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Sports & Play

CTV "Saves" The Hockey Theme

Posted by Joshua / June 9, 2008

31 Comments

Hockey Night in Canada
The familiar theme to Hockey Night in Canada will live on, but on a different network for different programming. CTV made a surprise announcement today that they have secured exclusive rights to The Hockey Theme, in perpetuity. CBC's popular sports program will still broadcast the games, but to a much different tune.

As a relative newcomer to Toronto, I didn't have the opportunity to grow up with Hockey Night in Canada. To me, the only national anthem has been O Canada. But I knew for many (millions of?) Canadians, a different song symbolized their country. And once I became a resident, and certainly as recently as the latest playoff cycle, I found myself feeling a little bit better when that catchy beat came on the air.

Listen to the iconic tune after the jump.


Hockey Night in Canada Theme -

CTV claims to have saved the song for all Canadians, and will use it in their TSN and RDS hockey broadcasts. They will also incorporate it into their Vancouver 2010 Olympic coverage. CBC, trying to save face, finally made public the $3 million asking price, stating that it would have been an irresponsible cost with taxpayer money. Now they'll launch a national contest to find a new theme song.

The verbal jousting continues, but one thing seems clear to me. Canadians will keep humming their iconic tune and we'll keep watching hockey. Just remember, when the "Dunt da-dunt da-dunt" comes on the air, it isn't Hockey Night in Canada anymore.

Top photo by blogTO flickr pooler gardinergirl.

Discussion

31 Comments

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Lyndon / June 9, 2008 at 11:09 pm
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CTV didn't save diddle squat! They're just did to rub it in the face of CBC and score some PR points. If they truly saved it, they would offer CBC the rights to use it as well. Saturday nights are going to be very different in Hockey Night in Canada.
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Jerrold / June 9, 2008 at 11:11 pm
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At 522 comments and counting, I think this story is the most and fastest commented on story published on cbc.ca since they started accepting reader comments. And 90% of the comments are blasting the CBC for losing the song.
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nate / June 10, 2008 at 12:01 am
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wow, so this is where copyright gets us.
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guy lafleur stole my bike / June 10, 2008 at 12:15 am
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i love that this has so totally eclipsed bill c50next time someone asks you about canadian identity, don't bother with the 'diverse and open society' bullshit, just say hockey hockey and hockey
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SCREWFACE / June 10, 2008 at 01:27 am
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Will George Stroumboulopoulos host a music competition reality show looking for Hockey Night In Canada's next theme song? He has experience doing that if I faintly remember.@ Lyndon - CTV didn't claim to save anything. They have acquired the rights CBC lost because they were too far sighted and cheap. But really, do you expect CTV to lend the song to CBC? What kind of business transaction would that be? CTV made a smart, sneaky transaction, those clever bastards. First, they tried to kill Peter Silverman, now CBC's identity. Their next trick - go after MuchMusic.@ guy lafleur stole my bike - Ahah. Sad, True. Also, it's June. Fuck hockey. But more importantly, fuck the NHL.And it really seems to be that everyone seems to be scared of change. The theme song moves up 24 channels. So what? Saturday nights are still going to be the same. Besides, the composer of the song deserves some cash from all the years of a shitty deal they signed.
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SCREWFACE / June 10, 2008 at 01:28 am
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WTF just happened? Let me break that down again.Will George Stroumboulopoulos host a music competition reality show looking for Hockey Night In Canada's next theme song? He has experience doing that if I faintly remember.@ Lyndon - CTV didn't claim to save anything. They have acquired the rights CBC lost because they were too far sighted and cheap. But really, do you expect CTV to lend the song to CBC? What kind of business transaction would that be? CTV made a smart, sneaky transaction, those clever bastards. First, they tried to kill Peter Silverman, now CBC's identity. Their next trick - go after MuchMusic.@ guy lafleur stole my bike - Ahah. Sad, True. Also, it's June. Fuck hockey. But more importantly, fuck the NHL.And it really seems to be that everyone seems to be scared of change. The theme song moves up 24 channels. So what? Saturday nights are still going to be the same. Besides, the composer of the song deserves some cash from all the years of a shitty deal they signed.
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HAT TRICK / June 10, 2008 at 01:30 am
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Sorry for breaking your eyes. Stupid BlogTO comment paragraphs screw up.Trust me, it looks more intelgent when I broke it down into paragraphs.
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Dave / June 10, 2008 at 06:54 am
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How did CTV try to kill Peter Silverman when he doesn't even work at CTV. Rogers owns CityTV now, not CTV.
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james a / June 10, 2008 at 07:36 am
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Personally, I'd say the CBC made the right move.That song, awesome as it is (and I'm definitely a fan), was made iconic by it's association to HNIC, not the other way around. Ten seconds into the show the theme song stops mattering, so who cares?
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james a / June 10, 2008 at 07:37 am
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And on a side note, what's going on with the comments on here this morning?
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Ry-Tron / June 10, 2008 at 07:49 am
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Screwface: EPIC FAIL http://tinyurl.com/46ackw
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Sean / June 10, 2008 at 08:10 am
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CTV, a national commercial network, was able to afford The Hockey Theme.CBC, a national, commercial AND FINANCED BY OUR TAX DOLLARS network, couldn't afford the song?Hmm... perhaps we as taxpayers should notify our MPs to cancel our tax funds to the CBC!!!
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Jerrold / June 10, 2008 at 08:21 am
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I think Canadian players should have each pitched a tiny tiny percentage of their ridiculous salaries and saved the theme song for CBC.
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james a / June 10, 2008 at 09:00 am
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@Sean: Or maybe they just thought there were better ways to spend 3 million taxpayer dollars than on a theme song?
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Joshua / June 10, 2008 at 09:07 am
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I still can't believe the price asked for the song; I thought it would be much higher. Maybe $3 million would've been too much, but HNIC pays a lot of bills at CBC, and I'm sure it would've paid for the song too.I think CBC might be right, though, that when we hear the song on CTV we'll think CBC (or at least HNIC).
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Nandes / June 10, 2008 at 09:21 am
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Do you people like the game because of the song, or the song because of the game?I for one am glad that CBC (who already runs at a deficit) didn't waste any more of my tax dollars trying to keep the song.
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Joshua / June 10, 2008 at 09:28 am
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@Nandes: CBC has said that if they bought the song at the $2.5-3 million asking price, they would have been flooded with comments of outrage that went something like yours, as much as they are now about not buying the song. It's definitely a valid point. Ultimately, people will still watch the hockey.
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Zedguy / June 10, 2008 at 09:56 am
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I can hear the Simply the CBC isn't the BBC or even CTV/Rogers - they don't have tonnes of money laying around. Can you imagine the howls of outrage from the usual suspects if they had spent 3M+ for the song. Unfortunately they probably made the politically correct decision. Maybe the new song will be interesting.
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Dixon / June 10, 2008 at 10:32 am
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crazy how the original composer's are "cashing out" now. I believe the residual income was $500 an airing, which isn't so bad with 100 playtimes a year. They should have signed 20-25 year deal to play the song at increasing rates with a a guaranteed $1 million buyout if they ended the use early or at the end of the contract. The $3 million may be more money, but like most lottery winners, the money will be gone in 10 years...an "annuity" is always better and more prudent
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Kev / June 10, 2008 at 11:38 am
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I wouldn't necessarily take seriously any statements by the people responsible for this fuckup. They're all in ass-covering mode at the moment.
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Lyndon / June 10, 2008 at 12:03 pm
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@Screwface - maybe you should watch one of the many stations they own. "Save" is the way they are describing it. Oh and they already own Muchmusic.
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Christopher King / June 10, 2008 at 12:30 pm
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How does saving a song by purchasing it and putting it on stations such as TSN and RDS, which you have to pay for as extras on your billing, count as a public service to Canadians?
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Kev / June 10, 2008 at 01:41 pm
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Because if they hadn't bought the song then a mustache-twirling American porn baron would have, and it would have been the bow-chicka-wa-wa of the next generation. Or something.If I was CTV right now I'd be cruising around the TBC playing it at top volume, but I'm mean that way.
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Elle Driver / June 10, 2008 at 02:57 pm
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As one commentor aptly pointed out on the CBC page:CBC's recent sports broadcasting achievements:1) Lost the Olympics2) Lost (fired) Brian Williams3) Lost CFL broadcasting rights4) Lost Hockey Night in Canada themeSee a pattern?To do:1) Lose NHL broadcasting rightsIt may sound ridiculous, but that last point is a real possibility now, with ESPN (owned by CTV) making a charge at securing more hockey broadcasting rights. (Even Don Cherry popped up on a SportsCenter broadcast! How telling is that?)It appears that the CBC is having a fire-sale: getting rid of on-air talent, pricey broadcast contracts and chopping radio programming, among other things. But why? So they can drop more development money into finding the next "Little Mosque"? As I type this, CBC execs are inking a deal with Fox for an American version of Little Mosque - as everything else is going in the toilet.
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Elle Driver / June 10, 2008 at 02:58 pm
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(Ugh, damn lack of paragraphs. Please fix this bug!)
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mark / June 10, 2008 at 03:42 pm
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When the CBC buys the rights to the Hockey Song by Stompin' Tom this will be a forgotten issue...
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Disparishun / June 10, 2008 at 10:47 pm
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I am actually happy about this. CBC's NHL coverage has been awful for years, and the fact that they are plowing the megabucks into Don Cherry rather than their iconic theme song is only the icing on the cake.

SRC (French CBC) lost Montreal Canadiens coverage to RDS (French TSN) years ago. I'd love to see the same follow suit on the English side. TSN has been icing far better coverage, with intelligent commentary from both Bob McKenzie and Pierre McGuire for a while there, while CBC rang in with the rah rah Don Cherry stuff.

In fact, I'd be quite happy to see the CBC get out of NHL coverage altogether and mix it up with some of the less commercial stuff that doesn't get covered -- senior hockey (Allan Cup), amateur sport, and so on. The NHL is big business and the private broadcasters cover it just fine. The NHL does not need our subsidy via CBC!
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SCREWFACE / June 11, 2008 at 01:45 am
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@ Dave <i>Rogers owns CityTV now, not CTV.</i> - Then CTV is doing a good job at painting pictures. Read between, behind, below the lines.@ Ry-Tron - The fuck is a epic fail?@ Lyndon <i> "Save" is the way they are describing it. </i> if that's true, that's my bad. But really, the theme song wasn't going to die. <i>Oh and they already own Muchmusic.</i> CTV owns Muchmusic and MTV Canada. It makes you think why a Media company would want two music channels. You can see CTV's first step is kicking MuchMusic out of the building they built.Anyways I am now thinking that the backlash of this "controversy" is a reflection of the insecurity of Canadians over the state of hockey. Tiger Woods is on the right path. As well, with so many talented musicians in Canada, why is everyone scared of a little change?
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Arthur / June 11, 2008 at 08:23 am
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The CBC says it would have been irresponsible of them to pay what was being asked for the rights to the song. if they really care about preserving Canadian tradition and pieces of our heritage why can they afford to shell out for American programs like Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy, then pass on their opportunity to keep the theme song? What's more irresponsible, snubbing a song that means so much to the people who pay for your programming, or spending that money on American shows?
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ayngelina / June 12, 2008 at 11:18 am
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The CBC doesn't air Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy - that's CTV. Although I don't think Wheel of Fortune in on anymore.
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Rob / June 18, 2008 at 09:31 am
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Don't forget that the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan is soon to own BCE, which means they will own CTV. Teachers' already owns the Maple Leafs, so my guess is that the purchase of the Hockey Theme is part of making CTV the home of the Leafs. Lucky for CBC! That means that now they can focus on the real hockey teams elsewhere in Canada and cover them instead.
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