‘Hockey Night in Canada’ NHL broadcasts won’t return to CBC next fall

TORONTO (AP) — “Hockey Night in Canada,” a program featuring NHL games that has been part of the national fabric for nearly 75 years on CBC television, will not return to the public broadcaster next season.

A sublicensing agreement between Rogers Communications and the CBC that allowed the show to air on the network expired at the end of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The two sides did not extend the partnership for the 2026-27 season, the first year of Rogers’ 12 year, $11 billion broadcast rights deal with the NHL. The CBC previously aired national games on Saturdays, along with all four playoff rounds each year.

“After a successful 12-year partnership, Sportsnet and CBC today announced the public broadcaster will no longer carry NHL broadcasts after the current season as it moves forward with a new sports programming strategy following the unprecedented success of the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games,” Sportsnet and the CBC said Tuesday in a joint statement. “Watching hockey on Saturday night is a time-honoured tradition for Canadians, and Sportsnet is privileged to continue delivering that tradition.”

While the CBC still holds the “Hockey Night in Canada” trademark and could incorporate the brand into future coverage, it’s the first time the traditional program won’t be available to Canadian viewers via the public broadcaster.

“It’s definitely a bit of an end of an era,” CBC Sports executive director Chris Wilson said in a phone interview. “But we’re choosing to look at it more as an opportunity as opposed to a loss.

“But (we) fully understand that it’s going to take an opportunity away from some Canadians to see it on CBC. But that’s unfortunately where we landed, and we’re excited for the next chapter.”

The CBC first aired “Hockey Night in Canada” on television in 1952. It was a Saturday night mainstay for generations of hockey fans.

Broadcasters like Dick Irvin, Bob Cole, Ron MacLean, Don Cherry, Dave Hodge and Foster Hewitt — to name a few — helped provide the soundtrack that Canadians would cherish.

Traditional baby blue blazers — complete with a puck and stick “Hockey Night in Canada” logo on the jacket pocket — were as familiar as the announcers’ voices.

“The CBC’s interest in sports has basically been in amateur sports for quite a while, and other professional sports are on sports channels (like) Sportsnet or TSN,” Hodge said in a phone interview. “Obviously, hockey is on both of those as well. And lately it has come that it’s almost indistinguishable that a game is on this channel or that channel, they all look the same.

“Nobody wears any baby blue jackets with ‘Hockey Night in Canada’ crests to identify it as a Saturday night game. I think that this was coming. It was inevitable.”

Things began to change when Rogers first secured a 12 year, $5.2 billion rights deal with the league in 2013, with many games available on the Sportsnet broadcast platform.

The telecom giant and the CBC agreed on a sublicensing deal for English-language broadcasts of “Hockey Night in Canada,” and a separate French-language deal was made with TVA.

Under the setup, Sportsnet produced the games, retained editorial control and managed the advertising.

The CBC’s inclusion helped broaden the reach across the country. It also kept the tradition intact and allowed the broadcaster to promote some of its own programming.

“It was the original appointment television for Canada every Saturday night,” said James Nadler, chair of the radio and television arts media program at Toronto Metropolitan University.

The NHL postseason ended Sunday night when the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Vegas Golden Knights to win the Stanley Cup. The 2026-27 regular season will likely begin in late September.

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