-year extension until 2011 for the men's World Hockey championships and a seven-year extension until 2014 for 11 key Hockey Canada tournaments, including the IIHF World Junior championship.Finally, the sports channel also broadcasts Sunday and Monday night National Football League (NFL) games, some NHL games, including the first three rounds of the Stanley Cup playoffs (usually non-Canadian teams), and in conjunction with Rogers Sportsnet, has won the rights to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games.But Moore says the public broadcaster has its own strategy. Aside from the NHL deal announced earlier this week, it's targeting a number of other properties. While he would not specify which as negotiations are ongoing, Moore says the CBC is reportedly looking to fill the hole from losing CFL coverage after the 2007 season with a package of Toronto Blue Jays games on Sunday afternoons.Moore dismisses arguments made by the private broadcasters that the CBC should get out of commercially viable sports coverage."I think it's important that over-the-air networks be involved in sports. It's a huge part of the broadcast industry and CBC has historically had a part in sports," he says. "Other broadcasters have not done nearly as much in sports. CTV doesn't really do that much in sports, because they put it almost all on TSN. Global does mostly American sports. I think it's a key part of what CBC should do.""People who say we should be out of sports just because they are commercially viable is a bit of an odd argument. Why shouldn't we be involved in properties that can make the public broadcaster money; it helps support other things that are more mandate driven," Moore says.Moreover, Moore views CBC's Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC) as a legitimate cultural icon in this country. "It is not only important to us as a network but I think it's important that it's a cultural institution in Canada," he notes. NHIC is regularly among the top 10 programs in Canada each week based on ratings, and the CBC can use the show as a platform to promote its other programs.In developing such properties as Hockey Day in Canada, the public broadcaster is reflecting its commitment to the sport in the country, not just the NHL, adds Moore.The CBC managed last September to pick up the rights to FIFA soccer, including this summer's Under-20 World Cup, for all its platforms (eight national radio and TV networks, websites, regional stations and affiliates) through to 2014.Although he refers to soccer as "a ratings winner," Moore says he's just delving into that file and can't provide any details on what to expect.Just a month after acquiring those soccer rights, however, CBC Sports was left without leadership until Moore's arrival this month. In October 2006, Nancy Lee, the former CBC Sports executive director with 20 years experience at the public broadcaster, stepped down to become chief operating officer of the host broadcast team for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Having worked at the Athens and Torino Olympic Games through his own independent production company, Vancouver-based Top Notch Studios, Moore professes not to be too bothered that the CBC will not be at the Olympics on home turf in 2010 or in London in 2012. "Rights come and go. The CBC has been a leader in Olympic broadcast coverage in the world historically. We wish that those rights negotiations had turned out differently, but they didn't," he says. "But we'll most definitely be in the bidding when those rights come up again for the 2014 Games."Part II of this article based on an interview with CBC Sports head Scott Moore will appear on Tuesday, April 3.

CBC Sports, Part I: new blood brings new hopes

News | 03/29/2007 10:14 am EDT

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