Following the "intervention" of the NHL, CBC won an
"11th-hour deal" with ESPN2 late Friday which "allowed" the
network to carry Saturday's inaugural game at the Air Canada
Centre, according to William Houston of the Toronto GLOBE &
MAIL. Sources say CBC reached a deal with ESPN2 to use the
network's feed for its "Hockey Night In Canada" show after
the NHL "instructed ESPN2 to make a deal with the CBC"
(Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 2/20). In Toronto, Al Strachan wrote
that a clause in the standard broadcasting agreement between
the NHL and rights-holders "requires that a clean feed be
sent to the league's broadcast centre in New Jersey." The
league "chose to ship that feed back" to CBC's "HNIC" for
"re-transmission." Since the presence of any CBC employees
in the Air Canada Centre "could have led to the union
setting up a picket line," the "HNIC" game-night staff went
to Washington, DC, to do the game, as the staff could use
the MCI Center's "state-of-the-art technology" with an
"available broadcast truck" located in range in
Philadelphia. In addition, the Sharks-Caps game "was
available if the attempts to broadcast the Toronto game
failed." "HNIC"'s Bob Cole and Harry Neale called the
Canadiens-Maple Leafs game while watching a monitor in an
MCI broadcast booth (TORONTO SUN, 2/21). In Toronto, Lu &
Zelkovich reported that prior to the game, the Maple Leafs
"won an injunction to prevent striking" CBC technicians from
picketing outside the Air Canada Centre until March 1
(TORONTO STAR, 2/20). But striking technicians "accused"
the CBC of "misleading a judge" after a Maple Leaf Sports &
Entertainment exec "testified in an affidavit" that CBC told
him "it would not be broadcasting the Leafs-Canadiens game."
CBC officials "denied the charge" and said "no CBC personnel
worked at the arena" (TORONTO STAR, 2/21).
