In case you’re one of the only people who doesn’t know that the CBC lost the rights to the Hockey Night in Canada theme song, let me recap for you. Dolores Claman owns the right to the theme song which has been used on Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts since 1968. In order to continue to use the theme Dolores Claman was reported to have asked the CBC for between $2.5 and $3 million for its use in perpetuity. The CBC confirmed on June 6th that they were no longer in negotiations for the theme because the price was too high. As a result CTV acquired the rights to the song on June 9th, which now will be heard before NHL games airing on TSN. No financial details of the deal have been released.

A CP/Decima poll conducted from June 12 to June 15 produced the following results:
• the majority of Canadians feel the CBC did the right thing when it bowed out of bidding for the Hockey Night in Canada theme song
• 56% of Canadians said the CBC shouldn’t have paid more than $1 million
• 27% of Canadians said the CBC should have paid more than $1 million
• 59% said that they weren’t bothered about the CBC’s loss of the theme song
• 62% supported CBC’s plan to stage a nationwide contest for a new song
• 14% think that the CBC will lose viewers without the song

The CBC has launched Canada’s Hockey Anthem Challenge, a national contest to find a new song for its weekly hockey broadcast and Canadians have until August 31st to submit their musical entries. The prize is $100,000 and 50% of royalty fees with the other 50% going to minor hockey. Follow the link below for contest details and to enter.
http://anthemchallenge.cbc.ca/