CBC Sports, Part 2: “Aggressive and innovative” the way forward

As the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. gears up to re-establish itself as a force in Canadian sports programming, the public broadcaster aims to "be more aggressive, more innovative and to use new technology."RELATED LINKS Part I of this storyCBC keeps weekend hockey for another six years Scott Moore, the recently named executive director of CBC Sports, says major priorities will be to boost the amount of sports coverage done in high-definition (HD), experiment with new camera technology, and increase the amount of mobile TV content."The key technology we want to capitalize on is expanding our HD offering in sports - that's the biggest technological breakthrough in the last 20 years and it has made sports the driver in that technology," he states.The CBC launched its second HD mobile production unit at the end of March, and more HD mini-cameras are scheduled to be rolled out in the future. The additional HD unit will enable the public broadcaster to double the number of games it broadcasts in HD for the remainder of the National Hockey League's 2006-07 regular season and playoffs.Its new HD mobile truck, called Encore, will be based in Toronto to handle games in the east, while its first HD unit, Premiere, be based in Calgary and handle games in the west.In addition, the CBC tried a stealth camera on Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC) last month. It's a camera mounted under the clock that can be raised or lowered to provide viewers in front of their TV sets with a different view of the game."It was good...I'm not sure it was great. We'll continue to experiment with things like that in the future," Moore notes. Richard Stursberg, executive VP of CBC Television, has identified mobile TV as an area that he wants the entire network to work on. "But sports can be a driver in that," states Moore, "and we've done good work on special events. We need to present more consistent offerings on the wireless base platforms and also do a better and more consistent job on broadband."For the first time, the NHL agreement allows the CBC to make hockey available on new platforms as they emerge. The CBC will stream its HNIC broadcasts online, and will provide on-demand game coverage and exclusive content to mobile phones. As well, Moore says the public broadcaster has a great history of bringing amateur sport to the airwaves, and a review of its amateur sports involvement is in the works. "We need to make sure that our programming drive and our production dollars are targeted in the most effective way," says Moore."Amateur sport in this country doesn't get the support, I think it deserves from the broadcast community and sponsors," he adds. "I hope that while we may not be the broadcaster for 2010 that the Vancouver Olympics will help drive interest in both summer and winter amateur sports. One of the reasons I took this position is that I'm a big believer in amateur sport."Moore's personal goal is to have Canadians and the industry, in general, recognize the "excellence of CBC Sports.""We have to re-establish ourselves as the leader in sports production in Canada, not only in reality but in perception," he concludes. "When you come from the outside, it's easy to see the negatives or take shots at the public broadcaster. I think we need to be more confident and wave the flag more. We have the best brand in Canadian sports television - Hockey Night in Canada. We are must-see viewing on Saturday nights, and we do the best job of hockey broadcasting in North America. I don't think we should be ashamed to say that."Likewise, French-language public broadcaster Radio-Canada also appears to be beefing up its sports coverage under a new head. Last December, Luc Grenier was named the new director of sports for Radio-Canada's television, radio and Internet initiatives. He has pledged to reverse the direction taken under Michele Fortin, who was executive VP of the Francophone national television network until September 2002, and her predecessor Daniel Gourd, who retired in November 2005.Under Fortin and Gourd, Radio-Canada's sports department was decimated and its Saturday night Soirée du hockey cancelled, despite political pressure aimed at keeping at least some Montreal Canadiens games on the over-the-air waves (CCR Update, June 9/04; CCR, June 7/02).Radio-Canada is now preparing to regain the NHL rights and bring back Soirée du hockey on Saturdays along with the playoffs. Private sports network RDS' rights to the games end after the 2007-08 hockey season. It is believed the rights for the 82 games in 2008-09 will cost between $16 million and $20 million a year.Grenier has pledged to revive the French-language network's sports service to its glory days, bringing back under its fold the 52 employees who were scattered throughout the organization when Soirée du hockey was nixed. The network has also started a nightly sports show called Au dessus de la mêlée and will be launching another new sports show, Exact.

CBC Sports, Part 2: “Aggressive and innovative” the way forward

Broadcast | April 3, 2007

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