Leafs' failure is CBC's loss
How important are the Toronto Maple Leafs to CBC? Important enough that the loss of a third straight non-playoff season for the team is forcing the station to cancel a trio of it's new shows, despite the fact that two of them have been regularly pulling in good ratings.
It's not a surprise to anyone to learn that the station leans heavily on the advertising revenue they make from airing Hockey Night in Canada's weekly Leafs game, and that despite the stations claims otherwise, they are indeed behind the blue and white.
But an announcement made last week by the CBC that the shows “Jpod,” “MVP” and “Intelligence” have all been axed has caused a stir. Well, as much of a stir that is possible when it comes to CBC programming at least. The biggest problem with the cancellation is that two of the shows are getting good ratings and doing something the station had been praying for: attracting a younger audience.
You see, between “Coronation Street” and “The Nature of Things,” the station has tended to focus more on our parents generation than our demographics. So it was becoming obvious that the station needed a facelift to attract a more youthful audience. Hence, they're current line-up. With “MVP,” which has the ‘The secret lives of hockey wives' tagline and the appearance of a typically Canadian version “Desperate Housewives,” and “Jpod,” which focused on a eclectic group of video game designers with marijuana and humourous gang-related undertones, it looked like they had finally caught our attention.
But apparently it all comes back to the Leafs. Despite the steady ratings and growing popularity, both shows have been cancelled because the Leafs can't manage to drag themselves into the post-season despite the fact that 16 of the 30-team league makes it on an annual basis.
That means a minimum loss of $10 million, according to the CBC, due to a drop in advertising revenue because it's the Leafs games that bring the stations highest ratings, making ad-spots that much more coveted. And that's just first round. With this being the third consecutive year the team has failed to play more than 82-games, CBC is in a financial hole that they can't seem to crawl out of.
Then again, most Leafs fans would tell you banking that kind of money on the Leafs making the playoffs is just plain stupid in the first place. I mean, we may be Leafs fans, but more of us are still realistic.
It's not a surprise to anyone to learn that the station leans heavily on the advertising revenue they make from airing Hockey Night in Canada's weekly Leafs game, and that despite the stations claims otherwise, they are indeed behind the blue and white.
But an announcement made last week by the CBC that the shows “Jpod,” “MVP” and “Intelligence” have all been axed has caused a stir. Well, as much of a stir that is possible when it comes to CBC programming at least. The biggest problem with the cancellation is that two of the shows are getting good ratings and doing something the station had been praying for: attracting a younger audience.
You see, between “Coronation Street” and “The Nature of Things,” the station has tended to focus more on our parents generation than our demographics. So it was becoming obvious that the station needed a facelift to attract a more youthful audience. Hence, they're current line-up. With “MVP,” which has the ‘The secret lives of hockey wives' tagline and the appearance of a typically Canadian version “Desperate Housewives,” and “Jpod,” which focused on a eclectic group of video game designers with marijuana and humourous gang-related undertones, it looked like they had finally caught our attention.
But apparently it all comes back to the Leafs. Despite the steady ratings and growing popularity, both shows have been cancelled because the Leafs can't manage to drag themselves into the post-season despite the fact that 16 of the 30-team league makes it on an annual basis.
That means a minimum loss of $10 million, according to the CBC, due to a drop in advertising revenue because it's the Leafs games that bring the stations highest ratings, making ad-spots that much more coveted. And that's just first round. With this being the third consecutive year the team has failed to play more than 82-games, CBC is in a financial hole that they can't seem to crawl out of.
Then again, most Leafs fans would tell you banking that kind of money on the Leafs making the playoffs is just plain stupid in the first place. I mean, we may be Leafs fans, but more of us are still realistic.
