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CCA news release
regarding curling TV coverage
courtesy Canadian Curling Association
(Feb 24, 2005) -- The Canadian
Curling Association, our sponsors and our broadcast partner have
received considerable negative feedback from the public in response
to the Scott Tournament of Hearts television schedule. A segment of
our viewing audience has been very clear in its communication to us
regarding an number of issues. items of concern are:
- The absence of TSN
- The availability of two draws vs three as was the case
historically
- The incremental cost of digital television
- The confusion resulting from the inclusion of The Score
Network only days before the round robin coverage began
- The inability to access CBC programming in certain regions of
the country on some CBC affiliates
- Confusion around the timing of the CBC main network encore
presentation of the Country Canada show from that evening
The facts are here:
1)Three draws per day in the round robin was not an option
regardless of who our broadcast partner was.
2) The status quo with TSN & CBC sharing broadcast duties was never
an option. TSN took that off the table at the onset of our
negotiations.
While CBC Country Canada is available to Canadians who have cable or
satellite, we have heard those people who have communicated with us.
We are taking steps to address aspects of the situation in order to
simplify access to prime time live broadcasts from our events while
enhancing the reach of our evening prime time broadcasts.
On another front, many people have been contacting sponsors of our
sport in an attempt to leverage pressure on them to influence the
outcome of this situation. People should understand that threats of
boycotts will only potentially serve to alienate sponsorship of our
sport and the outcome of that could be no television of our sport
whatsoever.
We will communicate the outcome of our efforts by the middle of next
week.
For more information contact:
Dave W. Parkes
Chief Executive Officer
Canadian Curling Association |