Will Hockey Night in Canada Get the Axe?

Canada’s beloved hockey program could be canceled if a deal for Rogers to buy Maple Leafs Sports Entertainment goes through.

Canadians may soon spend their Saturday nights tuned into TSN instead of the CBC. Rogers has reportedly made a $1.3 billion bid to buy MLSE, the company that owns the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Toronto Raptors, and Toronto FC. Rogers already owns the Toronto Blue Jays, and if the deal goes through the communications giant would be in unique position to make a move on Canada’s sports broadcasting rights. The logical thing for Rogers to do would be to gobble up TSN’s broadcasting rights, causing TSN to turn on the CBC. The cash-strapped national broadcaster would likely be unable to compete. TSN already took a bite out of HNIC in 2008, when it stole the show’s famous theme song.