Hockey Night In Canada won't be the same without it. In my mind the song itself = CBC on a cold Saturday night.

"TSN Hockey Evening North of America" just doesn't work.

CBC can commission an extremely similar tune, can't they? It's my understanding you can't copyright the sound, just the specific order of specific notes.

Who cares about the song? The quality of HNIC has been going downhill. It's time to change many things, the music being the least of the CBC worries.

The CBC updated the song several times over the last 40 years, it's not as good as it used to be.
Just quietly use a new theme, we know it won't liked as much. Don't make a contest to draw more attention to your mistake in not buying the theme originally.

Yeah - I did notice that Ty Rek....in fact its odd that they would do something like that in the first place. Its like Addidas buying the swoosh...I mean, how does this acion NOT go against the marketing priciples of branding. And really, if the CBC paid 3+M for this song I am sure there would be an equal amount of flak for that. Its nice to know that HNIC's partner in the owner of the song had such little historical investment in a great Canadian franchise...sad.

Re: rek, comment #4. I suspect you're right. A good example was the use of Lalo Schifrin's music from "Cool Hand Luke" as a local newscast theme throughout the US in the 70s and 80s (prime examples: WABC in New York and WXYZ in Detroit). After the rights expired/were not renegotiated, a similar-sounding theme that could almost pass for an update was implemented.

This sucks. It even sucks more to be on the other side of the border where they have no idea what they are doing when they pathetically try to broadcast hockey on TV.

We miss HNIC and have a couple versions of the theme on the iPod. The good thing, we guess, is that the theme will still be out there, although not on the CBC.

The songwriter's daughter shines a light on things in her blog:

http://madeleinemorris.blogspot.com/2008/06/hockey-theme.html

Tuesday, June 10, 2008
The Hockey Theme

I just wanted to thank you, on behalf of my mother, for your support of the hockey theme. I also wanted you to know my side of the story,
because it's important to me. What I hope you will acknowledge is that the CBC has had an exclusive media platform on which to air its side of the story.

First, to clear up some misconceptions. For 25 years, CBC paid my mother no license fees at all for the music. It was only in the last 15 years that they began to pay any license fee at all.

Last week, after more than a year of CBC bullying, threatening and endless changing of positions, we offered the CBC the following deal: forget the lawsuit - just pay our legal fees (which we incurred because of CBC's breach of usage as agreed in the license deal) and let's keep the same licensing deal as before. That's it...same as before. $500 per episode of HNIC. They did not accept.

They kept bullying us, telling us the song was worthless, threatening to drop the song altogether if we didn't give them exactly what they wanted, absolutely on their terms. If not, they'd hold a national contest and replace the song. Honestly, it became increasingly clear to us that this was their plan all along - to offer deals that were impossible for us to accept, so they would have the excuse to drop the song without being blamed for doing it. On Thursday, they sent us an email rejecting the offer and saying that it was sad we could not come to an agreement.

Then on Friday, Scott Moore of the CBC announced the Song Contest to replace the theme. So, it was clear, for sure, that this was over for us.

My belief is that when it started to become clear to the CBC that the public wasn't happy with their decision, they announced that they would negotiate further. Frankly, my mother was so depressed, she just said - no, they don't really want the song. It's better at least if it dies a dignified death.

When CTV made an offer, they promised that they'd use the song, and they'd use it in association with Canadian hockey. Of all the things, this mattered most to my mother.

I know you are probably upset that we didn't resolve our differences with the CBC, but no matter what they say publicly, they really,
clearly, didn't give a shit about the theme. Their only concern was they should not be seen to be the villains in getting rid of it. My mother became a very convenient scapegoat.

To a composer, their music is like their baby - they don't want to see it buried, or forgotten, or sidelined. And my mother, being a rather
strong woman, just wasn't willing to be bullied and threatened any more. A lot of people are going to call her greedy and opportunistic. Well, they just don't know her at all. It's going to sound trite if I say that "it wasn't about the money". But ask any composer of music if they want to see their work buried, and never played again. It's easy to focus on the money. But it was never, ever about the money. Life, and people, are just a lot more complex than that.

That's my side of the story, for what it's worth.

Madeleine Morris

Well, good.

CBC's NHL coverage has been sketchy at the best of times. That they are ready to roll out the megabucks for Don Cherry but not for the iconic -- yes -- HNIC theme sort of crystallizes it all.

Radio-Canada (SRC)'s NHL coverage fled to Réseau des sports (RDS) a few years ago already. No reason CBC's shouldn't migrate to TSN, too. I'll take Bob McKenzie and Pierre McGuire over Don Cherry and Kelly Hrudey any day -- intelligent analysis, not blustering celebs.

Let's face it. The NHL is big business. It does not need the CBC subsidizing it. Maybe it's time CBC Sports had a personnel change and started focusing on what is new, innovative, and undercovered. The beauty of amateur hockey, from men's senior to the pond hockey championships; and competing venues which reduce the NHL's hockey stranglehold, like the new Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) in Eastern Europe, would be a great place to start.