A writer for the Ottawa Citizen considered the decision to be an example of this perceived bias towards the Maple Leafs by CBC, believing that they did not want to "offend" their fans by not showing their game in full.

"TV Finds New Ways of Rerunning Reruns", May 12, 1979, p. 7. The following Monday, Scott Moore had a short discussion with Cherry regarding the matter, laughing it off and explaining that "if you have more to talk about, all you need to do is make sure you tell the executive producer what you want to talk about and we'll make sure you have lots of time."[100].
And in between, there are six decades of singular history in which Hockey Night in Canada has spoken to Canadians (and now the world) every Saturday night. And in Montreal, 24-year-old former print journalist Gerald Renaud was hired to be the pioneer of hockey telecasts in French only for that first season.

Today, it would seem scandalous that such an historic series of games would not be recorded and kept. 1952: Hockey Night in Canada is born Just weeks after television broadcasting began in Canada, Hockey Night in Canada hit the air for the first time with a …

[73][74], The companies later commissioned the composition of yet another theme, "The Hockey Theme", composed in 1968 by Dolores Claman and orchestrated by Jerry Toth.

From 2008 through 2014, rights to individual series were instead picked using a draft-like setup; in the first round, CBC first, second, fourth, and sixth selections among opening round series, and TSN had the third, fifth, seventh, and eighth selections. As a general rule, CBC stations are carried within about 150 miles of the border, and are not blacked out of sporting events. In addition to its exclusive rights for all playoff and Stanley Cup Final games, Rogers had negotiated exclusive rights to special events such as future NHL All-Star Games and NHL Drafts. The agreement guaranteed that there would be no further regionalization of games or local blackouts. Therefore, at the closest stoppage of play near the 10 minute mark of the second period, Cole or Robson handed off the call to Kelly for the duration of the game. ET games because the late games are usually national.

As HNIC moved into the 1960's, there were changes in the intermission content. Dick Irvin took over the play-by-play from Montreal and retired in 1999 after 33 years in HNIC. A much-improved 'slo-mo' was introduced a few years later. In turn, CBC was unable to reach a deal; the league had reportedly aimed for its next round of Canadian television contracts to have a value of at least $3.2 billion in total.

It was September of 1952 and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation was about to launch the first television stations in Canada. MacLean also hosts the second intermission segment Saturday Headlines alongside Hrudey and Friedman. This for example, happened in Game 7 of the quarterfinal series between the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Islanders (April 29), where Kelly teamed up with Brian McFarlane.

Prior to the start of the 2002-03 season, Joel Darling, senior executive producer for Hockey Night in Canada, announced that after more than a quarter of a century, there would once again be a female presence on HNIC.

All rights reserved. The Rogers-produced Hockey Night, Coach's Corner was noticeably shortened, from as long as 10 minutes to 5 — a change that was criticized by both Cherry and MacLean during their first segment of the new season. Then for the 1965-66 season, Brian McFarlane became the regular colour man in the booth. The 2010 events were held on January 30 because of the 2010 Winter Olympics, held in February.
CSN was the production arm of MacLaren Advertising that had been involved in producing Hockey Night in Canada since 1931 on radio.