Scott Stinson: We’re about to find out if the CBC can survive without NHL hockey broadcasts

Fans surround a CBC TV broadcaster prior to a game between the Ottawa Senators and the Montreal Canadiens during the 2015 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa. Photo by Jana Chytilova /Getty Images

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When Rogers stunned the hockey world in the fall of 2013 by scooping up the whole of the NHL’s national broadcast rights in Canada, Hubert Lacroix, then the head of the CBC, was at the press conference, like a guest at his own funeral.

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Rogers and the CBC had cut a side deal that allowed the privately owned media giant to borrow the public broadcaster’s airwaves to continue airing NHL games, while Rogers would have editorial control and sell ads and keep the revenue.

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Lacroix said at the time that he was “comforted” that the arrangement would allow Hockey Night in Canada, for decades a CBC staple, to remain in some form.

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It was a baffling claim. It was like having someone show up and steal your wife and kids and then declaring that you were comforted that they still let you come to the house for birthdays.

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Somewhat amazingly, that deal, with Hockey Night broadcasts operated by Rogers on the CBC, persisted for the entire 12 years of the Rogers-NHL deal.

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Until now. Both broadcasters announced on Tuesday that the NHL will no longer appear on the CBC when the NHL’s new 12-year, $11-billion contract with Rogers, announced at this time last year, kicks off next fall.

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And now we will find out if the CBC can survive without NHL hockey.

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Back in 2013, the suggestion, coming from the CBC itself, was that it could not. Lacroix’s justification for letting the public broadcaster become a vessel for Rogers’ hockey productions was that it didn’t have the money to fill the airtime that was otherwise filled by Hockey Night in Canada — every Saturday during the NHL season and most nights during the playoffs. The CBC would also get some benefit from brief teaser ads that promoted upcoming programming, but how much value was derived from Chris Cuthbert mentioning the next episode of Murdoch Mysteries while coming out of commercial is up for debate.

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Twelve years ago, it was also true that the CBC had been blindsided by the Rogers-NHL deal. It had no way to plug an NHL-sized hole in its schedule, especially with Stephen Harper, a noted CBC skeptic, then the prime minister. His Conservatives were not about to hand the CBC a giant cheque so it could commission another round of heartwarming family dramas.

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But that excuse has long since passed. Allowing Rogers to continue to borrow the public airwaves was an increasingly ridiculous proposition, especially after the telecom and media giant started throwing more billions into professional sports, including its takeover of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, owner of the Leafs and Raptors. Rogers’ push into sports has also come as the CBC’s television audience has splintered. Far more hockey viewers are used to finding Sportsnet broadcasts on their platform of choice today — TV, computer, phone — than they were in 2013.

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In other words, if Rogers needed the CBC as a partner for its first NHL deal, it’s much less clear that they need it for the second one. (Although at this time last year, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said he was “sure our friends at Rogers will make the right decisions and have the right discussions with the people at the CBC.”)