TUNING IN

By: Ardith Stephanson

CBC CHECKS OUT

CBC announced last week that funding shortfalls and revenue losses will result in a cut of $130 million from its budget this year, eliminate 657 jobs over the next two years, and take the network out of competing for the rights to broadcast professional sports.

CBC president and CEO Hubert T. Lacroix said CBC could no longer compete against private broadcasters that have specialty sports channels and multiple media platforms. The result will mean “substantially reducing” the size of the sports department and covering fewer sporting events, including amateur sports.

And the CBC will only consider broadcasting events that allow the network to break even, he said, but will still compete for sporting events of national significance, like the Olympics.

Several factors contributed to the cuts:
– Losing the rights to broadcast Hockey Night in Canada to Rogers
– Loss of $115 million in federal government funding over three years that was announced in the 2012 federal budget
– Softening of the advertising market and CBC’s poor performance in attracting the 25-54 age demographic to its prime-time TV schedule – a $47-million hit to the network’s revenue

High cost reality shows like Battle of the Blades (is that considered sports programming?) will be replaced with lower costing shows. And George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight, which is ending its 10-year run as George is added as the host of HNIC, will not be replaced.

So what does this mean? CBC, including its sports coverage, has been a major part of our culture in Canada and helped define our country. CBC was once the country’s dominant sports broadcaster, but in recent years it has lost many signature properties – such as the CFL, Toronto Blue Jays baseball, and Canadian Curling Association championships. CBC had the rights to the 2014 Winter Olympics and will have the Summer Games in 2016, as well as the FIFA World Cup this year.

This raises a few questions. How will CBC retain some of its key talent if there is only the promise of the occasional big event? Or will the big events be enough to sustain that talent? What will happen with contract negotiations in Canada with only two players at the table – massive private sports conglomerates of Bell/TSN and Rogers/Sportsnet? Will the CBC actually be a bigger presence when it comes to negotiations for Olympic Games? What else is defined as an event of “national significance”? Will this change help CBC’s bottom line, or will it only cost the network more in the long run with lost viewership?

And what would the late Don Wittman, long a CBC icon and the pride of Herbert who got his start at CFQC in Saskatoon, have to say?

MASTER THIS

There really is no other golf event like The Masters.

Of all the golf events, including majors, the Masters is easily my favourite to watch. I don’t watch many other golf events with as much enthusiasm, so I wonder what it is about the Masters. It seems to generate more talk and hype and more participation in golf pools, than any other golf event, majors included.

Maybe part of it is the history, the fact that the event has been played at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia every year since 1934, which breeds familiarity with the place. Everyone knows about signature holes and sections of the course, like Amen Corner.

It is the only major played every year at the same course. Other majors are played at rotating courses, which makes it more difficult to remember the course in as much detail as Augusta National.

It is a beautiful and challenging course, among the top ranked courses in the United States, in terms of course architecture. And there is that beautiful scenery, great to watch when the golf gets a little dull. The course was formerly a plant nursery, and each hole on the course is named after the tree or shrub with which it has become associated.

With all that history surrounding the course, not all of it is good. While defending itself as a private organization, it has upheld exclusive membership policies. It did not admit black members until 1990 and it only admitted its first two female members in 2012.

AROUND THE DIAL

My favourite time of the hockey season – first round of the playoffs – starts this week. I love the first round, with several games scheduled every night and some upsets annually that make things interesting…The Players Championship in the Grand Slam of Curling will be televised this weekend from P.E.I. This will be the last chance to watch the recent incarnations of several teams, before the post-Olympic shakeup. We already know Kevin Koe, Kevin Martin, Jeff Stoughton, Glenn Howard, Rachel Homan and Val Sweeting will have new looks next season. SportsNet has games Thursday through Sunday…What an emotional farewell by Ryan Smyth on Saturday night. I’m not an Oilers fan, but I have great respect for Smyth. He was a gritty, hard-working player – and an emotional one, and he wore his emotions on his sleeve right to the end. He was the poster boy for the Oilers, who need to find a new identity with his retirement . . . Have you ever seen as crazy a shootout ending as the Red Wings-Penguins game last Wednesday? Fleury made an amazing snow angel save on Alfredsson to preserve it for the Penguins. They went on to win when Gustavsson (who earlier stoned Crosby) scored on himself. Gustavsson attempted to poke check Jokinen only to watch the puck bounce off his stick and sail up and over his shoulder…Point of clarification – I said last week fans would be putting pressure on a new-look Riders, not for a new-look Riders. Reality is, with stars like Dressler, Butler and Sheets gone, the Riders will look a little different this year, but fans will still be expecting the same result – a winning team.

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