MacLean came to praise CTV’s Olympic coverage, not bury it
March 8, 2010 · 27 Comments
When a lowly media columnist states an opinion, you can give it the level of importance you think it deserves.
But, when a TV star critiques the work of a colleague working at another network, that’s news.
Why? Because, as a broadcast journalist pointed out to me, “There’s an unwritten rule in media. You don’t mention the competition, and you especially don’t praise the competition.”
Rules and conventions, of course, mean little Ron MacLean. So, there he was, the main guy at CBC Sports, the host of Hockey Night In Canada, praising CTV’s Olympic coverage and, in particular, the work of James Duthie, who was afternoon co-host and anchor of the men’s hockey coverage. “You amaze me,” was MacLean’s comment on Duthie’s work.
Does The Globe and Mail give kudos to The Toronto Star? Would a sports columnist at one newspaper throw a bouquet at a colleague working for another newspaper? Not likely.
Or, as a broadcast journalist asked, “Have you ever seen Peter Mansbridge come on the air and say, ‘What a great job CTV did covering the Federal Budget’? Have you ever heard Lloyd Robertson say, ‘Terry Milewski did a super job for CBC covering Parliament today’?
So, what was MacLean up to? Well, he’s unpredictable. We know that. By mentioning Duthie and nobody else involved in the CTV Olympic coverage, was there some hidden meaning to it all? My sense of it was his praise of CTV was sincere, although the CBC would probably prefer he hadn’t said anything. He mentioned Duthie, probably because, as a hockey guy, he is MacLean’s counterpart at CTV owned TSN.
Actually, I’m wrong about the CBC’s reaction to MacLean’s praise of CTV and Duthie. Scott Moore, the head of CBC Sports as well as as media sales and marketing for the network, said he liked it.
”I thought it was very classy of Ron,” Moore said. “Ron sort of feels he’s above the competitive fray for whatever reason. He feels he can say that sort of stuff and people accept it from him.”
On the same broadcast, Don Cherry noted that he had been honoured last week by the Boston Bruins and had dropped the puck before their game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, televised by TSN. Did TSN mention Cherry’s involvement during the broadcast? No. That’s the norm.
Still with Cherry, he resumed his feud with Dick Pound on Saturday’s Coach’s Corner, referring to Pound as a freeloader. This was in reference to Pound handing out medals to the women hockey players at the Vancouver Olympic. The feud, of course, goes back to Pound stating a large number of NHL were receiving “pharmaceutical assistance,” a claim that angered Cherry.
The New York Post reports that Academy Awards officials nixed several Tiger Woods jokes that had been written for co-hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. They were deemed “too rude.”
Will the success of the Vancouver Olympic hockey tournament move NHL ratings in the United States? Bob Raissman of the New York Daily News reports that the Pittsburgh Penguins played the New York Rangers last Thursday for which MSG earned a .96 rating (percentage of MSG’s potential viewing households tuned in). On the same day, in the afternoon, a Mets-Cardinals grapefruit league game on Sportsnet New York earned a 1.13 rating. No Olympic buzz.
Weekend audiences
Hockey
Vancouver Canucks-Chicago Blackhawks, Friday, Sportsnet Pacific, 389,000.
Hockey Night in Canada pre-game, Saturday, CBC, 793,000.
Toronto Maple Leafs-Ottawa Senators, Saturday, CBC, 1.812 million.
Montreal Canadiens-Los Angeles Kings, Saturday, CBC, 793,000.
Leafs-Philadelphia Flyers, Sunday, Sportsnet Ontario, 478,000.
Calgary Flames-Minnesota Wild, Sunday, Sportsnet West, 146,000.
Canucks-Nashville Predators, Sunday, Sportsnet Pacific, 321,000.
New Jersey Devils-Edmonton Oilers, Sunday, Sportsnet West, 133,000.
Curling
Tim Hortons Brier, Saturday afternoon, TSN, 773,000
Brier, Saturday, prime time, TSN, 705,000.
Brier, Sunday morning, TSN, 599,000.
Brier, Sunday afternoon, TSN, 597,000.
Brier, Sunday prime time, TSN, 846,000.
Auto racing
NASCAR Sprint Cup Kobalt Tools 500, TSN2, 312,000.
Basketball
Toronto Raptors-New York Knicks, Friday, TSN, 322,000.
Raptors-Philadelphia 76ers, Sunday, CBC: 218,000.
Alpine skiing
World Cup, women’s downhill, Saturday, CBC, 71,000.
World Cup, men’s downhill, Saturday, CBC, 57,000.
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Hilarious blog from the guy who never once criticized his employer and therefore spent 90 per cent of his time parsing the Corp's coverage.
Where have you been Houston? this has ALWAYS been the case. CBC has gone out of the way to mention when playoff or Olympic events were on TSN but even when there were joint partnerships TSN repeatedly either ignored this courtesy and only begrudgingly and extremely tersely mentioned the "other network".
Heck, TSN courtesied ESPN for that infamous Hope Solo interview (which ESPN got from CBC).
Not surprising from a fossil like yourself that the "conventions" you speak of are so very 70s and inapplicable to this increasingly convoluted multi-platform world.
Wow, those are some low totals for Sportnets coverage of games. Maybe if they let other regions view the games, the total would go up. I can't understand how we pay for 4 channels of SNET and they are blacked out most of the time. The ratings look good on 'em in my opinion.
Its not Sportsnet that makes the games blacked out, the NHL does to protect Centre Ice. Sportsnet buys regional rights to games, it would bring down the value of TSN and CBC's packages if they had national rights (TSN has exclusive national cable rights). The same thing happens with in the US for NHL, MLB and NBA.
The channels aren't blacked out most of the time either. Around 40 times a year x3 hours for each = 120 hours of the year. There is almost 9000 hours in a year.
MacLean was showing he feels secure in his job. An insecure person will not acknowledge the good work of a competitor the way he did.
Smart move by MacLean. Sometimes he surprises me.
MacLean's credibility took a big hit over Ref-gate recently. His "good-guy gesture" this week was about restoring some good will. Good for him, I say. If the door opens, walk right on in!
And, besides, the only people in media who "compete" are the space peddlers – the sales guys.
The writers, broadcasters, beat guys, analysts – sure, their paycheques may come from different sources, but they more often than not end the night sitting at the same table at the bar.
Bill, do you think anyone at CTV would ever compliment any CBC host for their good coverage? Never. CTV would never allow it to happen. Ron is a class act and CBC is a class act. CTV has been so intent on "dethroning" CBC and all of its talent that they've lost sight of the bigger picture. Kudos for MacLean for being classy.
When you sit at the top of the Canadian sports mountain like MacLean, it is easy to acknowledge those under you.
I've got a reason that might explain no Olympic bump for the NHL. Maybe people are just not into the NHL style of hockey. Maybe the oft-repeated statement by the Bettman and others that fans want to see goons in staged fights and cheap shots that result in concussions is actually false and Americans don't want to see pseudo-UFC on ice but rather want to watch the skilled players perform at the highest level.
I know the whole 'this sport has better ratings than that sport' argument is fairly childish…
But I regularly read from posters such as Rick Grace about how basketball is a complete afterthought in Canada, on par with darts or cricket . But looking at Raptor ratings, they compare quite favorably with regional NHL games. (Obviously HNIC is another story, but that is an institution). The Raptors scored higher ratings than Flames/Wild, Canucks/Preds, Devils/Oilers – and were not that far off (shockingly) from Leafs/Flyers.
Now, I know TSN and CBC have national reach, while the Sportsnet games are regional, but I have a feeling 95% of people watching the Raptors game are in the GTA anyway. If the games were regional in the GTA, I'm not sure the ratings would be all that different.
Just food for thought.
I wouldn't worry about the idiot Rick Grace. He behaves like a typical insecure Canadian who feels the need to protect this country from things that he doesn't consider Canadian. He's just a jingoistic troll looking for attention. Either ignore him or just make fun of how stupid he is.
JPB:
I would agree that a very large percentage of Raptor fans are watching in the GTA, and the number of viewers IS all relative. However, if you are trying to reach a national audience. 322 000 and 218 000 are not great numbers, particularly for the CBC. The Raptors had 1/10th the audience of Hockey Night, and they will worry the bean counters at the CBC. I would predict that CBC may get out of the hoops game and try and entice Sportsnet's regional reach to take on the broadcasts.
Overall CBC has struggle with non-hockey product. The Raps, TFC, and the Blue Jays failed to draw the requisite audiences. That's not CBC's fault. as they put on a solid production. Its a product of the fact that those teams are Toronto teams first and foremost and not really national at all, outside of the fact that they are only the teams in their sport in Canada.
I think that TSN2 would willingly take on those broadcasts once the CBC contract is up, if CBC doesn't want them. Unlike Blue Jays and TFC coverage the Raptors games are produced by Raptors TV, so it doesn't take a CBC production crew/HD truck to do the games. If the Raptors want to sell CBC games for a cheep price (which if they want an OTA presence they will) then CBC might stick around. I could see them not re-newing the contract as well though.
I know it probably wouldn't happen, but the other option would be CTV. I'm sure that they could do a 5-8 game package on Saturday and Sunday afternoons late in the season (after the NFL season). I doubt they'd be interested though because CTVGlobemedia would rather the games be on TSN/TSN2.
Yeah if you're trying to compare the Raptors ratings to Hockey Night, the numbers aren't that good but if you want to look at them as regional numbers, the ratings stack up favourable to comparable numbers from the American teams and are near the top of the league.
And the reason Sportsnet dropped the Raptors broadcasts years ago (and subsequently all NBA games) was because the network wanted to show the Raptors regionally on select feeds while MLSE wanted the games on a national level. So unless Sportsnet changed their minds, I don't think you'll be seeing roundball on it soon.
It was classy of MacLean to praise CTV's coverage, but I bet CBC Sports Executives (i.e Scott Moore, David Masse and Joe Darling) are probably saying to themselves, " Ron Shut up!" We want back in 2014!!
It's Joel Darling. He graduated with Rod Smith & Keith Pelley.
It should come as no surprise to anyone that Ron Maclean is heaping praise upon James Duthie. Maclean is merely following Michael Corleone’s advice and “is keeping his friends close, but his enemies closer.”
After Brian Williams’ (“I’ve been to 13 Olympics”) implosion as prime time host of the Vancouver Olympics coverage, culminating in his pathetic sermon after the closing ceremony, the Consortium will need to re-think its broadcast line-up for London 2012. Duthie, who is a capable broadcaster, certainly should be considered as the heir apparent, especially since he carried the load admirably well during the daytime in spite of being partnered with the lead balloon LaFlamme.
Duthie’s ascension is going to be a real threat to MacLean’s position at CBC when the latter’s contract expires in 2014. At that time the deal with the NHL will be up for bid and if the CBC is still in the sports business at that time, don’t be surprised if they decide to continue on with a new team anchored by Duthie and Friedman.
Though MacLean is a one-dimensional hockey puck and lame sidekick in the Don Cherry circus act, one has to give him credit for shrewdly manipulating the CBC into re-signing him (by orchestrating the Don Cherry-led public frenzy about his pending departure) when the network wanted to cut its losses.
It is this same shrewdness that is the basis for MacLean’s palling up to Duthie in the hope of riding his coattails to continued employment.
As far as Cherry is concerned, it is appalling that the CBC continues to tolerate and even promote this illiterate goon. It obviously speaks to CBC management’s interpretation of its mandate of upholding and promoting Canadian culture that we can look forward to a made-for-television movie about this clown (now there is a cultural endeavor and appropriate use of tax dollars!). But alas, what else can one expect from the Hockey, Homos and Hokum Network.
I agree 100%. Very well said. How anyone cannot see through Maclean's smarminess is beyond me. The less of Ron and Don, the better.
Hockey, Homos and Hokum? What?
Raissman's a hack of the first order. Also known for crossing newspaper strike picket lines, and appearing on a newspaper-sponsored sports tv yelling show on a network he's supposed to be critical of. Hack. Should have been bought out years ago. Doesn't blog, doesn't interact, barely comments on the sports tv issues of the day.
The federal budget thing is not a good analogy. Both CTV and CBC would be going all out on that. Here, only CTV covered the Olympics and I have trouble getting worked up about Maclean saying that Duthie did a good job with it.
Other than Pound's university degree and school tie, he and Cherry are remarkably similar these days. Both enjoy popping off for the sole purpose of getting their names in the paper, and stoking controversy. After all, claiming that one-third of NHLers are doping, without a shred of evidence to back it up, is similar to Cherry painting all, "French guys and Euros" with the same brush. There was a time when both of them had interesting things to say in their fields, but now both have become cartoon versions of themselves.
I agree with Cherry and I agree with you, however, don't forget that this is Cherry's MO.
I cannot stand listening to MacLean and could care less what he thinks. HNIC needs to freshen up their act and replacing him with Friedman would be a good start
Man, I lasted through 30 minutes of the Oscars, what a bore. Did Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin say ANYTHING funny after I tuned out?
friedman, please no… everytime i see him i wonder how he didnt end up somewhere in the consortium…
so was MacLean praising Duthie… or really taking a shot at Brian Williams.. hinting that Williams was maybe outdone in the spotlight he greedily jumped ship for…..
remember MacLean makes a habit of saying one thing and meaning another …. so while this wasnt one of his bad puns… maybe it was the same thing
i'm not sure that MacLean's opinion matters very much. Like Cherry, he has become increasingly pedantic. The recent officiating controversy exposed him as lacking basic journalistic skills. in my opinion this is a function of the lack of competition for eyeballs on saturday night. HNIC has a monopoly on hockey viewers and this is reflected in the quality of their broadcasters.
the tsn/sportsnet turf war is largely irrelevant to the average viewer. people tend to follow personalities rather than networks.