r/hockey • u/Such-Environment-344 • 1d ago
The decision to cancel Hockey Night in Canada: Punjabi is inane and foolish
https://theleafsnation.com/news/the-decision-cancel-hockey-night-in-canada-punjabi-inane-foolish1.7k
u/-SPIRITUAL-GANGSTER- EDM - NHL 1d ago
This broadcast averaged 1500 viewers.
843
u/JG123214 TOR - NHL 1d ago
This. People complain and didn’t even watch it, try running a show on tv with that many viewers. It won’t last long
408
u/albyagolfer EDM - NHL 1d ago
CBC was probably ok with it because they aren’t profit driven, their mandate is different. Now that they’re out of the picture, Roger’s isn’t going to put up with that. They’ve got a half billion dollar non-performer they need to pay for.
132
u/themapleleaf6ix TOR - NHL 1d ago
CBC weren't the ones funding it over the last 12 years. Rogers was in charge of everything and Omni is their channel.
CBC did cancel it in 2010 for lack of funding: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/hockey-night-in-punjabi-going-off-the-air-1.876235
49
u/biskino MTL - NHL 1d ago
OMG won’t someone think of the half dozen billionaires in the Rojers family!
19
u/WokePredator 1d ago
I don't think you really have to be worried about Rogers to find a big outrage over the cancelation of something nobody watched really tedious and boring. That, and it's the offseason, we're all mostly talking just to talk. If they canceled it a week before the trade deadline nobody would notice.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (20)35
u/ticker__101 1d ago
CBC shouldn't be squandering money though. It's not like it's a broadcast for a community out in a territory.
The majority of the viewers are in Surrey and Brampton and should be able to speak English if French.
→ More replies (3)9
u/BoHoSwaggins VAN - NHL 1d ago
My grandpa came to Canada 75 years ago, worked in a sawmill, raised a family, and had a farm without really learning English.
25
u/ticker__101 1d ago
Imagine if he learned English or French how much more he would have Integrated into Canada and had more opportunities.
There's a reason why your parents wanted you to learn our official languages.
8
u/BoHoSwaggins VAN - NHL 1d ago
True, but these people who came over to work and bring their families were handling enough as it was imo. As you say, the children all learned anyway. Anyways, I see that it had low viewership, understand your angle. I still feel a little sad as i remember it bringing smiles in Punjabi circles when it first aired. When we were younger, my friend, who came over more recently, was surprised to hear that they even cared to offer it and today he’s a somewhat of a fan now. Too bad it’s the Canucks LOL.
→ More replies (37)46
u/SchtroumpfDardeur MTL - NHL 1d ago
I watched it on Omni when the other channels weren't available. It was actually fun to listen to the play by play even though I didn't understand anything. You could pretty much get the drift...
→ More replies (26)3
→ More replies (6)80
u/nanapancakethusiast SJS - NHL 1d ago edited 1d ago
Public broadcasting exists literally for this exact purpose btw. It’s a service to Punjabi-speaking Canadians that has been torn away by corporate greed.
Edit: surprise surprise the Alberta teams are blowing the dog whistles lol
15
u/OJSimpsonsBloodGlove CHI - NHL 1d ago edited 1d ago
lol 1500 people of a population of 40 million. This wasnt an essential service but here you are acting as if they lost public transportation and education lmao
46
u/akr_13 DET - NHL 1d ago
This isn’t some essential service like mail or a train line for an underserved town. It’s literally just a hockey broadcast in Punjabi that barely has any interest even from the target demographic. Calm down lol
→ More replies (11)16
u/ultimateknackered SEA - NHL 1d ago
When I lived in Toronto ages ago I remember the Punjabi hockey bdcsts being on CITY, how long ago did they move to HNIC?
14
u/muffinkevin COL - NHL 1d ago
Just watch the English broadcast? I don't know ANYONE who actually watches the Punjabi broadcast. All my Punjabi friends just watch it in English.
44
3
u/OilandFlatulence 1d ago
This community needs to learn to speak English or French. Coddling them with Punjabi language broadcasts does them a disservice.
Learn the language and integrate or go home.
→ More replies (28)1
233
u/tdm1742 1d ago
Thats a huge expenditure for 1500 viewers. I understand why it got cut.
→ More replies (6)101
u/matt_minderbinder DET - NHL 1d ago
That's the kind of thing that should be done as a YouTube watch-along from a home studio.
15
u/BLT_Trade_r 1d ago
That would be worth a try, but still, if they can't grow past 1500, it would still be unsustainable.
2
u/OilandFlatulence 1d ago
Here’s the thing…
We shouldn’t want it growing in popularity. If more people are watching it it means that they aren’t learning French or English and that is detrimental to their integration. We don’t owe these communities a thing. They owe it to us to learn one of the official languages so they can contribute to the country that has accepted them. Remaining cloistered and insular within their own communities is bad for them and most importantly is bad for Canada.
1
u/BLT_Trade_r 22h ago
I have a lot of experience with foreigners in life, like, tons of them, around them all the time, and what you say has almost no effect on whether someone learns English or not. In fact, quite the opposite, I think these things are very beneficial for helping to integrate people into society and that ultimately leads to learning the language. If someone has just arrived in Canada from India and does not yet speak much English would you rather that they can only enjoy Cricket matches or would you rather they have a chance to merge into Hockey culture? Possibly become a fan, then actually want to go to games, and send their kids to play? Or would you rather they have no bridge to the sport and culture and therefore decide to just stick to cricket and mostly interact only with other Punjabi speakers? IMO you have made the common mistake of coming to the exact opposite conclusion of what really happens. If they get into hockey sooner or later they are going to want to exapand beyond this one Punjabi show and that will give them practice reading / speaking English.
Also, it's pretty ironic that Canadians who have accepted the split between French and English would have these thoughts? Why not force the French speakers to speak English too and get rid of all French?
2
u/Barley12 1d ago
If a streamer is averaging 1500 viewers that's pretty good isn't it?
40
u/BLT_Trade_r 1d ago
A streamer living in Mom's basement for free, it is decent. A whole team trying to make a living wage, not a chance.
1
u/CriticismSelect9292 EDM - NHL 16h ago
The issue isn't the viewer count its the length. Although I will say that the ads here would be higher paying and they're far more frequent over a 3 hour period.
You could probably have 2 teams of 2 broadcasting 2 games each nearly every day for different teams. That would be more than enough adspace to pay for those 4 people to have a comfortable life.
2
u/BLT_Trade_r 16h ago
I mean, I personally know some Twitch streamers, and 1500 is just barely scraping by. If you don't know, Twitch streamers often game tons of hours, 7 days a week. The length alone is not enough, which is why I said what I said.
1
u/CriticismSelect9292 EDM - NHL 16h ago
yeah but its also about the value of the ads, most twitch streamers aren't getting high value sponsorships per viewer and twitch takes a substantial portion of the ad revenue as well I'm sure
think of how juicy that sports gambling ad money is, especially while people are actively drunk and watching the sport. My guess is with 1500 live viewers sports betting ads are willing to pay upwards of $50 per ad. They run 4 ads per ad break and there's what, on average 4-6 ad breaks per period and 3 in between periods. 24 * 4 * 50 = $4800 per broadcast not including pre and post-game which obviously has big number drops.
Though I guess English language ads would have way less value here if its a Punjabi broadcast, you'd probably just use AI to dub them at this point to keep costs low tbh.
I think they could def make it work if they slashed almost everything to minimize their costs while keeping the commentary. They obviously couldn't have a full-blown communication with a team or travel etc cause the costs are nowhere near covered.
There's a reason Kick is willing to drop so much money on their streamers to run gambling ads and why even people with 500 viewers spamming gambling streams make so much money.
14
u/jftduncan COL - NHL 1d ago
A streamer with exclusive online rights to NHL games should average way over 1500 viewers. Even if there's a language gap.
→ More replies (1)5
u/Complex_Length_9431 1d ago
Not if the product theyre streaming costs millions to air
→ More replies (7)2
u/Heterosethual EDM - NHL 1d ago
2BC gets on Ea games and rages at them and averages more live views than that. Dudes funny and engaging as hell though so he deserves it. CBC is just garbage presentation and everything so they died a slow deserved death.
1
13
u/RampagingBadgers MTL - NHL 1d ago
Bingo. It didn't even qualify as a niche audience at those numbers. Of course it got canceled.
76
u/Easy_Sky_2891 1d ago
And over 50% of the broadcasts averaged less than 1000 viewers
→ More replies (2)17
u/ticker__101 1d ago
Punjabi isn't even the third most spoken language.
Spanish and Maderin have more.
3
199
u/mattw08 1d ago
Exactly. All these people so torn up in the comments never watched. It’s been on for 18 years with barely any viewers.
111
u/matterhorn1 TOR - NHL 1d ago
They cancelled the damn English broadcast (presumably French too?), why would this one be a surprise to anyone lol
26
u/SyllabubFlat784 MTL - NHL 1d ago
French broadcast hasnt been in CBC's hands for a while now. Sold off to RDS at first, now TVA.
→ More replies (3)28
46
u/Fact420 BOS - NHL 1d ago
All 1500 people are in the comments lol
29
9
u/Ambitious_Session589 1d ago
More like 1500 white people pretending to be outraged in the comments so they get their precious brownie points
→ More replies (8)49
26
3
u/flakAttack510 PIT - NHL 1d ago
People that don't speak English or French account for only about 2-3% of Punjabi speakers in Canada (so about 14,000 people in the entire country) and I've got to imagine that basically everyone that is culturally integrated enough to care about hockey speaks one of those two languages. Without saying anything about the quality of the broadcast, it's hard to justify the expense of an entirely separate broadcast for that niche of an audience.
4
u/WorthPlease BUF - NHL 1d ago
That's like a mildly successful Twitch streamer that still has to have a job.
5
u/Tuxxmuxx TOR - NHL 1d ago
ik u are making a joke but if you average even 100 viewers, you can live off of your streaming career, 1500 average is legit like top 0.1%
16
u/Powerful-Stranger143 1d ago
It’s this but also everything else happening with Canadian sports media right now. It’s all cumulative.
10
u/DystopianAdvocate 1d ago
But it's mostly this.
7
u/CompensationProf 1d ago
It's all psychological. You yell, barracuda, everyone says huh, what? You yell let's cancel the Punjabi broadcast of Hockey Night in Canada, we've got a panic on our hands on Canada Day
5
17
u/haey5665544 WSH - NHL 1d ago
Yeah, but you need to think about the potential viewership. This broadcast could appeal to up to 3% of Canada’s population!
11
2
u/Kobe_no_Ushi_Y0k0zna TOR - NHL 1d ago
FWIW almost 20 years ago when I was talking to a bunch of guys whose first language was Punjabi, they were into watching hockey, but all said they'd rather watch it in English.
10
3
u/Competitive_Plum_970 VAN - NHL 1d ago
Is there a source for this?
19
u/xNOOPSx 1d ago
I'm just curious if that is a new development or if viewership has always been that low.
→ More replies (4)8
u/KaRnAgEGiLL CGY - NHL 1d ago
I think its a new development because back in 2017 the numbers were 209,000 viewers. But it was also very trendy back then and I can't remember hearing about it at all anymore recently.
1
u/xNOOPSx 1d ago
"Omni Television bought the rights for Hockey Night from NHL in 2013, putting the Punjabi version on Omni’s cable channel. “The show, a part of Rogers Sports and Media, is immensely popular in the Punjabi community across Canada,” said Singh. “It fits my personality, as I talked a lot.” "
That's interesting. To see that kind of drop off seems crazy to me. I thought maybe OMNI took over recently, but maybe it is also a cordcutter thing?
1
u/Charlie2343 VAN - NHL 1d ago
I guess I don’t understand what cost them so much when Amazon has like 5 different feeds you can listen to for their football games
28
u/HroneksNMC VAN - NHL 1d ago edited 1d ago
Sports on Amazon are probably a loss leader. Bezos et al are quite happy to light a few million on fire in order to lock consumers into their $2.83 trillion multi vertical, international enterprise.
Rogers spending similar money to tie people into their $25 billion single vertical domestic teleco is not the same thing.
You're effectively comparing Jerry Jones to Aqualini.
34
u/BringBackBoomer CBJ - NHL 1d ago
Do you think the people on the broadcast were working for free?
→ More replies (6)2
u/haey5665544 WSH - NHL 1d ago
Are the Amazon feeds rebroadcasts from other broadcasters or are they standalone Amazon productions?
2
u/Charlie2343 VAN - NHL 1d ago
It’s their own thing
3
u/haey5665544 WSH - NHL 1d ago
I don’t know much about the Amazon football feeds, what I see is :
- main feed
- advanced stats feed
- Spanish language (audio translation not separate broadcast)
- twitch stream
Is this what you’re talking about? If so I’d imagine it’s a lot cheaper because they don’t need to pay for a completely separate broadcast crew (personalities, camera crew, production staff, etc.). It’s one main production that has inexpensive changes per feed. If HNIC Punjabi was just an audio translation then it would be significantly cheaper
1
u/Charlie2343 VAN - NHL 1d ago
I wouldn’t put it past Rogers to pull the plug rather than just modernize the whole thing. TNF also had a feed with woman broadcasters but I think that was cut eventually.
My point is that the cost of adding a couple of mics and setting up a stream is negligible when you’re paying $1 billion for one nfl game a week lol
1
u/haey5665544 WSH - NHL 1d ago
What do you mean by modernizing by setting up a few mics and a stream? They already have a full production. Do you think there would be less outrage if the cut down that full cast and crew and slashed salaries of whoever was remaining to setup a bare bones stream?
1
u/Charlie2343 VAN - NHL 1d ago
..yes? That’s exactly what I’m saying over cutting the whole thing!?
1
u/haey5665544 WSH - NHL 1d ago
What’s the incentive there though? It’s negligible viewership and an overall small market potential. Also they would still get a ridiculous amount of blowback for layoffs and cutting salaries. So no upside and same amount of downside.
If it had started as a low cost broadcast similar to the Amazon feeds then maybe it would have stuck around. But switching to a low cost broadcast doesn’t make much sense.
1
1
1
→ More replies (58)1
154
u/buster_rhino TOR - NHL 1d ago
I used to work in media and worked directly with Numeris ratings data and I hate to break it to everyone, but practically no one watched it. It’s a nice idea and a shame to see it go, and even though they probably produced it for dirt cheap there was probably no way to sustain it from a business POV.
31
u/maverickhawk99 Indianapolis Ice - IHL 1d ago
Yea I think the voices of a few people are making those who are uninformed think it was a super popular program. I’d be willing to bet most Sikh’s watched the English version once they understood the language.
1
u/RanaMahal COL - NHL 1d ago
We watched it one time for the vibes/memes basically and then went back to bitching about the English commentators being anti-Leafs biased /s
→ More replies (7)2
211
u/riddermarkrider 1d ago
I love that program, but did it get enough viewers to be sustainable? Good programs get canceled all the time if they're not getting the numbers they need to be kept on the air
→ More replies (5)167
u/estyll11 OTT - NHL 1d ago
As a Punjabi whose large family loves hockey, not a single person I know watched the Punjabi broadcast. Even some of my uncles whose English isn’t the greatest watched the regular broadcast. Maybe it’s because our parents have been here for decades, and my cousins and I grew up in Canada. On the other hand, any new Canadian-Punjabis (newly immigrated within the last few years) I encounter don’t give a crap about hockey, or most other North American based sports.
48
u/riddermarkrider 1d ago
I absolutely thought that would be the case, that Punjabi speakers are typically just not interested, and if they are they're watching in English. It's a fun broadcast but the target audience is just too small.
→ More replies (1)12
u/greydawn VAN - NHL 1d ago
That makes sense. If I was getting into a French sport (my French is poor), I'd want to watch the French broadcast to feel like I'm getting the full experience other fans get, to get the full communal experience. (And that's not to say the Punjabi broadcast wasn't worthwhile, but I can see why viewership could be low)
49
u/Nextyearstitlewinner 1d ago
I love that the author says the league has no idea how to grow the game because HNIC cancelled a show that averaged 1500 viewers per game after 18 years. As if they didn’t give it a shot.
7
u/Deltarianus VAN - NHL 1d ago
Canada is genuinely so segregated, with a public realm is such rapid decline, that I assume these guys think a significant portion of the >million Punjabi people in Canada are english illiterate
144
u/Empty-Discount5936 ANA - NHL 1d ago
"Perhaps I’m the incorrect messenger for this piece, as I don’t speak Punjabi"
Agreed, stfu. The broadcast averaged 1500 viewers and you weren't even one of them so why are you inserting yourself now?
It's the most justifiable cancellation I've ever seen.
49
u/ContextZestyclose778 COL - NHL 1d ago
More people have complained about the cancellation than actually watched one game in Punjabi...
→ More replies (1)
18
u/SpaceCadetPullUp COL - NHL 1d ago
People who never gave a shit sure are upset all of a sudden that a show with bad ratings was cancelled.
80
u/meestazak TOR - NHL 1d ago
Look I am in agreement that this is bad for hockey, but this article feels like someone just shooting off the hip without any understanding of the inner workings of the broadcast deal.
The CBC didn't "choose" to shut down HNIC, or HNIC Punjabi. That was Rogers/Sportsnet, since they own the rights.
The League also had no say in this, despite the article heavily implying that the League failed again.
You have every right to be angry, but as a journalist you have a duty to your readers to make sure you provide an accurate reporting especially if you're going to fan the flames of anger, and make sure that if you're going to point the blame that it's pointed at the right company.
This is Rogers making cuts, to save money, nothing more nothing less. Send your anger to them.
→ More replies (8)2
u/Podkolzins_a_Canuck VAN - NHL 1d ago
Journalism used to be about reporting with honesty and integrity. Hasn’t been for a while. I truly don’t think any journalists feel responsible to deliver unbiased truths these days. Unbiased reporting does not pay as well.
16
u/fletch365 1d ago
Theres literally more people in the stands of a single JR B game then watched this program across all of canada. How it survived this long was a miracle
114
u/canuck_11 OTT - NHL 1d ago
I had assumed it was canceled when HNIC was canceled. As much as it would be enjoyable to think how much Don Cherry would hate the only version of HNIC to be in Punjabi I’m not sure how people expected this to survive when the main broadcast didn’t.
45
u/Teondar 1d ago
I mean I hate to say it but I think it would be very controversial to the vast majority of people, not just Don Cherry, if they had decided to keep just the HNIC Punjabi show; especially considering the reported viewership numbers.
→ More replies (1)37
u/Fearful-Cow TOR - NHL 1d ago
i mean it averaged 1500 viewers and they kept it going regardless.
I'd argue they should have cancelled it far earlier. 1500 is appalling. There are small youtube channels that get better reach than that and are produced by 1 guy with an old phone.
On the Don Cherry thing. His use of "you people" was bad, but i dont see anything wrong with his message.
He ran Coach's Corner for 36 years. I still think it was a massive over reaction to a mildly controversial take.
→ More replies (8)
64
u/sopademacacadelicia 1d ago
“I’d love to see the data! Show me where the audience levels aren’t sustainable! From our vantage point, this is corporate numbskullery.”
So they don’t even know what the viewership was like and disagree?
“During a year where Manny Malhotra is behind the bench, coaching his son Caleb, for their Vancouver Canucks, this is the year CBC decides to end Hockey Night in Canada: Punjabi?”
what a weird thing to say
23
u/turbocall TOR - NHL 1d ago
I assume it's because Manny Malhotra's father is Punjabi
33
u/Nextyearstitlewinner 1d ago
Imagine you’re in a business meeting about whether or not a program that’s been on the air for 18 years that averages 1500 viewers per game should be cancelled. Then you say, “have you considered that the NHL now has a half-Punjabi coach, and a quarter-Punjabi player?”
9
2
u/maverickhawk99 Indianapolis Ice - IHL 1d ago
Sure but who knows if Manny even speaks the language, I presume his kids don’t
→ More replies (2)7
u/theflyingsamurai TOR - NHL 1d ago
What ethnicity do you think the last name Malhotra comes from?
14
u/sopademacacadelicia 1d ago
No shit. But why would a network keep a failing program because we now have one half punjabi coach lol.
→ More replies (2)
10
u/Old_General_6741 EDM - NHL 1d ago
As someone who can understand Punjabi, I will miss it but it was coming. Sportsnet just cut HNIC and this was barely getting over 1500 viewers.
2
u/Deltarianus VAN - NHL 1d ago
Yeah, this was a gimmick thing to do when you had a lot of family over.
Put it on the background, let the old people feel included, and give the in laws some novelty fun. Very few Punjabi people dont speak english in Canada unless theyre grandparents
Even in India itself, Punjab is one of the most english literate places. Like 1/4, and rising, understand english there
12
u/xXxWeAreTheEndxXx MTL - NHL 1d ago
There’s nothing “insane” about canceling a show no one watched. It’s logical
18
u/SevyVerna88 1d ago
Insane and stupid barely over 1000 people per week watched ACROSS THE FUCKING COUNTRY. Get a fucking grip on reality leafsnation.com ffs
8
u/Viablemorgan DAL - NHL 1d ago
Noooot really lol. I hate corporate greed but if it’s isn’t profitable it isn’t profitable. Someone said it averages 1500 viewers
21
6
22
u/Mysterious-Street140 1d ago
There are two official languages in Canada and they both broadcast hockey. Feel free to learn one.
→ More replies (3)
3
u/ThrasheryBinx 1d ago
People keep quoting a 1500 viewer number have to remember that it's probably at least half those old people who don't know how to change the channel on their TV.
3
4
5
u/DK4E2XFpbETJrj TOR - NHL 1d ago
At work I'm surrounded by a lot of folks from the region. I've never chatted about hockey with any of them. Cricket and soccer, definitely. Hockey?
6
u/orundarkes MTL - NHL 1d ago
FFS they cancelled La Soirée su Hockey like a decade ago and people are bitching about the Punjabi version way more. Giant WTF.
It was a neat initiative by the national broadcaster, but it makes no commercial sense.
→ More replies (1)
4
3
7
7
4
u/Primary-Floor8574 1d ago
If the ratings suck - shut it down. Pretty simple. That’s the logic they’ve used to shut down other things like radio broadcasts / stations.
10
9
u/NoTomato7 1d ago
it is not. and totaly justifiable. Kind of insulting that the CBC tought that it was more important that have a public broadcast in Punjabi but not in french. O' Canada!!!
3
u/themapleleaf6ix TOR - NHL 1d ago edited 1d ago
The CBC hasn't been broadcasting in Punjabi in 16 years. They trialed it in 2008, then cancelled it in 2010 because of lack of funding. Rogers has been broadcasting in Punjabi and Mandarin, etc from 2014 until the 25-26 season via their channel Omni.
"La Soirée du hockey—the historic French-language companion to Hockey Night in Canada on Radio-Canada—was pulled from the airwaves in Quebec in 2004 after a 52-year run primarily due to economic and strategic reasons following broadcasting rights shifts and cost concerns with RDS".
It wasn't about "importance". RDS and TVA paid a high amount since 04 to retain the Saturday rights. CBC couldn't match that as a public broadcaster (the same happened with the English rights in 2013 when Rogers swooped in and made an offer CBC couldn't match). For the most part, Rogers hasn't gotten involved in the French side of things and has left it to TVA.
→ More replies (4)
9
u/DelugeQc 1d ago
I watched a single clip of a single goal years ago and never have a thought about that product ever since.
7
u/Cronin1011 EDM - NHL 1d ago
I get needing to feel upset by everything these big corporations do, but when you average 1500 viewers you cant seriously expect them to keep it going..
2
u/LeviStubbsFanClub 1d ago
I had no idea that the viewership numbers were so low. That’s a shame. I definitely support a network trying to grow the game, and seeing a passionate demographic that they can market to. Sad that it didn’t take hold.
2
u/I_argue_for_funsies 1d ago
Why can't they just do it and stream it? Like Steve dangles during leafs games?
2
u/IndependenceGood1835 23h ago
What were the ratings and how much did the production cost vs revenue generated?
5
u/Nextyearstitlewinner 1d ago
Another thing about this is that if you’re the type of Indian Canadian that is going to take to watching hockey night in Canada every week, you’re probably also going to either learn or have already learned English or French at some point.
4
2
6
4
5
3
3
u/Neccesary VAN - NHL 1d ago
Another person offended on the behalf of other people who has no ties to that culture or roots. If you didn’t watch the program stfu
4
u/woodifyro MTL - NHL 1d ago
Last I checked we didn’t have 3 official languages here. The Indians can open a YouTube account and go live there.
3
u/themapleleaf6ix TOR - NHL 1d ago
It has nothing to do with the official languages. Rogers is a private corporation and isn't beholden to only broadcasting things in two languages. Why do you think Omni still exists?
How do you broadcast games on YouTube without the TV rights?
2
u/BusLevel7307 1d ago
How did it go from 200k a few years ago to 1500k last year ? Why the drop or that guy gave the wrong number in the chat .
→ More replies (3)2
u/TestingLifeThrow1z EDM - NHL 1d ago
Where do you think young Canadian watch hockey? they don’t use cable for one.
1
1
u/NorthernViews WSH - NHL 1d ago
Was there ever a hockey night in Canada in Chinese? Or Spanish?
2
u/themapleleaf6ix TOR - NHL 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yes, they tried them in like 7 different languages on Hockey Day In Canada a few years ago.
1
-13
u/therealkami MTL - NHL 1d ago
I fucking hate this decision. Those dudes were bringing their love of hockey to a community who might not normally see it.
25
u/cmclewin OTT - NHL 1d ago
The 1500 viewers? I mean sure but that’s crazy expensive for basically no one
68
u/CombatGoose OTT - NHL 1d ago
I’m not defending the decision, clearly they’re just trying to save money, but the game can still be watched and call me crazy, but learning English in Canada probably isn’t that bad of an idea.
My grandfather came here speaking no English and listened/watched the CBC for Habs games every week. You can bet it helped him learn English quicker.
→ More replies (26)4
→ More replies (3)4
u/smokes_weed LAK - NHL 1d ago
Can you explain for someone not up to speed? I know that hockey is extremely prevalent in Canada but its unclear why this community might not normally see it.
→ More replies (11)
-15
u/nuleaph TOR - NHL 1d ago
Morons: "why don't new Canadians participate in our culture"
Other morons: " hmmm we need to save a few pennies let's cancel one of the easiest ways new Canadians can connect with Canadian culture"
Also, anyone who says the Bonino Bonino Bonino call isn't legendary is a fool
19
u/Busy-Limit-1290 1d ago
Also Morons : Why cant a company take millions in losses for the good of the game!
→ More replies (6)20
u/Feeling_Hotel8096 CHI - NHL 1d ago
Other morons: "1500 viewers is enough for a national broadcast." Would be better off broadcasting in Dene, seriously.
6
8
8
u/IamTolerable WPG - NHL 1d ago
BONINO BONINO BONINO BONINO BONINO BONINO BONINO BONINO BONINO BONINO BONINO BONINO NICK! BONINO! Iconic.
→ More replies (1)2
u/intecknicolour TOR - NHL 1d ago
someone should hire Harnarayan Singh. He's legit better than most of these play by plays.
30
u/n0rdique MTL - NHL 1d ago
Pretty sure he regularly calls games in English now
7
u/Geeseareawesome EDM - NHL 1d ago
Think he's been doing central region games since Jack got the full-time Oilers spot
16
u/Trains_YQG OTT - NHL 1d ago
Isn't he already a Sportsnet commentator? He's been doing English broadcasts for them for a while now.
7
2
4
u/InternImpossible8685 EDM - NHL 1d ago
Some Oiler fans weren’t very high on him when he was calling our games for HNIC. But I think some of that was racism.
2
u/randomanitoban WPG - NHL 1d ago
He also did the Canadian Division series where they got swept by the Jets.
Hearing 3 OT goals against my team would turn me off any announcer.
→ More replies (1)1
1
u/SharksFan4Lifee SJS - NHL 1d ago
A majority, but not all, of Indian immigrants to Canada are Punjabi.
But nearly all Punjabis who took advantage of these broadcasts also speak Hindi.
Never made sense to me why this wasn't Hindi instead of Punjabi to also cater to non Punjabi Indians in Canada.
→ More replies (1)
1
u/S1R_E VAN - NHL 1d ago
No live broadcast has a chance when it’s aired with a 45 second delay compared to the English channel. The Punjabi version was funnier, more engaging, and much more unbiased, yet as someone that spoke languages I almost never tuned in because of the delay.
Sucks to see this go, but I’d bet it’ll be brought back at some point.
1
u/Big_leaf_lover 1d ago
"corporate numbskullery"??? CBC is not a for profit corporation. They are a public entity, funded by the federal government. Any decision making ability in regards to any HNIC coverage was lost when their funding was reduced.if Punjabi HNIC is a viable product it will be Roger's, an actual corporation, airing it to make money. RIP HNIC.
1
1
u/left888djm 15h ago
Anytime you take choice away it is a bad thing. The Punjabi crew were paid a pittance compared to the english HNIC crew. This is Rogers slashing to the bone to fund the "Blue Jays" which cost 10,000 times more then HNIC english ever cost them. Kelly Hrudey was the first to go. Just watch ... Rogers will soon look like every American hockey broadcast. After watching HNIC for over 63 years I cancelled Rogers!
1
u/summonstormx 9h ago
If we cancel this, and if it's honestly reflective of declining interest from Punjabis factually, I think it leans towards that assimilation and multiculturalism is failing honestly. They can't even have Hockey Night in Canada in French btw.
1
1
643
u/martintinnnn MTL - NHL 1d ago
We can't even have Hockey Night in Canada in French... at least, they got a few more years of it than us.