Maple Leafs fans got their first taste of Rogers’ grand plan for splitting up NHL broadcasts over several services on Wednesday night, with Toronto’s game against the New York Islanders being shown exclusively on Amazon Prime.
But while Rogers will continue to divvy up the schedule throughout its latest massive TV deal with the NHL, one group is pushing back, arguing that Canadians deserve to be able to watch one event in particular: The Stanley Cup Final.
Indeed, while it may have flown under the radar amidst the hand-wringing over the de facto cancellation of Hockey Night in Canada, the NHL playoffs and the final will not be broadcast on free TV in Canada this coming spring.
Friends of Canadian Media, a media lobby group, is fighting to change that.
The group’s goal is to get the Canadian government to enact legislation that would compel private media companies to license important sports events to TV stations that will air them for free.
During an appearance on CBC Radio’s As It Happens, Raj Shoan — the group’s executive director — explained the reasoning behind the push.
“We’re suggesting that the government ask a simple question: Are there certain moments that are so important to Canada’s cultural life that every Canadian should have affordable and broad access to them?” Shoan told host Nil Koksal.
What happened to Hockey Night in Canada?
Earlier this year, Rogers struck a new 12-year, $11-billion national contract with the NHL that kicked in with the 2026-27 season.
Since then, the massive media conglomerate has not only gated off more content from Canadian fans, but also raised prices on existing packages.
The move that hit many the hardest was ending the sublicense deal with CBC, which had broadcast Hockey Night in Canada for decades and became an integral part of many Canadians’ Saturday night routine.
But while CBC recently announced a deal to broadcast PWHL games in that slot, hockey fans have been put in a financial bind if they want to watch every game featuring their hometown team and this spring’s playoff action.
“When we looked at that in totality, we thought, ‘wow, that’s really problematic and worrisome’ because the end result of all of that is higher cost for Canadians and less universal access to a shared national experience that sports often provide,” Shoan said.
What does the group want the government to do?
The lobby group is asking for the feds to enact “anti-siphoning legislation,” which already is in place in several European nations.
Shoan explained to CBC that anti-siphoning laws are designed to prevent companies from “siphoning off the most valuable programming … and putting them up behind paywalls.”
Through the legislation, private companies are required to license events like the Olympics and FIFA World Cup to free-to-air broadcasters at “fair and reasonable” prices.
“We’re not saying that Rogers doesn’t have the right to negotiate these deals. They absolutely do,” Shoan said. “But what we’re saying is certain programming carries public value in addition to commercial value.
“They can continue to sub-license it out to whoever they want to under the auspices of this policy.”
When reached for comment by CBC, Rogers Sportsnet replied that it is “focused on delivering more NHL content, including more national games with fewer blackouts, to more Canadians across multiple platforms and investing in bringing world-class hockey coverage to Canadian fans.”