Canadian public-service broadcaster CBC will no longer bid for the rights to professional sports events as it seeks to cut C$130m (€85.5m/$117.8m) from its budget this year.
The broadcaster has been hit with a slump in advertising sales and previous cuts to its funding from the federal government. CBC will also eliminate 657 jobs over the next two years to help cut costs.
Hubert Lacroix, president and chief executive of CBC, said the corporation could no longer compete with private broadcasters that have speciality sports channels and multiple media platforms. As a result, CBC will be “substantially reducing” the size of its sports department and covering fewer sports events, including amateur sports.
Lacroix said CBC will now only consider broadcasting events that allow it to break even. However, the broadcaster will still compete for sporting events with national significance, including the Olympic Games.
Last year, CBC lost the prized rights to North American ice hockey league the NHL after Canadian telecommunications company Rogers struck a 12-year deal from 2014-15 to 2025-26 worth C$5.232bn.
As part of the deal, Rogers agreed to sublicense some games, including the playoffs and the Stanley Cup, to CBC for four years. CBC also retained the rights to Hockey Night in Canada, a programme it has produced since 1953.
In the current six-year deal, from 2008-09 to 2013-14, Rogers’ rival telco Bell’s pay-television broadcaster TSN and CBC hold the national rights to the NHL.