CBC will no longer air Hockey Night in Canada as 12

Hockey Night in Canada is disappearing from CBC on Saturday nights.

Rogers-owned Sportsnet will be taking over the decades-long tradition that began on CBC Radio in the 1930s, before moving to the television airwaves in 1952, becoming a pillar of CBC Sports’ coverage.

In a joint announcement with CBC today, the two broadcasters announced that Canada’s public broadcaster “will no longer carry NHL broadcasts after the current season.”

A joint statement from Sportsnet and CBC: pic.twitter.com/vgVBI2u1nn

The CBC retained the rights to the “Hockey Night in Canada” brand, licensing the name to Rogers for the last 12 years. The brand will remain with the public broadcaster.

“We will continue to use the brand moving forward and will update on those plans when we have more details,” Joanna Landsberg, CBC Sports public relations spokesperson told National Post in an email on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Sportsnet stated in the joint announcement: “Watching hockey on Saturday night is a time-honoured tradition for Canadians and Sportsnet is privileged to continue delivering that tradition.”

Sportsnet said the collaboration with CBC, which evolved since the 2014-15 season when Rogers obtained the exclusive national multimedia rights to NHL games in Canada, sub-licensing Saturday night and playoff games to the CBC, “has been a terrific partnership.”

It added that “both parties look forward to continued opportunities to collaborate in the future.”

In a separate statement, CBC Sports said it plans to launch a new Saturday night prime time show featuring Canadian athletes competing at home and at the biggest events around the world. It will air on CBC TV as well as the public broadcaster’s streaming platform, CBC Gem.

The CBC says it will be following with a new sports programming strategy following “the unprecedented success of (CBC’s coverage of) the Milano/Cortina Olympic Games.” The strategy states that the CBC plans to “significantly increase sports coverage of high-performance athletes and events.”

Hockey Night in Canada has been available on CBC, Sportsnet channels and Rogers-owned Citytv. Going forward hockey fans will be able to see it on Sportsnet, Citytv and stream it through Sportsnet+.

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