Citing declining sales, the CBC has pulled out as a carrier of Toronto Blue Jays telecasts.
Scott Moore, the head of CBC Sports, said yesterday a drop in revenue, coupled with the cost of TV rights, knocked the Jays out of the box. Another factor is the CBC's inability, as a broadcaster, to supplement ad revenue with revenue from cable companies.
Cable channels, such as TSN and Rogers Sportsnet, are paid by cable distributors for carrying their channels. Broadcasters are not.
"We weren't able to make a deal that made financial sense in these economic times," Moore said. "We have no games, nor do we have plans to do any games this year."
Federal broadcasting regulations permit cable channels to charge distributors for carriage. That enables sports channels to overpay for rights and make up the difference with revenue paid by the cable companies.
Even in good times, Moore said, it is difficult to get top ad revenue for Jays telecasts when three networks - Sportsnet and TSN in addition to the CBC - are competing for the same dollar. And in this economic climate, advertisers have retrenched.
The CBC's two-year contract with the club expired at the end of the 2008 season.
The Jays were demanding the same fee, about $150,000 a game, from all networks. Combined with production costs of about $50,000, the total expenditure approaches $200,000.
"I love the property and I was really proud of the quality of our telecasts," Moore said. "But we're not in a position where we can lose significant amounts of dollars on it."
Jays interim chief executive officer Paul Beeston called the CBC's departure "a disappointment," but said, "We're not going to give away the rights."
He added: "We have a rate card that tells us what our games are worth. It's as simple as that. You can't start discounting and have a different price for different networks."
Beeston said 145 of the Jays' 162 games will be televised, 125 on Sportsnet, which is owned by Jays proprietor Rogers Communications, and 20 on TSN.
Moore said the Jays' absence will leave a hole in the sports schedule, but the network is heavily committed to soccer and amateur sport this summer.
In June, the CBC will televise the FIFA Confederations Cup tournament in South Africa. Also during the summer, CBC will air aquatic, athletic, rowing and kayaking world championships.
Skating standoff
Canada's Olympic networks - CTV, TSN and Sportsnet - are being denied highlights of the country's speed skaters competing at international events.
The sport's governing body, the International Skating Union, refuses to release clips because speed skating is without a TV rights holder in Canada.
The ISU wants TSN and/or Sportsnet to become the rights holders. That would involve, for the most part, paying the TV production costs for televising two or three annual events in Canada and distributing the feed to other countries. Unless the rights are bought, clips will not be made available.
"The ISU said [withholding clips]is the only way they can develop a relationship with a rights holder in Canada," said Jean Dupré, director general of Speed Skating Canada. "So the big loser is us and the sport, unfortunately."
The ISU, which also governs figure skating, is not denying the Olympic networks highlights of that sport, because a rights holder in Canada has been established: the CBC.
Keith Pelley, the head of the CTV-Rogers Olympic consortium, said he hopes for a solution to the standoff.
"It's too bad for the athletes, but I'm convinced we can work this out over time," he said.
Nationals coverage
Still with figure skating, the CBC will cover the Canadian championships from Saskatoon on three platforms. Beginning Friday, the CBC cable channel, Bold, and CBCSports.ca will air live the dance original (10 a.m. ET) women's short (1 p.m.), pairs short (7 p.m.) and men's short (9 p.m.).
Bold and CBCSports.ca will provide the live coverage over the weekend, but everything carried on CBC Television will be tape-delayed.
The CBC TV on-air talent will consist of co-hosts Scott Russell and Brenda Irving with analysts Tracy Wilson and Kurt Browning. P.J. Kwong, a veteran coach and announcer, will be the host of the Bold and CBCSports.ca coverage.
- Sportsnet will carry all 39 games of the World Baseball Classic, which begins March 5. The opening-round Canada-U.S. game will air Saturday, March 7, at 2 p.m. ET.