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TORONTO — A lowball offer by the CBC to buy the Hockey Night in Canada theme song from its composer prompted the temporary collapse of year-long negotiations and a national furor Thursday over the future of the iconic anthem, the man in charge of its copyright says.
For many Canadians, the stirring “dunt-da-DUNT-da-dunt” that has opened each broadcast of Hockey Night since 1968 is pure Canadiana — as deeply woven into the national fabric as Tim Hortons and the great game itself.
But the tune is a hot copyright commodity and long-standing thorn in the side of Hockey Night producers, who have had to renegotiate its licence regularly with songwriter Dolores Claman since she wrote the jingle for the Toronto ad firm that once owned the show.
John Ciccone, whose company administers the copyright on behalf of Ms. Claman, said the national broadcaster recently offered less than a third of what the song is worth based on discussions he has had with other interested buyers. He refused to disclose figures.
“It's like somebody saying, ‘Here's a third of the value of your car: Give me your car and take your paycheque,'” he said.
CBC Sports executive director Scott Moore, who confirmed that the broadcaster had considered buying the song, said he believed negotiations were still on when Mr. Ciccone went public with word of a failed deal. He said he was surprised to step off a plane from Pittsburgh, where he had celebrated the end of the playoffs, to be greeted by a firestorm as the story dominated newscasts and call-in radio shows.
Mr. Moore said the song is worth less than Mr. Ciccone believes because its value is drawn almost entirely from its association with Hockey Night in Canada.
But a bigger stumbling block, Mr. Moore noted, is the ongoing lawsuit Ms. Claman and Mr. Ciccone's firm filed against the CBC in late 2004. The plaintiffs argue the network was using the song beyond the scope of the contract.
“You wouldn't do business with someone who's suing you. So we've offered many different ways to settle that litigation,” he said.
A day of mediation failed last week, and things came to a head when CBC set a deadline of noon Wednesday, on grounds it would need time to find a replacement song if a deal could not be struck, Mr. Ciccone said.
Mr. Moore said he reconnected with Mr. Ciccone late Thursday and negotiations have resumed. “The announcement this morning certainly changed the tone of the discussions,” Mr. Moore said. “Because I am a huge fan of the piece of music, I'm trying to keep the emotion out of the negotiations.”
Mr. Ciccone said it costs the public broadcaster about $500 every time the theme is used. He denied suggestions he had gone public to force CBC's hand.
“When somebody gives you a deadline, you can't assume that they don't mean it,” he said.
Ralph Mellanby, the former executive producer of Hockey Night in Canada who commissioned the song, agrees the tune will be worth little if it's divorced from the broadcast.
Ms. Claman, who was raised in Vancouver and now lives in Britain, was not available for comment Thursday, Mr. Ciccone said. But in a company statement, she is quoted as saying, “I am saddened by the decision of the CBC to drop the Hockey Night in Canada theme after our lengthy history together. I nevertheless respect its right to move in a new direction.”
Mr. Mellanby said he wanted the sweeping orchestral theme song as part of a branding exercise that included putting the show's hosts in matching blue blazers. But his employer made a big mistake by licensing the song like any other commercial jingle rather than buying it outright, he said.
“I couldn't really imagine Hockey Night in Canada without that song,” said Richard Underhill of the Toronto band Shuffle Demons, which recorded a jazzy version in 1988 and set a world record 16 years later when its members organized 900 saxophonists to play the tune in unison in downtown Toronto.
Mr. Ciccone “definitely strongly guards that copyright … with very good reason: It's definitely an iconic song,” Mr. Underhill said.
