The fact that politicians are getting involved in this (if only by commenting out loud) really gets me. Yeah, we’re emotionally attached to it, but it’s not as if the Parliamentary Library is burning down here.
UPDATE (June 6): It’s over. Negotiations have fallen through and CBC is launching a $100,000 contest to find a replacement. Good luck with that.
Some suggestions for replacement songs. Or, if you haven’t given up yet, the inevitable Facebook group. Or two. Or three. Or four. Or five. Or six. Or seven. Or eight. Or nine. Or ten. Or … holy crap! There are 204 other groups for this! Plus the HNIC fan page, and the petition to bring in that Stompin’ Tom song instead.
UPDATE (June 7): Really? CBC ices Hockey Night theme? The puck’s stopped here? These are the best headlines you could come up with?
CBC television just feels so adrift. What could they possibly be thinking? They’re in a pitched battle for Hockey Night rights with CTV/TSN, and their biggest asset is the tradition and history of hockey on the national broadcaster. Now, they decide that the history is dispensible? If that’s the case, why will anyone care if Saturday night hockey switches broadcasters. I know I’ll applaud it, since I can’t stand that “Saturday Night” Nickelback-inspired theme they will no doubt use as the new theme.
I just don’t know who the CBC expects to lobby for them if they keep alienating their biggest fans.
Forget sad, just stupid.
The people in charge at CBC obviously have no sense of history, and in another country their actions here would be tantamount to treason.
I guess RDS should license the theme song now, as they have many of the viewers already.
And the worst bit of it is that they might have a contest to determine the new song. SO, I get it now:
1) Hold contest with a prize of, say, $5000 or something silly like that
2) have winner sign away all rights (as we’ve seen other siites are doing)
3) profit!!
And of course, Ron McClean and his sidekick can get paid obscene amounts of money. Beautiful move, I applaud them for their audacity.
It’s a big mistake if they take it away!!!!!!
Bob – actually the CBC has NHL rights locked up for several more seasons. TSN and the CBC have both signed deals with the NHL within the past year or two, and CTV is out of the picture for the next 3 or 4 seasons at least.
Oh well, there goes our last best chance for national unity. First Radio-Canada altogether drops its Soirée du hockey (who also used the anthem) and now the CBC drops the song as well. Fifty years from now our kids will have no reaction to the famous da-da-da-dah-duh-dah… da-da-da-dah-duh-DA-dah…
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