News

Long walks are beginning to be part of the Canadian decision-making tradition.

CBC Television today has a new six-year rights agreement with the National Hockey League, thanks in part to a long stroll taken by the negotiators in late September last year.

Gary Bettman, the NHL commissioner, and Richard Stursberg, the executive vice-president of CBC Television, were in Truro, N.S., for a Hockeyville exhibition game.

Negotiations had been difficult. And CTV and its all-sports channel TSN were poised to make a serious challenge and were reportedly willing to pay $140-million annually for broadcast and cable rights.

"We walked around and, when we finally had to sit down, we sat down in a car where nobody could hear us," Stursberg recalled Monday during a news conference to announce the agreement, believed to be worth at least $600-million.

"We closed the door. And I think at that point, [Bettman] thought and I thought that we'd taken it to the point where we could conclude it."

The scene in Bettman's vehicle may fall short of the drama inspired by Pierre Trudeau's walk in the snow that resulted in his retirement from politics.

But make no mistake, the TV deal that will keep Hockey Night in Canada on the CBC through the 2013-14 season ranks as big as any rights deal negotiated by the network.

Hockey Night in Canada, after all, is a Canadian viewing mainstay, dating back to 1952. The first national broadcast of a Toronto Maple Leafs game occurred on CBC radio in 1933.

"It is the great franchise property of the CBC," Stursberg said. "And this is the longest relationship between a broadcaster and league as far as I know anywhere in the world."

There was plenty of skepticism in the advertising and TV business about the CBC's ability to keep hockey rights.

However, behind the scenes, the network, aware of how badly it had been beaten by CTV and Rogers for the 2010 and 2012 Olympic rights, aggressively pursued an NHL contract extension.

Even though the current agreement doesn't expire until the end of next season, the CBC initiated the first meeting with the NHL last April. Then, the CBC pushed up its window of exclusive negotiating by a full year.

Certainly, the new deal reflects the seriousness with which the CBC regards hockey.

According to sources, the network has agreed to pay the NHL about $100-million a year for the rights, perhaps more, the steepest league contract ever in Canadian TV and a sharp increase from the current NHL fee of $65-million. (The $100-million figure was not disputed by either Stursberg or Bettman. Some sources pegged the amount at $110-million. There was also speculation the CBC paid a signing bonus to the league.)

Despite paying more, the CBC is getting slightly less.

It will air fewer Maple Leafs games in the regular season, 23 compared with the current 28.

In the playoffs, the CBC will own the rights to the first two series involving Canadian teams. But if there's a third, it will go to TSN. In the current deal, the CBC owns all Canadian series rights.

Although TSN's new cable deal with the NHL is not completed, it appears to have achieved its two main goals: more regular-season Leafs games nationally and additional Canadian content in the postseason.

Stursberg is adamant the CBC will not lose money on the contract.

"The advertising revenue will cover in the entirety the rights and production costs associated with the games," he said. "And it leaves us a margin. . . . We're absolutely [going to earn a profit]."

The September meeting put negotiations on the fast track, but it took another five months to complete the agreement. Sources say there was a lingering concern at the CBC about paying substantially more for rights, yet getting less.

However, the addition of digital rights might have solidified the agreement. The CBC will own all broadband and mobile rights related to the television property. The Hockey Night games will be streamed on CBC.ca. Video on demand will be available to consumers, as well as mobile phone content.

"Digital rights are important and are more important going forward when you see the shift that's taking place," Stursberg said.

By early March, an agreement in principle had been reached. The paperwork went to the lawyers, questions were raised and resolved, and then the contract was given back to the two sides on March 16. Last Wednesday, the contract was signed and approved by the CBC's board of governors.