Leveraging Hockey 110%

Hockey can make or break a Canadian television network. Advertising revenue from CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada, for example, subsidizes the majority of other CBC programmes that are money losers. When rumours swirled a few years ago that CBC ran the risk of losing NHL TV rights to rival CTV, industry insiders openly questioned if the public broadcaster could survive such a fatal blow. Although CBC was ultimately able to retain its NHL package, another broadcasting chain has not been so lucky and has slowly succumbed to its wounds.

Télévision Quatre-Saisons (“TQS”) was launched in 1986 as the third French-language television service throughout the Province of Quebec. Sports, particularly hockey, quickly became a staple item on the TQS schedule. Beginning in 1988, the network became the official broadcaster of the Quebec Nordiques. In 1995, when the Nordiques relocated to Colorado as the Avalanche, TQS shifted its hockey focus to the Montreal Canadiens, airing at least one of the team’s games per week. In 1998, to complement the Canadiens coverage, the network introduced a nightly sports debate show entitled 110%. Airing after the games, 110% gave former coaches (like Jean Perron and Michel Bergeron), retired players (such as Enrico Ciccone and Marc Bureau), and active journalists (including Michel Villeneuve and Pierre Rinfret) the opportunity to debate the Canadiens performance and what adjustments the team should make for the next game, the next series, the next season, etc. The show, first hosted by Paul Rivard and later by Jean Pagé, became infamous for having all its guests talking (read: screaming) at the same time and the ambience mirrored the passionate debates that Quebeckers would have about hockey over their office water coolers and home dinner tables. Jean Perron, as an example, is shown here expressing what he believes to be a lack of historical success with Russian players with the Canadiens:



110% was a huge success, so much so that it gave rise to spoof segments on comedy shows, such as this 10% clip from a Radio-Canada New Year’s Eve Special, in which the show was removed from its sports context and placed into a political one:



But the show was not only mimicked in comedy segments – its successful format on TQS gave rise to competing sports debate shows on other networks. In 2005, Radio-Canada launched Au-dessus de la mêlée and, in 2008, RDS premiered L’Antichambre. The rival networks also poached TQS’ talent base, with Radio-Canada taking Michel Villeneuve and RDS grabbing Michel Bergeron. Meanwhile, TQS wasn’t only losing its talent – it was also losing its hockey footprint. The Canadiens announced in 2002 that conventional networks were no longer in the team’s future – the Canadiens would now air exclusively on cable channel RDS.

For TQS, the cable-only announcement was a fatal blow. Without the hockey property, TQS fell into severe financial hardship. In 2007, the network filed for bankruptcy protection. Its new owner, Remstar, changed the network’s name to V and announced that all in-house productions would cease in 2008 – with the only exception being 110%. But even the network’s crown jewel could not avoid fate forever. After all, rival RDS not only had exclusive coverage of the Canadiens, but it also now had its own sports debate show that immediately followed the games. The transition from game to debate on RDS was seamless, with viewers not given much time or reason to change channels. Not surprisingly, 110% suffered in the ratings department and, after a brief name change to L’Attaque à 5, the show aired its last broadcast on Friday – 11 seasons after it first started.

110% will not be the only hockey debating show going off the air for good this spring. Later in June, Radio-Canada’s attempt at the genre will also disappear into television history. La Zone with Michel Villeneuve (also a name change, this time from Au-dessus de la mêlée) has equally been bleeding viewers to RDS and the show will not be renewed next season. This means that the cable channel’s L’Antichambre will run unopposed next fall as the only hockey debate show in town.

The moral to the story is never to underestimate the importance of NHL broadcasting rights in the Canadian television industry. Not only do hockey ratings mean big bucks in advertising revenue during the games themselves, allowing the funds to be spent on more fragile areas of network programming, but the audience can be easily convinced to stick around after the game, boost ratings for complementary shows, and drive a dagger into the heart of the competition. When it comes to leveraging the game of hockey by 110%, no one does it as well as RDS.

TONIGHT'S GAME:
Flyers at Blackhawks - Game 2, 8 p.m. (NBC)/(CBC)/(RDS)