Curling on CBC
Encyclopedia
CBC Sports
coverage of Curling
consists of the Capital One Grand Slam of Curling
. Previously, CBC's broadcasting rights have included the Canadian Curling Association
, the Tim Hortons Brier
, the CBC Curling Classic, the World Curling Championships
, and Olympic Curling
.
aired on the CBC Television
network since 2007. CTV/Rogers Sportsnet
had previously aired the Grand Slam since its inception in 2001. Bruce Rainnie
serves as the play-by-play announcer, Mike Harris
and Joan McCusker
are the colour commentators, and Scott Russell
serves as a reporter. CBC airs the finals on the main network and the semi- and quarterfinals on Bold. All matches are simulcasted on CBCSports.ca.
and the seven eastern rinks played off in Toronto
and Halifax. The eastern and western champions would play each other in the final program. Doug Maxwell
called the matches from Toronto, Keith Barry called the matches from Halifax, and Don Wittman
called the matches from Winnipeg as well as the championship game.
(1966–1970), Don Chevrier
(1969–1979), Ken Watson
(1966), Johnny Wayne
(1968), Doug Maxwell
(1968–1978), Don Duguid
(1971–1979), and Don Wittman (1978–1979).
matches, including the Tim Hortons Brier
and the Scotties Tournament of Hearts
, from 1966-2008. CBC was the sole holder of broadcasting rights from 1962–1983 and shared rights with TSN
from 1984-2003. During this period, TSN covered most weekday matches, and CBC came in for the semifinals and finals on the weekend.
In 2004, the CCA and CBC agreed to a four-year deal which gave CBC exclusive rights to all CCA tournaments, including the Brier. The corporation chose to use CBC Country Canada, a digital cable channel available in far fewer households than CBC or TSN, to broadcast most weekday matches. To add insult to injury (from the perspective of many curling fans), the time limits on sports coverage that the channel had at that time meant that Country Canada had to end coverage at the end of its scheduled coverage window, even if matches were still ongoing. This resulted in criticism from curling fans, sponsors, and ultimately the CCA itself, which claimed the CBC was in breach of contract and unilaterally ended the agreement after one season. The CBC threatened legal action, but ultimately agreed to once again divide rights with TSN from 2005 to 2007.
In 2006, the CCA and TSN signed an exclusive six-year contract which would take effect in 2008, ending CBC's 42 year relationship with the CCA.
Announcers for CBC's coverage of the CCA included Don Wittman, Don Chevrier, Doug Maxwell, Mark Lee
, Don Duguid, Colleen Jones
, Sandra Schmirler
, Mike Harris, Joan McCusker, and Bruce Rainnie.
in 1998, 2002, and 2006. The announcers for Olympic curling were Don Wittman (1998, 2002 & 2006), Don Duguid (1998), Joan McCusker (2002 & 2006), Mike Harris (2002 & 2006).
CBC Sports
CBC Sports is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for English-language sports broadcasting. The CBC's sports programming primarily airs on CBC Television, with some additional broadcasts on bold, CBC.ca, and occasionally CBC Radio One...
coverage of Curling
Curling
Curling is a sport in which players slide stones across a sheet of ice towards a target area. It is related to bowls, boule and shuffleboard. Two teams, each of four players, take turns sliding heavy, polished granite stones, also called "rocks", across the ice curling sheet towards the house, a...
consists of the Capital One Grand Slam of Curling
Capital One Grand Slam of Curling
The Capital One Grand Slam is a series of curling bonspiels and are a part of the annual World Curling Tour. Grand Slams tend to offer the most amount of money out of all the bonspiels in the curling season, and usually feature the best teams from across Canada and around the World...
. Previously, CBC's broadcasting rights have included the Canadian Curling Association
Canadian Curling Association
The Canadian Curling Association is a Canadian organization responsible for encouraging and facilitating growth and development of the sport of curling. The CCA is associated with more than a dozen provincial and territorial curling associations across the country.-History:The CCA was created in...
, the Tim Hortons Brier
Tim Hortons Brier
The Tim Hortons Brier, or simply the Brier, is the annual Canadian men's curling championship, sanctioned by the Canadian Curling Association . The current event name refers to its main sponsor, the Tim Hortons coffee and doughnut shop chain.The Brier has been held since 1927, traditionally during...
, the CBC Curling Classic, the World Curling Championships
World Curling Championships
The World Curling Championships are annual curling events which showcase the world's best curlers, organized by the World Curling Federation. There are men's, women's and mixed championships. The men's championship started in 1959, while the women's in 1979...
, and Olympic Curling
Curling at the Winter Olympics
Curling was included in the program of the inaugural Winter Olympic Games in 1924 in Chamonix. The results of that competition were not considered official by the International Olympic Committee until 2006. Curling was a demonstration sport at the 1932 Games, and then again after a lengthy absence...
.
Capital One Grand Slam of Curling on CBC
Capital One Grand Slam of Curling on CBC is a presentation of the Capital One Grand Slam of CurlingCapital One Grand Slam of Curling
The Capital One Grand Slam is a series of curling bonspiels and are a part of the annual World Curling Tour. Grand Slams tend to offer the most amount of money out of all the bonspiels in the curling season, and usually feature the best teams from across Canada and around the World...
aired on the CBC Television
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
network since 2007. CTV/Rogers Sportsnet
Rogers Sportsnet
Sportsnet was launched on October 9, 1998 as CTV Sportsnet. The name was chosen to match the regional "Fox Sports Net" operations across the United States...
had previously aired the Grand Slam since its inception in 2001. Bruce Rainnie
Bruce Rainnie
Bruce Rainnie is a broadcaster for CBC Sports and the host of CBC News: Compass, the supper-hour news program on CBCT in Prince Edward Island. He has been the host of Compass since 2003 and has been with CBC since 1995....
serves as the play-by-play announcer, Mike Harris
Mike Harris (curler)
Mike Harris is a Canadian curler. Mike Harris is the golf professional at The Donalda Golf and Country Club in Toronto, Ontario....
and Joan McCusker
Joan McCusker
Joan McCusker , grew up in Saltcoats. She is a Canadian curler who played second on the team of Sandra Schmirler at the provincial, national and international level. As part of the Schmirler rink, McCusker won a gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics...
are the colour commentators, and Scott Russell
Scott Russell (commentator)
Scott Alexander Russell MA is a Canadian sports writer and broadcaster. He has worked on various CBC Sports broadcasts including Hockey Night in Canada from 1989 until 2003, and again from 2005 until now...
serves as a reporter. CBC airs the finals on the main network and the semi- and quarterfinals on Bold. All matches are simulcasted on CBCSports.ca.
Cross Canada Curling
Cross Canada Curling was a series presented on CBC's World of Sport from 1961-1965. Cross Canada Curling featured teams from each of the eleven provincial and territorial curling rinks. The four western rinks played off in WinnipegWinnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
and the seven eastern rinks played off in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
and Halifax. The eastern and western champions would play each other in the final program. Doug Maxwell
Doug Maxwell
Douglas Dean "Doug" Maxwell was a noted Canadian journalist and broadcaster, noted for his coverage in the sport of curling....
called the matches from Toronto, Keith Barry called the matches from Halifax, and Don Wittman
Don Wittman
Donald Rae Wittman was a Canadian sportscaster.Born in Herbert, Saskatchewan, Wittman attended the University of Saskatchewan and got his start in the field of broadcasting as a news reporter with CFQC radio in Saskatoon in 1955.As a sportscaster, Wittman covered many sports including athletics,...
called the matches from Winnipeg as well as the championship game.
CBC Championship Curling/CBC Curling Classic
From 1966-1979, CBC sponsored its own bonspiel known as the CBC Championship Curling from 1966–1972 and the CBC Curling Classic from 1973-1979. The announcers for this event were Alex TrebekAlex Trebek
George Alexander "Alex" Trebek is a Canadian American game show host who has been the host of the game show Jeopardy! since 1984, and prior to that, he hosted game shows such as Pitfall and High Rollers. He has appeared in numerous television series, usually as himself...
(1966–1970), Don Chevrier
Don Chevrier
Don Chevrier was a television and radio sports announcer. He was born in Toronto, Ontario.-Early life and career:...
(1969–1979), Ken Watson
Ken Watson
James Kenneth Watson, CM was a Canadian curler.Watson was born in Minnedosa, Manitoba and moved to Winnipeg later. He was the first man to skip his rink to three Brier championships in 1936, 1942 and 1949....
(1966), Johnny Wayne
Johnny Wayne
Johnny Wayne was a Canadian comedian and comedy writer best known for his work as part of the comedy duo Wayne and Shuster alongside Frank Shuster....
(1968), Doug Maxwell
Doug Maxwell
Douglas Dean "Doug" Maxwell was a noted Canadian journalist and broadcaster, noted for his coverage in the sport of curling....
(1968–1978), Don Duguid
Don Duguid
Donald G. Duguid is a Canadian champion curler. A three-time winner of the Canadian Brier and two-time World Curling Championships champion, Duguid won the Brier in 1965, 1970 and 1971, and the Worlds in 1970 and 1971...
(1971–1979), and Don Wittman (1978–1979).
CCA on CBC
The CBC broadcast Canadian Curling AssociationCanadian Curling Association
The Canadian Curling Association is a Canadian organization responsible for encouraging and facilitating growth and development of the sport of curling. The CCA is associated with more than a dozen provincial and territorial curling associations across the country.-History:The CCA was created in...
matches, including the Tim Hortons Brier
Tim Hortons Brier
The Tim Hortons Brier, or simply the Brier, is the annual Canadian men's curling championship, sanctioned by the Canadian Curling Association . The current event name refers to its main sponsor, the Tim Hortons coffee and doughnut shop chain.The Brier has been held since 1927, traditionally during...
and the Scotties Tournament of Hearts
Scotties Tournament of Hearts
The Scotties Tournament of Hearts is an annual Canadian women's curling championship, sanctioned by the Canadian Curling Association. The winner goes on to represent Canada at the women's world curling championships. Since 1985, the winner also gets to return to the following year's tournament as...
, from 1966-2008. CBC was the sole holder of broadcasting rights from 1962–1983 and shared rights with TSN
The Sports Network
The Sports Network, commonly abbreviated as TSN, is a Canadian English language Category C specialty channel and is Canada's leading English language sports TV channel. TSN premiered in 1984, in the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels...
from 1984-2003. During this period, TSN covered most weekday matches, and CBC came in for the semifinals and finals on the weekend.
In 2004, the CCA and CBC agreed to a four-year deal which gave CBC exclusive rights to all CCA tournaments, including the Brier. The corporation chose to use CBC Country Canada, a digital cable channel available in far fewer households than CBC or TSN, to broadcast most weekday matches. To add insult to injury (from the perspective of many curling fans), the time limits on sports coverage that the channel had at that time meant that Country Canada had to end coverage at the end of its scheduled coverage window, even if matches were still ongoing. This resulted in criticism from curling fans, sponsors, and ultimately the CCA itself, which claimed the CBC was in breach of contract and unilaterally ended the agreement after one season. The CBC threatened legal action, but ultimately agreed to once again divide rights with TSN from 2005 to 2007.
In 2006, the CCA and TSN signed an exclusive six-year contract which would take effect in 2008, ending CBC's 42 year relationship with the CCA.
Announcers for CBC's coverage of the CCA included Don Wittman, Don Chevrier, Doug Maxwell, Mark Lee
Mark Lee (sportscaster)
Mark Lee is a Canadian sportscaster for CBC Sports who has covered women's ice hockey, Olympic games and the Pan Am Games. He quarterbacked the Carleton Ravens football team for four years, graduating with a journalism degree. He then worked as a news anchor at CFCF radio in Montreal...
, Don Duguid, Colleen Jones
Colleen Jones
Colleen P. Jones is a Canadian curler and television personality. She is best known as the skip of two women's world championship teams and six Tournament of Hearts Canadian women's championships, including an unprecedented four titles in a row...
, Sandra Schmirler
Sandra Schmirler
Sandra Marie Schmirler, SOM , was a Canadian curler, who captured three Canadian Curling Championships and three World Curling Championships. Schmirler skipped her Canadian team to a gold medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics, the first year curling was a medal sport...
, Mike Harris, Joan McCusker, and Bruce Rainnie.
Olympic Curling
CBC aired Olympic curling as part of its Olympic coverageOlympics on CBC
The Olympics on CBC was a sports telecast that aired on CBC Sports. The last airing of the telecast was for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.-History:...
in 1998, 2002, and 2006. The announcers for Olympic curling were Don Wittman (1998, 2002 & 2006), Don Duguid (1998), Joan McCusker (2002 & 2006), Mike Harris (2002 & 2006).