Revolutionary Moderation

Hurry! Harrrrrrd!

For two months every year, the CBC puts aside its regular prime-time programming and offers the NHL playoffs. That won't be happening this year. How fortunate, then, that this marks the first year the CBC has purchased the broadcast rights for the big three curling tournaments - the Scott, the Brier, and the Worlds.

But here they go screwing it up. They're only offering one draw a day live, and a second late at night on tape delay, farming out the morning and evening draw live coverage to The Score (mostly a sports-headline service) and Country Canada (a secondary CBC service with half a million subscribers nationwide - as opposed to the eight million households with access to TSN).

People are pissed. I heard someone from CBC's communications department say they've recieved more calls on the Scott (lack of) coverage than they did on Don Cherry's most recent major gaffe, and as many as they get when they screw with the schedule for Coronation Street. (That is actually not a joke. Apparently, the Corrie fans are hard-freaking-core.)

Honestly, that episode of Marketplace couldn't have waited a week? You couldn't have shuffled each show's schedule forward three weeks over the three tournaments, and allow the new episodes to leak into April? Even Mansbridge normally has to wait for the hockey to finish each night in April and May - are you telling me Rick Mercer can't move his holidays around a little?

Why is the CBC so bad at making lemonade?