Friday, February 11, 2005

I ain't got to promote it for you to know Dok is off the benches

- Training is almost over for this time around and I have never been confused about so much that I understand about in all my life. It's going to be interesting to start HSI on thursday, so I guess we are not going to have to wait long to see what's going on. High Speed seems to be easier to do as there is only 3 differnet ways things can end, escelated, fixed or Tech. The Repair part is the confusing part, using different programs and things of that nature, just the fact that we are doing more then internet; working on phones. Turns out at 11pm, Aliant pretty much shuts down and we take over.

-I booked my vacation today, starting on March 12 till the 18, but if the schedule stays the same, I won't go back untill the 21st with regular days off. I'm looking forward to it, as there's something that we're working on for that weekend, but I guess we'll see.

MEDIA RELATED RANT

So this week we saw that the "Unholy Alliance" (Stolen from Primetime Sports) of Bell Globalmedia and Rogers had decided to team up to win the bid for the Vancouver/Whistler Olympics in 2010, oh yeah they also got the 2012 Summer games, although I'm not sure they realize that yet, as it was in almost the last paragraph of the sportsnet story online.

For those of you that don't know, Bell Globalmedia owns CTV, TSN, Comedy, CTV Newsnet, OLN, ESPN Classic Canada, Bell Expressvu and the Sympatico internet service, among other properties including ATV and ASN in the atlantic provinces. Bell owns so many Digital networks that they have one (Talk TV) that is still showing repeats of the last original programming they had (The Chatroom) 3 years after the show went off the air!!

Rogers is the same Rogers that provides Cell phones, Cable Tv and Internet. They also own the Toronto Blue Jays and the newly renamed Rogers Center (Skydome). As for media, they are mostly sports oriented with the FAN radio stations and the Rogers Sportsnet channels.

These 2 companys could not agree that the sun was going to rise before they decided that they could agree on the fact that it was a good idea to screw the CBC out of one of the few "sure-bets" in canadian television, The Olympics.

It reportally cost the alliance $153 million dollars to get those two games (The 2006 and 2008 games will still air on CBC). It's already been announced that the Opening and Closing ceremonies along with the medal rounds will be on CTV with the rest of the games being spread around the digital networks, with the 4 sportsnet stations (East, Ontario, Central and Pacific) being dedicated to specific sports (East= all baseball, Ontario=all track and Field, Central= all Gymastics, Pacific=all soccer would be the way I'd do it for the summer games) and the others getting whatever's left over.

All of that is a lead in to this, What if this successful bid at the olympics by Rogers/Bell gives them the confidence to go after what may be the holy grail of canadian televison

Hockey Night in Canada

Now on the eve of the NHL canceling the season, it may sound a little weird, but if you think about it, it's not that far fetched.

The NHL contract with the CBC has three years left on it; regardless of when the next season is. So when this thing is all over, one of the first things that the NHL will need to look at is the next contract. The League is going to need to bring some money in, as sponcership will be down after this labour situation. Rogers/Bell is in a much better place to overpay for the rights to the NHL, and can offer more eyes.

Right now, CBC offers a doubleheader every saturday night with 2 Tripleheaders a season, along with full coverage of the Playoffs. CBC does not have much of a Digital Presence, with Newsworld and Country Canada, a channel that Bell does not make available on it's 2nd tier channels.

Lets use this as a template

Saturday night's Hockey Night in Canada: CTV
National Games on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday nights: TSN
Regional Games on Monday Night, Wednesday and friday nights: Rogers Sportsnet
Radio games on the FAN radio network
The First 2 rounds of the Playoffs get regional coverage on Sportsnet with the Confrence finals nationally on TSN
The Stanley Cup finals nationally on CTV

What would you go with?

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