The end of a television era: "Hockey Night in Canada" leaves CBC after almost 75 years
One of the most recognizable sports television traditions in North America is entering a new phase. "Hockey Night in Canada", the long-running Saturday program featuring NHL games that for decades was associated with the public broadcaster CBC, will no longer be broadcast on CBC starting with the 2026/2027 season. According to a joint announcement by Sportsnet and CBC, the public broadcaster will stop carrying NHL games after the end of the current season because the two sides did not extend the arrangement that for the past 12 years had allowed part of the hockey programming to also be shown on free public television.
The change does not mean the end of Saturday NHL hockey in Canada, but it does mean the end of its existing television framework on CBC. Sportsnet has announced that it will continue broadcasting Saturday games, now under the new long-term agreement between Rogers Communications and the NHL. According to the official announcement by the NHL and Rogers, that 12-year agreement is worth 11 billion Canadian dollars and begins in the 2026/2027 season, covering national media rights for NHL games across multiple platforms in Canada through the end of the 2037/2038 season.
For viewers who for decades connected Saturday night, CBC and the NHL, this is a much bigger change than simply moving sports content from one television platform to another. "Hockey Night in Canada" was first broadcast on television in 1952, and CBC held exclusive Saturday rights through the 2013/2014 season. After Rogers took over national NHL rights in Canada in 2013, CBC remained in the schedule through a sublicensing, or partnership, arrangement with Sportsnet. That model preserved the show's visibility on public television, but Sportsnet produced the broadcasts, retained editorial control and managed advertising, according to a report by the Associated Press.
Why the CBC and Sportsnet partnership is ending
According to Sportsnet's announcement, the partnership between CBC and Sportsnet is ending after 12 years of cooperation, and the public broadcaster will no longer carry NHL games after the end of the current season. In a joint statement, the two organizations said CBC is entering a new sports programming strategy following the success of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games. Sportsnet, meanwhile, said Saturday hockey is a "time-honoured tradition" for viewers in Canada and that it will continue delivering that content through its platforms.
The key business framework for the change was set back in 2025, when the NHL and Rogers announced a new national media rights agreement. According to the NHL, the agreement includes television, digital and streaming rights for national regular-season games, the playoffs, the Stanley Cup Final, special league events and rights for games outside regional markets. The agreement also provides for the possibility of strategically sublicensing part of the rights, including the national French-language package and one exclusive national night, but the available announcements do not indicate that the previous arrangement with CBC for the Saturday program has been renewed.
The Associated Press reported that Rogers Communications and CBC allowed the sublicensing agreement to expire after the 2025/2026 NHL playoffs and did not extend the partnership for the 2026/2027 season. This means that, for the first time since 1952, the traditional NHL television program will not be shown on CBC. CBC still holds the "Hockey Night in Canada" trademark, according to the AP report, so the name has not formally disappeared from the public broadcaster's portfolio, but it has not currently been officially confirmed how that brand could be used in future sports programming without NHL broadcasts.
A symbol that grew beyond a sports broadcast
"Hockey Night in Canada" in its television form emerged at a time when television was only beginning to enter homes across Canada. Sportsnet states that CBC began broadcasting the show in 1952, and a specialized historical overview by the Canadian Communications Foundation records that one of the first televised games was shown on October 11, 1952, from Montreal, when the Montreal Canadiens and Detroit Red Wings played. Television broadcasts soon expanded to Toronto as well, and the Saturday slot gradually became a fixed point of the hockey season.
Over the decades, the program built a special cultural status because it combined professional sport, public television and national media infrastructure. AP states that the voices of commentators such as Foster Hewitt, Bob Cole, Dick Irvin, Ron MacLean, Don Cherry and Dave Hodge became part of the soundscape for generations of viewers. In addition to the voices, visual elements of the show also contributed to its recognizability, including the blue blazers with the stick-and-puck emblem, which AP describes as one of the symbols of the program's older era.
But part of the change also happened before the latest decision. When Rogers secured the then 12-year agreement with the NHL worth 5.2 billion Canadian dollars in 2013, according to AP and later official NHL announcements, CBC lost its previous status as the main rights holder. The sublicensing arrangement allowed it to continue showing games, but production and the commercial model gradually moved under Sportsnet. For that reason, for some viewers the broadcast on CBC in recent years was already a combination of old tradition and a new ownership model for rights.
What changes for viewers and the sports rights market
The most visible consequence of the change will be the availability of Saturday NHL games. As a public broadcaster, CBC traditionally enabled broad access through its television network and digital platforms, while Sportsnet will now have the full role in the Saturday national package. According to available information from Sportsnet and AP, Sportsnet will continue broadcasting Saturday hockey, but without the previous CBC framework. For the audience, this means that the tradition continues as a sports product, but no longer as a public television show with the same historic distribution.
The decision fits into the broader trend of rising value for live broadcasts, especially of major sports leagues. In its report on the NHL and Rogers agreement, AP stated that the new deal is worth more than twice as much as the previous arrangement from 2013, and that Rogers highlighted growth in viewership and revenue from advertising, subscriptions and sublicensing. In its official announcement, the NHL emphasized that the agreement covers national rights on all platforms, reflecting a shift in the media market in which television, streaming and digital packages increasingly function as a single rights package.
For CBC, the departure of NHL games from its schedule is simultaneously the loss of historic sports content and an opportunity to redefine its own sports role. Chris Wilson, executive director of CBC Sports, said in an interview carried by The Canadian Press that it is the end of an era, but also an opportunity for the public broadcaster to present athletes' stories "even more strongly". According to the same report, CBC plans to significantly increase coverage of high-performance athletes and events, with Olympic and other international sports holding special importance in that strategy.
CBC announces different Saturday nights
According to a report by The Canadian Press, CBC is planning a new Saturday prime-time program that should highlight athletes from Canada at domestic and international competitions. The public broadcaster retains rights to a wide range of sports, including figure skating, snowboarding, speed skating, skiing, the PWHL, university sports and several summer disciplines. Wilson, according to the same report, said CBC already streams more than 1,000 events annually on the CBC Gem platform and that one of the main goals is to show audiences more clearly where that content can be found.
Such a strategy is connected to the Olympic cycle. CBC/Radio-Canada has stated in its own announcements that it is Canada's Olympic network through 2032, and ahead of the Milano Cortina 2026 Games it presented extensive coverage plans for that competition. After the Games, CBC and Sportsnet said in a joint statement, according to Sportsnet and AP, that the public broadcaster is turning to a new sports programming strategy "following the unprecedented success" of the Olympic broadcast. Although such wording emphasizes confidence in the new direction, from the perspective of the media market it also shows that CBC is investing more heavily in events and stories it can manage outside the expensive rights to professional leagues.
Still, the change does not remove the emotional and cultural weight of the decision. Hockey on CBC was not just a sports time slot, but also a ritual that for decades shaped the way NHL games were followed in homes, bars and local communities. Sports commentators and former television figures described the news as the end of an era, and AP carried the assessment of former host Dave Hodge that such an outcome had long been expected because professional sports are increasingly concentrated on specialized sports channels. In that sense, the departure from CBC is not an isolated decision, but part of a long-term shift toward commercially more expensive and more platform-closed broadcast models.
The brand remains, but the tradition is moving
One of the open questions concerns the future of the name "Hockey Night in Canada" itself. According to AP and The Canadian Press, CBC still holds the trademark, and Chris Wilson said there is great respect for what that brand means to sport and hockey. However, without the rights to broadcast NHL games, it is not clear whether the name can be used in a way that audiences would recognize as a continuation of the existing show. Sportsnet will continue with Saturday hockey, but the framework in which public television, familiar commentators and recognizable symbols were combined for decades will no longer be the same.
For the NHL and Rogers, the change means clearer control over the national package in the new contractual period. For CBC, it means a redirection toward Olympic, amateur, women's and international sports content. For audiences in Canada, but also for observers of sports media around the world, the end of CBC's role in "Hockey Night in Canada" shows how much the economics of live sport have changed: traditions that for decades looked like part of public media infrastructure now depend on multibillion-dollar agreements, platforms and distribution rights.
When the 2026/2027 season begins, Saturday NHL hockey will still have its place on the screen. What is changing is the institution through which that hockey reached the widest audience for decades. Thus "Hockey Night in Canada" on CBC is ending not because interest in hockey has disappeared, but because the rights, distribution and business model of sports broadcasting have been rearranged around new centers of power.
Sources:
- Sportsnet – announcement on the end of the NHL partnership between Sportsnet and CBC and the continuation of Saturday broadcasts on Sportsnet (link)
- NHL / Rogers Communications – official announcement of the 12-year national media rights agreement in Canada through the 2037/2038 season (link)
- Associated Press – report on "Hockey Night in Canada" leaving CBC, the sublicensing agreement and reactions from stakeholders (link)
- The Canadian Press / Castanet – report on CBC's plans for a new Saturday sports program and a stronger focus on high-performance athletes (link)
- CBC/Radio-Canada – announcement on coverage of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games and the status of Olympic network through 2032 (link)
- Canadian Communications Foundation – historical overview of the show's television beginnings and first broadcasts in 1952 (link)