User:Resolute/HNIC

Hockey Night in Canada (often abbreviated Hockey Night or HNIC) is a Canadian sports television program that broadcasts National Hockey League (NHL) games on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Rogers Sportsnet and City TV. The brand, historically used for all CBC hockey broadcasts, is primarily associated with the network's Saturday night telecasts which have aired since 1952 and holds the Guiness World Record for longest running sports television program.

Hockey Night was originally presented as a radio program and dates back to 1931; radio broadcasts were discontinued in 1976. The series aired exclusively on CBC until the NHL sold Canadian broadcast rights to Rogers Communications beginning in the 2014–15 season. As part of a sub-licensing deal, CBC continues to broadcast NHL games while Rogers has been given permission to the HNIC brand during Saturday night broadcasts on its television networks.

The Saturday broadcasts typically feature doubleheaders on the CBC network; the first beginning at 7:00 p.m. ET featuring eastern Canadian teams and the second at 10:00 p.m. ET featuring western teams. Additional games air on Rogers' various Sportsnet channels and on City TV nationally. The telecasts feature pre-game shows and intermission segments including Don Cherry's popular and controversial Coaches Corner segment. The series is hosted by George Stroumboulopoulos, while previous host Ron MacLean has won four Gemini Awards for his work on Hockey Night.

Radio
Foster Hewitt had been broadcasting hockey games since 1923 when he first provided play by play of the third period of an amateur contest by calling into the radio station and describing the play using a telephone handset. Though Hewitt disliked the experience and initially promised he would never broadcast another game, he recanted after the station was inundated with compliments from listeners for the broadcast. His broadcasts soon included National Hockey League (NHL) games; Hewitt's popularity was so great that when Conn Smythe approached him to become the exclusive broadcaster of Toronto Maple Leafs games, Hewitt was also able to secure the right to produce the games through his own company, negotiate advertising rates himself and had approval rights over any one else who wished to make audio or video recordings of the games. Smythe also built the "gondola" – a dedicated broadcast booth for Hewitt – into Maple Leaf Gardens for the arena's 1931 opening. Note:Pull cite for how broadcasts started at 2nd period. Originally known as the General Motors Hockey Broadcast, Hewitt called the first game played at Maple Leaf Gardens, on November 12, 1931, and within three years the games were available on 20 stations of the CNR Radio network. Imperial Oil replaced General Motors as title sponsor in 1936, and following the creation of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) that same year, the Imperial Esso Hockey Broadcast could be heard coast to coast across Canada. The broadcasts soon became known as Hockey Night in Canada. The games were immensely popular across the country; a 1937 survey focused on a specific game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings found that over six million people had listened to the contest.