CBC Drops NHL Rights and Pivots Its Sports Playbook

CBC is moving away from its NHL deal and widening its sports strategy beyond hockey, which is a pretty clear signal that the old Canadian TV script is getting rewritten. The move changes a long-running relationship with the league and opens the door for a different mix of coverage going forward. For CBC, this is not just a rights story - it is a branding decision with real stakes for how the network wants to show up in Canadian sports.