I love curling, and I follow it regularly during the off-season, but this soap opera between the CCA and CBC is hilarious!!!
Marketing 101...a contract is a contract is a contract.
Marketing 202...don't PO the sponsers
Marketing 303...don't PO the fans
Marketing 404...If you break a contract, your case better be airtight and you BETTER have a backup plan.
The Canadian Curling Association ditched a long term arrangement with TSN/CBC and went totally to one network (CBC) in exchange for some big bucks. Trouble was, CBC stuck curling on a digital cable network and was only on the mother station during the afternoons (when people are out working), at 11:30 pm (tape delayed) and the finals (regular times).
Problems were a plenty from games getting cut off at the very last minute, the digital cable channel (Country Canada) running out of time for sporting events due to CRTC regs, a $300,000 per year "misunderstanding" with world-wide TV costs and a piss-poor commentary team.
The CCA prez (Dave Parkes), gets a bold idea....bolt from the contract and get a new TV deal. Trouble was, no network was going to touch the product due to a threatened lawsuit by CBC. Also, with the hockey lockout now terminated, networks in Canada are scrambling to get as much hockey as they can.
Mr. Parkes blustered and boasted that he had a deal, but now, he has nothing and will be forced to go back to CBC. It's like an escaped prisoner marching back into his cell....and there are THREE more years to this contract. Under what terms the CCA will get is anybody's guess, but curling might get the short end of the stick...and we're talking CANADA folks...the land where curling has been embraced like no other.
It will be very bizzar this year as there might be MORE curling on US TV than in Canada!!!
Marketing 101...a contract is a contract is a contract.
Marketing 202...don't PO the sponsers
Marketing 303...don't PO the fans
Marketing 404...If you break a contract, your case better be airtight and you BETTER have a backup plan.
The Canadian Curling Association ditched a long term arrangement with TSN/CBC and went totally to one network (CBC) in exchange for some big bucks. Trouble was, CBC stuck curling on a digital cable network and was only on the mother station during the afternoons (when people are out working), at 11:30 pm (tape delayed) and the finals (regular times).
Problems were a plenty from games getting cut off at the very last minute, the digital cable channel (Country Canada) running out of time for sporting events due to CRTC regs, a $300,000 per year "misunderstanding" with world-wide TV costs and a piss-poor commentary team.
The CCA prez (Dave Parkes), gets a bold idea....bolt from the contract and get a new TV deal. Trouble was, no network was going to touch the product due to a threatened lawsuit by CBC. Also, with the hockey lockout now terminated, networks in Canada are scrambling to get as much hockey as they can.
Mr. Parkes blustered and boasted that he had a deal, but now, he has nothing and will be forced to go back to CBC. It's like an escaped prisoner marching back into his cell....and there are THREE more years to this contract. Under what terms the CCA will get is anybody's guess, but curling might get the short end of the stick...and we're talking CANADA folks...the land where curling has been embraced like no other.
It will be very bizzar this year as there might be MORE curling on US TV than in Canada!!!
