TSN has more time to play with than CBC simply because it's a "sports station"
Would it though, remember that HNIC takes place almost entirely on Saturday Night. CBC already devotes almost that entire day to hockey, so the fact they are multi-purpose channel doesn't really effect what they produce on Saturdays. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding what you mean?
I enjoy TSN's broadcasts more. THey've got more intelligent hockey people. They have better commentators. They broadcast more of their games in HD.
TSN has done a better job of packaging the NHL as a whole, rather than treating national broadcasts as a local game. Hence, I can watch a game like last nights Wings-Sharks on their network, and enjoy it.
On a Saturday Night though? they would definatly be showing Canadian teams. It is HNIC, not HNINA afterall.
As for the CBC crew, Old man Cole and co can't live forever, one day soon he'll retire and fans across the country will rejoice in knowing their players will be called by their actual names, and not some half-correct surname that randomly popped into his age-addled brain.
As for TSN's crew, personally I don't like them that much more if at all, but that is a matter of opinion and preference obviously. McGuire annoys me, Domi doesn't know what he's doing, Dreger is a complete and utter jack***, Healy is tired sack of hot air, Onrait annoys me, Dutchyshen says 'roof daddy' far too often, and Duthie also gets on my nerves sometimes.
Whether TSN will become more Leaf focused or not remains to be seen, but, to date, they've been focused on pushing the NHL as a whole, not the Canadian teams. That strategy has allowed them to strong ratings for their games, even when non-Canadian teams are playing. The CBC's strategy to go with an extremely pro-Leaf line-up does well for them at times, but, they were practically in financial crisis when the Leafs didn't make the playoffs. The fact that BGM thinks it can generate more money off HNIC than CBC does, tells me they plan on doing some things a little differently.
Currently: If the Leafs are playing out west, Van, Calgary and Edmonton are only on if they're playing the Leafs. If Van, Calgary or Edmonton is out east, then the game will only be shown if they are playing the Leafs.
The bias towards the Leafs scientifically cannot get worse.
How couldn't it remain Leaf's focused on HNIC produced by TSN? it is by far the largest market in English speaking Canada, with the most fans, and is percieved by some as 'Canada's Team' (even though many around the Country would beg to differ). If HNIC produced by TSN remained.. Hockey Night in
Canada, it is completely reasonable to assume TSN will try to maximise its revenues by playing to that very large market on a basis as consistant or more than CBC.
For the 6/7:00 pm PST timeslot, one of Edmonton, Calgary or Vancouver would be shown. TSN would choose whichever team would likely make them the most money (based on fan base, how well the team is playing), instead of the roughly 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 ratio the CBC seems to have implemented. My guess is they would choose Vancouver or Calgary, at the expense of the smaller markets like Edmonton.
Now obviously I shouldn't mind if I get to see the Canucks play, as it is in my best interests, but I would feel guilty that other fans out here in the west don't get to see their own teams play as well.
1. CBC Newsworld is a great network. CBC, not so much. CBC as a news service is a great part of Canada. CBC as a mainstream entertainment channel, laughable. CBC should stick to what it needs to be there for. The news. Everything else is a waste IMO.
If CBC ever gets privatized, Newsworld at the very least should remain public. If anyone wants to know why, go watch Fox News or to a much lesser degree Global.
As for the main CBC channel, I'll agree some of it is low grade garbage.. however I think many peoples' reluctence to watch the channel might have more to do with the concept of the 'cultural cringe' than with the quality of all of the programming. No matter how proud of a Canadian one is, many still assume something made by Canadians is going to be inferior, and decide to go watch American Idol instead.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_cringe
CBC news is heavily biased toward the left of the political spectrum.
"Reality has a well known liberial bias".
-Stephen Colbert
Seriously though, where CBC sits in the political spectrum is up for debate. I wouldn't try to argue that they lean right, but they most often give an equal chance for proponents of both sides to get their say in whenever a new issue is being discussed in the news. (Keep in mind if they actually 'heavily favoured the far left', they would be a channel trying to get the NDP or Green parties a larger number of seats in Parliament. If the CBC favours any party, it is the Liberials, and the Liberials are most definatly scattered across the centre).
The CBC covers a variety of issues, some even taken right out of the Conservative platform such as their week long feature last summer on our military exercises to assert our claims over our Far North from countries which want to ignore our independence (though that should be an issue all Canadians should get behind, not just Conservatives), or to a social documentry on life on Jay and Finch in Toronto or on the various First Nations Ghettos.. err.. I mean Reservations across Canada. They will highlight the amazing effect oil has had on Alberta's economy, then have a balanced discussion on the pros and cons of the Kyoto Protocol or Harper's new and useless plan to fight Greenhouse gases.
If anyone should be calling their programs 'fair and balanced', in my opinion it should be the CBC.