CBC inks new deal with NHL, through 2014

(CBC) - The CBC and NHL announced a new television deal Monday that will keep Hockey Night in Canada on the air until 2014. The six-year broadcast deal, which includes national English-language broadcast and multimedia rights to NHL games in Canada, will begin when the current agreement between the CBC and the league expires after the 2007-08 season.

"Can you imagine seven more years of me? How can it get any better?" Don Cherry, co-host of Coach's Corner, told CBC Sports Online.

"I'm very happy. Hockey Night in Canada should be on the CBC: it's been on the CBC since the 1950s and this is where it belongs."

The CBC will maintain exclusive Canadian coverage of NHL games on Saturday nights, including traditional doubleheaders and more regional telecasts.

The CBC also retains exclusive Canadian coverage of the Stanley Cup Final, the NHL All-Star Game and the annual NHL Awards, and continued coverage of Canadian teams in the playoffs, ensuring national coverage of all Canadian clubs involved in the post-season.

Also, effective immediately, a multimedia package including live and on- demand video streaming of all CBC's hockey broadcasts will be available online at CBC.ca.

"Hockey is part of the Canadian fabric and we're proud and pleased to continue what is the longest-standing sports rights partnership in the world, one that dates back to the very beginning of the CBC," said Richard Stursberg, the executive vice-president of CBC Television.

"This is the beginning of a new and exciting chapter in our partnership. We'll be offering Canadians more hockey via more platforms than ever before."

CBC's Hockey Night in Canada is currently in its 54th season on television.

"CBC's Hockey Night in Canada has played an important role in building the passion that Canadians of all ages have for our game," said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.

"The NHL is thrilled to continue our longstanding partnership with this great Canadian institution and build on a tradition that has become a staple for millions of Canadians from the time the first puck is dropped in October through the presentation of the Stanley Cup eight months later."

Monday's announcement was a big win for the CBC because the public broadcaster suffered some setbacks in negotiations for key television properties the past few years. In December 2006, the Canadian Football League announced a new five-year television contract with TSN, a deal that leaves the CBC watching from the sidelines once its current agreement with the league expires after the 2008 season. CBC also lost the rights to Canadian Curling Association properties, such as the Brier and Tournament of Hearts, to CTV-TSN in 2006. In 2005, a Bell Globemedia-Rogers Communications consortium won the rights to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. CBC had held Olympic broadcast rights since 1996.

CBC Sports responded to those losses by signing an eight-year agreement with FIFA that includes the rights to the next two World Cups, a four-year deal for alpine skiing and an eight-year contract for the World Curling Tour's Grand Slam events.