You can’t talk “Hockey Night in Canada” without mentioning the CBC.
CBC Television has a special place in the heart of many Canadians.
Though some may disagree with its news content, the Crown-owned station has long been the home to Hockey Night in Canada, a Saturday night tradition for many hockey fans north of the border.
When the race to the Stanley Cup commences, fans all over the great nation of Canada will become hooked on the CBC yet again for their dose of playoff hockey.
What channel is CBC?
For Canada, a full list of CBC Television stations can be found here. Bell TV CBC channels for all provinces are listed here, and Access Communications CBC channels are listed here.
For the United States, it’s a little tricker. CBC Television is only available on local affiliates in markets near the U.S.-Canadian border. But don’t be discouraged! You can always live stream the games with fuboTV. Sign up now for a free trial.
For those here in the states who are unfamiliar with this unofficial weekly holiday in Canada, here’s a little history lesson for you.
Hockey Night in Canada began on the radio on November12, 1931. Back then, a radio announcer by the name of Foster Hewitt was the voice of nation’s game, and that would remain until 1952, when Hockey Night in Canada came to television, airing on the CBC Television network.
Between 1965 and 1975, HNIC was also produced for CTV, but it couldn’t rival its home network. For the CBC, HNIC was their baby, and it became a ritual for Canadian families to stay at home on Saturday nights and turn on the hockey game.
In 1995, the CBC began showing doubleheaders on a regular basis, and the network made even more history in 2016, when Cassie Campbell, an Olympic women’s ice hockey champion, became the first-ever female rinkside reporter for HNIC.
While HNIC became synonymous with Saturday hockey, the CBC’s hold on that day was threatened in 2013. That was the year Rogers Communications entered into a deal with the NHL for exclusive rights to broadcast its games, leaving many to wonder if HNIC would be no more on the CBC.
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Thankfully, this wasn’t the case, as Rogers allowed the CBC to continue to air games on Saturday nights, continuing a long tradition of Saturdays in Canada being the day of hockey and Don Cherry’s epic rants.
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