Cricket has moved into one of Canadian sports broadcasting’s most recognisable time slots, with CBC airing Canada Super 60 matches in prime time on the opening Saturday of the new NHL season after ending its decades-long run of Saturday-night NHL coverage.
CBC scheduled Super 60 matches at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. ET while NHL games involving several Canadian teams were being played elsewhere, according to an exclusive report by Juno News. The broadcasts marked the first NHL season in 74 years in which CBC did not carry Saturday-night league games.
The shift gives Canada Super 60 significant national exposure during a period when cricket is building towards its return to the Olympic Games. CBC is the competition’s official broadcast and streaming partner, with every match available nationally through CBC Gem and selected fixtures also carried on CBC television.
CBC sees opportunity in Olympic cricket
Canada Super 60 is a professional T10 competition in which teams receive a maximum of 10 overs, or 60 legal deliveries, per innings. Its second season features six franchises playing 24 matches across six days at BC Place in Vancouver.
CBC’s decision to put the competition into its prime-time sports schedule reflects a broader strategy of carrying major events and a wider range of high-performance sports rather than replacing its former NHL programming with another permanent Saturday-night property.
CBC Spokesperson Chuck Thompson told Juno News: “As a new Olympic sport, with a major event being held in Canada, the Super60 was a strong option for us to consider in our schedule as we bridge from summer to winter sports.”
Cricket’s presence on CBC also gives a domestic competition access to the country’s public broadcaster at a significant point in the sport’s international development.
Thompson added: “The Canada Super 60 was a unique and rare opportunity for us to offer live, world-class cricket, played in Canada on the public broadcaster.”
NHL agreement ends after long CBC run
The arrival of cricket in the Saturday-night window follows a major change in Canada’s sports media landscape rather than CBC choosing Super 60 instead of NHL games it still had the rights to show.
CBC began televising Hockey Night in Canada in 1952. After Rogers acquired Canada’s national NHL rights in 2014, Saturday-night games continued appearing on CBC through a sublicensing arrangement with Sportsnet, extending the broadcaster’s association with the NHL for another 12 seasons.
That arrangement ended following the 2025-26 campaign after the parties were unable to agree on another deal.
Addressing the end of the partnership, Thompson noted: “With respect to your questions about NHL hockey, despite best efforts, CBC and Sportsnet could not reach an agreement that worked for both parties.”
The change coincides with a sharp increase in the value of Canadian NHL media rights. Rogers’ new national agreement is worth C$11 billion over 12 years through the 2037-38 season, more than double the C$5.2 billion value of its previous package.
Rising rights costs have been a longstanding issue for CBC. When Rogers initially secured the national package in 2013, then-CBC President Hubert Lacroix indicated that the public broadcaster could not justify committing taxpayer funding to compete at the financial levels being sought for NHL rights.
Sportsnet now carries the Saturday-night NHL package without CBC, while Prime Video has secured the exclusive Wednesday-night national package through a separate sublicensing agreement with Rogers.
CBC broadens its prime-time sports strategy
CBC’s post-NHL approach will see its sports schedule vary according to the events available rather than revolve around a single property occupying the same weekly slot.
That strategy could create opportunities for sports outside Canada’s traditionally dominant broadcast properties, particularly events with a domestic or Olympic connection.
Thompson said: “As the public broadcaster and Canada’s Olympic broadcaster, we want to provide the biggest and brightest stage possible for Canadian athletes and major events held in Canada.”
For Canada Super 60, the arrangement combines national streaming distribution for the entire competition with selected linear television broadcasts, extending its potential reach beyond an audience already following cricket.
CBC has not disclosed the value of its Super 60 broadcast and streaming agreement or provided an expected audience figure for the competition.
Hockey Night in Canada name will continue
The end of Saturday-night NHL games on CBC does not mean the Hockey Night in Canada brand is disappearing from the broadcaster.
CBC owns the trademark and is bringing the name into its coverage of the Professional Women’s Hockey League. Montréal Victoire are scheduled to face expansion team PWHL Hamilton on December 5 in what the league says will be the first women’s hockey game featured on CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada.
The development leaves CBC with a substantially different sports portfolio from the one that defined its Saturday nights for generations. NHL games have moved away from the public broadcaster, while its opening weekend of the new era placed a Canadian cricket competition in the prime-time window once synonymous with the league.
