****SEE REPLY #22 FOR CTV/TSN MOVE***


The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's iconic Hockey Night in Canada theme song, known for decades as Canada's "second national anthem," will no longer be used in hockey broadcasts, according to the song's composer.

Link to story:

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=e65c002d-feda-4347-9f84-d5e6954bcf4e

I am very angry about this decision this is CANADIAN HISTORY  

The theme has been around since 1968


BRUTAL !!!!!!!!!

At the turn of the last century, there were people who really hated to see that buggy whips were no longer being made. Brace yourselves - even Don Cherry and Ron McLean won't be around forever.  Maybe a new composer will come up with a theme that, over time, becomes as popular as the current one. Not liking change is part of the human condition. But, like it or not, eventually everything does.

Deal still possible for Hockey Night theme song
CBC Sports.ca
Last Updated: Thursday, June 5, 2008 | 4:39 PM ET

Contrary to published reports, CBC Sports hasn't yet pulled the plug on the Hockey Night in Canada theme song.

Scott Moore, the executive director of CBC Sports, told Newsworld on Thursday that negotiations for a new licence fee are ongoing with the representatives of composer Dolores Claman.

"We've been reaching out to [Claman] and her representative, and haven't heard back," Moore said. "We're prepared to do a deal, we're prepared to talk, but we're not prepared to do a deal at all costs.

"And as much as I'm particularly passionate about the theme, and I know a lot of Canadians are, if we can't do a deal that's responsible, we won't do a deal."

Earlier Monday, Copyright Music & Visuals — the Toronto agency representing Claman — said the CBC had declined to enter into a new licensing agreement for next season.

Copyright Music & Visuals said it had offered the CBC a chance to renew its licence to use her song on terms that were "virtually identical to those that have existed for the past decade."

Previously, each use of the song has cost the broadcaster about $500, the company said

I get things needs ot change one day.  But I htink there could and should still be a home for the song... as a sample in the new song, or used occasionally.

The song that needs to go... Nickelback's "Saturday Night (Is Alright for Fighting)"

WTF?  what kind of message is that for hockey in 2008?  Nickelback is an acceptable band to be put on the TV... that is NOT the sorta thing I want my young daughter to grow up seeing on the Ceeb (oh, and fighting is wong).

no the song that NEEDS to go is Stompin' Tom's "The Hockey Song."  If I watch one more Leafs game and hear it playing during a whistle stop, I'll hurl!!!

Quoted from CRS

no the song that NEEDS to go is Stompin' Tom's "The Hockey Song."  If I watch one more Leafs game and hear it playing during a whistle stop, I'll hurl!!!

Maybe you should just stop watching leafs games period  

excellent idea! thanx!

Perhaps the host broadcaster of Leaf's games and the club management decided that Stompin' Tom's tune is simply consistent with the demographic.

Would they be wrong....?

Song-writing contest for new hockey theme?

By BRETT CLARKSON
The Toronto Sun
June 6

The CBC is set to launch a song-writing contest open to all Canadians in hopes of finding a new theme song for Hockey Night In Canada, the head of CBC Sports said last night.

With negotiations faltering between the public broadcaster and the agency that represents the famed theme song's composer, the CBC will next week kick off the contest with Vancouver-based Nett werk Music Group -- if the two sides can't hammer out a new licensing agreement in the next few days, CBC Sports executive director Scott Moore said.

"It would be the ultimate Canadian Idol, really," Moore said. "Because whoever wins it would have their song played on Hockey Night in Canada for the next six years at least."

Moore said there's still the possibility the iconic theme song, composed by Dolores Claman in 1968, will be back for next year's broadcast, but he sounded a skeptical note.

Negotiations haven't been going well, Moore indicated, adding that pending litigation against the CBC by Claman could very likely bring about an end to the song's usage.

"We value the piece of music. We think it's a great piece of music. But we can't do business if there's litigation and basically a gun to our head," Moore said.

Last night Moore added that the lawsuit has put CBC in a situation in which the broadcaster wouldn't want to increase the theme song's value by playing it next year.

The CBC has put an offer forward that expires today at 5 p.m., he said, declining to outline the specifics.

"As far as I'm concerned we're still negotiating," Moore said. "We think those negotiations should be held in private and we will continue to do that. We're hopeful that we'll come to an agreement, but if we don't, we have an exciting plan to launch a new theme."

The controversy over the song arose after John Ciccone, the president of Claman's agency, Copyright Music and Visuals, announced online earlier this week that the CBC did not renew the song's licence after Wednesday, when the licensing agreement expired.

"The CBC was offered a new licence on terms that are virtually identical to those that have existed for the past decade.

The cost of CBC to use the theme song is approximately $500 for each game broadcast of Hockey Night in Canada.

However the CBC has chosen to move in a new direction," Ciccone said.

Ciccone said he's still open to negotiate and has offered CBC the same contract for two years, with the rates then increasing by about 15%.

"I am saddened by the decision of the CBC to drop the Hockey Night in Canada theme after our lengthy history together.

"I nevertheless respect its right to move in a new direction," said Claman in a statement on hockeytheme.com.

If the song is indeed replaced, the right one will be chosen, Wayne Gretzky e-mailed.

"It's a great song, so many wonderful memories associated with it and while I'm sure it won't disappear altogether, I'm sure the good people at CBC have some great ideas for the future," Gretzky said.

Seems like the friction over the theme did not start yesterday.  This is from the web's "Free Dictionary."

Dolores Claman (born July 6, 1927 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) is a Canadian composer and pianist. She is by far best known for the theme song to Hockey Night in Canada, a song often regarded as Canada's second national anthem, which she composed in 1968, and for "A Place to Stand", the popular tune that accompanied the groundbreaking film of the same name at the Ontario pavilion of Expo 67 in Montreal. In 2004, she commenced legal action against the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation related to their use of the Hockey Night in Canada Theme.

And this is by Jaime Vernon posted on the Southern Ontario radio site.

....The song's owner is holding the corporation hostage for MORE money...and then runs to the media when the CBC begins to waffle at the new price tag. Not defending CBC (their track record of idiocy is unprecedented), but Dolores Clayman makes nearly $500 each time the song is played. That would be intro and outtro of each game and again during double headers. A spokesman for CBC says that the corporation needs to assess the cost vs. usage aspect because, in the end, the PUBLIC pays these fees.

With that said...CBC was using the song, without permission, overseas and for licensing purposes. This is not a situation like radio where it's broadcast and the mechanicals are paid. Molstar, who originally created the song (and there's been THREE re-recordings since 1968 ) sold it to Hockey Night In Canada -- but Clayman's publishing deal was attached to the sale. If she balks on granting perpetual rights, CBC will no longer be ABLE to use the song.

As to the songwriting contest: Just give the project to David Foster. He could always use a couple extra bucks.

Ok I have the answer.....You need to get Hank Williwams JR to write the song.It worked for ABC/ESPN when he wrote a new opening.
Wait did I say that out loud.

I like it when they run "Saturday Night's Alright for Fightin'" between games of a double header.  

It's funny to hear the composer use the patriotic plea while still trying to fleece the CBC.  I'm all for being compensated but it's a two way street ladies and gentleman and something is better than nothing.  Afterall, when are you ever going to hear that song, or get paid for it, again?  Doesn't the CBC own the rights to the name "Hockey Night in Canada"?  If it's played anywhere else, they might have a claim to the association?

Hmmm... Y'know, Nickelback didn't do that song originally.  (You're all radio people, you know that.)  So get Elton John and Bernie Taupin to re-do the lyrics... like Elton did for "Candle In The Wind"... and adopt "Saturday Night" as a new theme.  Or just use an instrumental version of it.  It rocks hard, it's well known, and you can edit video over it all day.  You'd have to change the lyric anyway, since it relates to the mods/rockers in 60's London.

As a second choice, perhaps Tom Cochrane's "Big League"... now there's an inspirational hockey song.  And they know him down south too, "Life Is A Highway" certainly did some business for Disney.

The CBC suggested that Claman withdraw the 2004 suit, which might've paved the way to renewal of the theme.  She apparently refused,
and the Corporation walked away.  There's a lot of time before the start of next season... In spite of all this sabre-rattling, legal positions
can ebb and flow like the tide.  Stay tuned...

We want our hockey song!

By TARINA WHITE
The Calgary Sun    
June 8

Outraged hockey fans across the country have united online to protest the CBC's decision to ice the Hockey Night in Canada theme song.

CBC broke off negotiations Friday with the agency representing the composer of Hockey Night in Canada's famous dunt-da-dunt-da-duh ditty. The broadcaster issued a release expressing its disappointment at failing to reach a deal with John Ciccone, who represents composer Dolores Claman.

The online social networking site Facebook has been flooded with groups of hockey fans protesting the move to scrap the beloved theme song, with some starting petitions.

"I was raised on that song and I plan on raising my children with that song," wrote Tre Meyers of Vancouver.

One Facebook group of angered hockey fans alone had 7,000 members crying foul over the move to replace the song.

"I can hum this song better than I can hum O Canada -- it's almost as if we're tearing a page of history from the pages," wrote Mark Wedgewood of Guelph, Ont.

"Hockey will never be the same for me."

Claman, (a former Vancouverite) who now lives in England, gets C$500 each time CBC uses the song. Ciccone was looking for a similar deal this time around.

The licence agreement between Claman and CBC expired at the end of the NHL season Wednesday.

CBC has announced a contest to compose the new theme song. The winning composer will earn C$100,000, with some royalties going to minor hockey associations.  

Hockey theme can go, as long as Leafs games do too
by Jack Knox
Victoria Times Colonist
Published: Sunday, June 08, 2008

Can't believe the CBC will lose the Hockey Night In Canada theme music.

But then I can't believe I lit my fireplace in June, either.

The Canadian Broadcorping Castration, as some like to call it, says it has given up trying to reach a deal with Dolores Claman, the woman who wrote the tune in 1968. If they indeed can't work things out, Canada's familiar Saturday night anthem will be heard no more, replaced by, well, who knows, perhaps Don Cherry singing Give Peace A Chance.

Judging by the torrent of editorial invective flowing from this news, you would think the Hockey Night nastiness constitutes the greatest crisis facing Canada today -- which is, from one perspective, oddly comforting, a sign that nothing truly threatening bothers us. Good thing nobody's starving or the globe's not warming or anything.

Just goes to show how much people care about this iconic music, which is as quintessentially Canadian as Mounties, maple syrup and cheating on your income tax. It has been heard as a ring-tone, been played as a wedding march. When sheet music for Claman's tune was finally produced in 2000, it immediately shot to the top of the sales chart. Four years ago, the Shuffle Demons got 930 saxophonists to play the theme in downtown Toronto.

Ah, yes, Toronto, the spiritual home of our national broadcaster -- if by "national" you mean the area spanning Barrie to Windsor. Hockey Night In Canada aired 85 regular season games this year, 86 of which featured the Toronto Maple Leafs. By contrast, the Ottawa Senators, hockey's best team for the first part of the season, could be found only on the side of a milk carton. If there's one thing that binds all Canadians, or at least those living outside the 416 area code, it's their resentment of the gushing treatment given Toronto.

The Maple Leafs like to think this makes them Canada's version of the New York Yankees, the team most despised by the rest of the USA. One big difference, though: The Leafs suck. In his forward to Victoria writer Bill Gaston's book Midnight Hockey, Will Ferguson wrote of a telephone conversation with Will's brother Ian, an Oilers fan who had moved to Toronto: "In the background I could hear horns honking, people yelling, and when I asked him about it, he grumbled '[bleeping] Toronto [bleeping] Leafs.' The Maple Leafs had won something spectacularly unimportant -- a game maybe, or perhaps they got a shot on goal, or managed to miss the playoffs by fewer points than last year." I mentioned this passage to Ian when he was in Victoria last week, and got some anti-Toronto muttering in reply. Good guy, that Ian.

Not, I hasten to add, that there is anything wrong with Maple Leaf fans themselves. No, you have to admire people who soldier on with such improbable optimism. Their team hasn't won the Stanley Cup since, well, since before the Hockey Night In Canada theme was written, yet still they hold out hope. It's like watching Jimmy Hoffa's dog sitting at the end of the driveway, waiting for his master to come home.

So, no, gotta like a Leafs fan. In fact, Stephen Harper's affinity for the team might be his one endearing quality. Most national-level politicians park their allegiances when elected, the idea being that if you cheer for one team, you'll alienate the voters who back the rest. Maybe neutrality is the prime minister's official stance, too, but the closest he ever came to looking human was at a Toronto game where the Hockey Night In Canada camera caught him shooting out of his seat in joy when the Maple Leafs scored. Remember, this is the same man who stiffly shook hands with his nine-year-old son as though he were the Bulgarian ambassador.

But I digress. The point is that the problem isn't with Leaf fans, but with the CBC, which acts as though the rest of us all wear blue and white, too.

So let's make Hockey Night In Canada a deal: They can drop our beloved, comfortably constant theme music, even open the show with Celine Di ... Di ... (sorry, this is hard to say without gagging) Dion if they like, as long as they stop forcing the Toronto Bleeping Maple Leafs down our throats every Saturday.

That would be music to our ears.

CBC is its own worst enemy.  If they hadn't killed the CBC Orchestra - maybe they could've composed a newer version and own the "rights" - without having to pay royalties.  Dohhh!  That's what you get having appointed political bureaucrats run a broadcasting enterprise where WE the tax-payers fund it.

Quoted from pave

As to the songwriting contest: Just give the project to David Foster. He could always use a couple extra bucks.

Please tell me he didn't run over Ben Vereen again.

Something about this whole story REEEEEEEEEKS of the CBC looking for an excuse to do another "voting" contest.  I don't know that they really care that much about the song, so much as they just REALLY want an excuse to "have the viewers pick a new one" where they can run a show for a few months and make a few billion dollars in advertising from Ford and Coca Cola Co.

CBC asks mediation expert to stickhandle negotiations for hockey theme song
Canwest News Service
Published: Monday, June 09, 2008
                                                                            
                                                                     Former Vancouverite Dolores Claman

TORONTO - CBC is not ready to hang up its skates in its Hockey Night in Canada theme song negotiations.

The broadcaster said Monday in a statement it had asked a well-known sports lawyer and expert in mediation to serve as an intermediary in its negotiations with Copyright Music & Visuals, the copyright holder of the iconic theme song.

CBC said it hoped Osgood Hall law school professor Gord Kirke's involvement would help resolve outstanding issues over extending the licence to continue using the tune, also known as Canada's second national anthem.

"(Kirke's) ability to negotiate integral resolutions in sticky situations is incredible. Gord is an ideal candidate to assist CBC and the theme song rights-holders in brokering a positive agreement," said Scott Moore, executive director of CBC Sports.

Moore said Kirke's appointment signalled that the CBC wants to exhaust all possible avenues before giving up on the theme song.

"We feel this song is worth one last attempt to save," said Moore. "Canadians are passionate about its association with Hockey Night in Canada."

Kirke is considered to be one of Canada's top sports and entertainment lawyers, said CBC in the statement.

"Canadian Hockey fans clearly identify this music with their enjoyment of CBC's Hockey Night in Canada," said Kirke, in the statement. "I welcome the opportunity of exploring means by which this can continue."

He is also a sports and entertainment law professor at York University and University of Toronto and the first Canadian Director of the Sports Lawyer Association.

CBC announced last week it was considering dropping the popular theme song to Hockey Night in Canada because of a contract dispute with its composer.

    TORONTO - CTV has acquired the rights to the song that's been CBC's `Hockey Night in Canada' theme for the past 40 years.
    CTV and Copyright Music and Visuals, the company that controls use of the classic song composed by Dolores Claman, announced Monday afternoon that CTV acquired all rights to the song in perpetuity.
    The network says it will use the song on NHL broadcasts on TSN, RDS and during the broadcaster's coverage of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.
    CTV says it made an agreement in principle Friday with Copyright Music and Visuals after CBC announced a contest to find a new theme song.
    The contest announcement followed months of negotiations that failed to result in a new licensing agreement between CBC and the agent.
    CBC's licence to use the song expired at the end of the Stanley Cup final last week.
(The Canadian Press)

That's one angle I never thought of.  Nice work CTV.  

Quoted from newsbeat

    CTV acquired all rights to the song in perpetuity.

That forever right..hahahahaha.  Excellent!!!
I wonder how the deal works out for Ms.Claman.

Hahahaha, CBC morons.

Quoted from Masterofnothing

CBC is its own worst enemy.  If they hadn't killed the CBC Orchestra - maybe they could've composed a newer version and own the "rights" - without having to pay royalties.  Dohhh!  That's what you get having appointed political bureaucrats run a broadcasting enterprise where WE the tax-payers fund it.

Let's not forget (because this is being bandied about everywhere) CBC Sports gains ad revenue just like Newsworld to support itself.

Quoted from farley

Let's not forget (because this is being bandied about everywhere) CBC Sports gains ad revenue just like Newsworld to support itself.

Yes...but it's still being run like a government department by a government appointed HACK

Boy, it is really going to feel weird to hear that song with Duthie's crew associated, and not Grapes and MacLean........yeeeeeeeeeesh...

Now if i were CBC, i'd abandon the silly HNIC Theme contest and get on the blower with EA Sports...the video game people.  see what kind of theme they can come up with.  Some of their themes have attitude!  Not to mention the cross promotion that would be created by having that theme in every XBOX, WII, Playstation that has the game.

OR, something that reflects the current state of the game...say "Yakety Sax!"

http://video.google.ca/videose.....ogle.com   (theme starts about 7 secs in)

Quoted from NBeaconIsBack

Hahahaha, CBC morons.

That's totally sums it up!!
There are so many stupid moves the CBC has made over the past few years.
They pissed off curling fans two seasons in a row (and those are people you don't want to mess with) Last season they cut out of an Eskimos game I believe to play a movie, I think something similar also happened during a Riders or Stamps game. After this summer they no longer hold the rights to the Olympics.
Keep diggin' that hole CBC... keep diggin'

I'm already working on my entry to the new theme contest... da tat dum dad ceeb dum dum... then repeat....

Perhaps the most disturbing part of all this is the blatant self-promotion performed by TSN today.

SportsCentre is expected to provide at least some journalistic integrity.  Instead the top story on SC plays the entire song twice through while discussing their own greatness for "saving" the song (how do you SAVE a song?) and advetising yet again they have an outstanding NHL on TSN deal.

Pathetic.

I would assume anyone could run the music if they paid the artist. CBC could still play it if they pay a fee. Now it was CBC who made the music popular. CBC does not want to do buisness with someone who is suing them. Either the artist is being unreasonable in her request for monies. I understand CBC will pay $500 per night. Hard to set a value on the amount she should be paid. It's a cash cow for the rights holder.

the one thing that WILL sound strange is hearing the music but no CBC staff announcer (is it still ex CFMI-er Bob Boving?)saying "Hockey Night In Canada, brought to you byyyyy".   TSN will have to use whatever it is they call their games....strange times ahead...

Quoted from CRS

the one thing that WILL sound strange is hearing the music but no CBC staff announcer (is it still ex CFMI-er Bob Boving?)saying "Hockey Night In Canada, brought to you byyyyy".   TSN will have to use whatever it is they call their games....strange times ahead...

That's what I think.  It would be like running the theme from ABC's Wide World of Sports to intro a highlight show on NBC.  I think you'd almost feel embarrased.  

What do you think?

I concur with you folks 110%!!

a) I was sickened to watch TSN pat itself on the back for "saving" the song.  To be honest, if it's not going to be with HNIC, I think I'd rather see the song die. To see it with TSN is just *wrong* somehow, and seeing them rub one out over how great they are was irritating yesterday.

I like that comment about being embarassed...that sounds about right to me!! TSN thinks they've done some great service to the country and I'll bet most people are going "Ummmmmmmmmm....I dunno about this..."

Quoted from farley

SportsCentre is expected to provide at least some journalistic integrity.  Instead the top story on SC plays the entire song twice through while discussing their own greatness for "saving" the song (how do you SAVE a song?) and advetising yet again they have an outstanding NHL on TSN deal.

Pathetic.

CTV9 in Vancouver did the same thing during their sports cast. I was a little embarrassed for Pete.. He went on saying he should be writing lyrics for the song.

Shake your head for a minute, CTV.

Face the facts.  This is 100% CBC's fault.  They decided to drop the theme.  They sent the press release saying that they gave up.  The song officially was released into free agency. If CTV didn't buy it, someone else would have swept in. It's too valuable to just sit in a music bin.  It's like having a top hockey player not being re-signed to your team. What? You want him to just never play the game again?  No, some other team will sign a deal and he'll play on.  Are you going fault the other team for signing the player?

If you had purchased full rights to such a famous piece of music.  Wouldn't you want to tell and play it to all your friends and say, I can play this when I want and where I want.

It's no screct that the CBC has been making HORRIBLE decisions in the last few years. They almost cut Ron McLean a few years ago remember? The theme will play on.  The theme stays in Canada. Change is inevitable.

Blame the CBC or blame the composer's agent for acting like Scott Boras. Don't fault the competition for making what they believe is an advantageous business decision.

Here's where I think the flaw in your logic lies:

A star player becomes an FA, Team A doesn't pick him up, so Team B does and he lives to play another day and makes the team that much better.

With the song, I really don't believe it makes TSN better.  AFAIC, CBCs HNIC broadcasts are 10x better than any of TSNs broadcasts, and the song isn't going to change that.  The whole thing just seems really awkward now, and TSN is going to look kind of silly with that song as its intro.  Honestly, they would have been better to leave it alone and forge their own path because the song, regardless of what station it airs on, will ALWAYS be associated with CBC.  Nothing will ever change that.

What's being overlooked here is this: It's not the song itself that's iconic...it's the song's relationship with hockey on CBC on Saturday nights...coast to coast on the Mother Network, for all to see.

Quoted from Poppa

(...) and TSN is going to look kind of silly with that song as its intro.  Honestly, they would have been better to leave it alone and forge their own path because the song, regardless of what station it airs on, will ALWAYS be associated with CBC.  Nothing will ever change that.

What's being overlooked here is this: It's not the song itself that's iconic...it's the song's relationship with hockey on CBC on Saturday nights...coast to coast on the Mother Network, for all to see.

couldn't agree more Poppa.  It would be like Pepsi buying the rights tio an old Coke commercial, running the commercial and at the end saying "Pepsi!"  Bizarre.

The real opportunity for TSN was that the CBC had wounded themselves and they could use the chance to build their own product and introduce hockey fans to their style.

not only that, but if this board is any indication... most Canadian are going "blah blah CBC SUCKS!"

and TSN bought into that... hmmm good investment?

Agreed...this was badly misplayed by CTV/TSN.  They would have been so much better off taking the high-road on this one.  Now, the only losers are the viewers...

this is the STOOOOOPIDEST thing to happen to television since Letterman's defection to CBS and NBC retaining the rights to his bits.  Couldn't do "Stupid Pet Tricks" and some of his other hallmark bits, had to rename Larry "Bud" Melman etc.  How bizarre would that have been if Conan O'Brian did those bits.  Maybe CTV can borrow the Disney vault and put the theme in there for like 10-20 years.  

I'm here all day, try the fish...

"Yakety Sax" is good. However, the CBC might also do well with "Charlie Brown". ("Why's everybody always pickin' on me?")

I'm sorry, but I don't associate the song with the CBC. To me it's purely a hockey anthem, and I'm happy that it's still going to continue to be on a Canadian hockey program.  

I also associate the Roundball Rock track by John Tesh strictly with the NBA, but no one's heard that infamous music on tv in years because NBC lost the rights to the NBA to ABC.  You know how much it sucks not hearing this music ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fErMdMN-rGg )  when tuning into a basketball game? I would be ecstatic to hear that music introing the the Celtics/Lakers finals right now. ABC's theme is terrible.

If Fox lost the rights to their NFL theme, I'd have no problem with NBC snapping it up and putting their Sunday Night football crapfest song in the furnace

You don't hear Heavy Action or the Hank Williams Jr. "Are You Ready" song on ABC for Monday Night Football anymore. It's all on ESPN. Sure, the show went with it and both stations are the same company, but I don't hear many people complaining that they ruined 35 years of ABC tradition. Dennis Miller did that.


If CBC's claim that CTV bought the theme for $2.5 - $3 million is true, divide that by 33 million citizens. That's about 9 cents each. Wow, as a taxpayer I'd have reeeeeaaallly cried foul over less than a dime  . I would have thrown in a buck of my tax money to cover 9 others who don't watch hockey.  CBC dropped the ball and CTV picked it up and is gonna run with it.  They would've been stupid not to.