Will Cherry still be god?

[Hands of Stone]

This is Serious, Beer is now involved

Labatt has now stepped forward and said that they want the issue resolved, with crotch watcher keeping his job.

They are one of the major sponsors for HNIC, and what they say may go.

Read about the contract negotiations in the paper today, and it dows sound pretty mickey mouse.
Should Cherry be getting $700,000 a year for 10 min. every sat. night. Best job in Canada, you can buy alot of pops on the road for that kind of cash.
Crotch Watcher was going to sign for just under $500,000 a year, should that kind of money be given out at a public owned company.

CBC is run with our tax dollars and of coarse advertising money, but we pay for this service, perhaps we should have a say in how the money is spent and who gets the big bucks.

Instead of another referenDUM on Quebec, lets have one for the commentators of CBC HNIC.
We could spend a couple million on it, but at least everyone across the country cares about Hockey.

HOS

 

[Dapotayto]

You know, I couldn't honestly give a flying fcuk about Cherry or crotchwatcher but Tony Gallagher brought up an interesting point in his column today. The gist of it was that Cherry constantly harps on and on about loyalty in sports and that now, basically, he's got a chance to put up or shut up. Let's see if he really can walk the walk or if he's just a sanctimonious hypocrite.

 

[Dude]

sanctimonious

This could be a TTP big word first. I can't remember anyone using the word "sanctimonious" in a post. I don't think "sanctimonious" is Fastshow's style of word. Hummmmmm...

The talk shows are hopping today with this issue- great stuff! The Province this morning said that Mansbridge reportedly earns $500K / year. If that is true, it maybe shows why upper management balked at McLean’s demands. If they paid McLean more than Mansbridge now, that dramatically raises the bar for him on his next contract. You can't very well pay your overall most watched and valuable broadcaster less than the best guy you have doing sports.

The stuff with Labatt's adding pressure is classic. I tend to believe that a phone call may have been made. Listen to some of the conspiracy theories Dave Pratt is coming up with though: way in left field!

 

[Keeper]

Labatts

They can go to H-E-Double hockey sticks. Call me a left-wing pinko, but as soon a publicly-funded broadcasting corporation obeys the whim of an advertiser, we're in the express line-up to corporate programming. If Labatts is truly serious about their threat, I hope CBC tells them to shove it -- I'm certain Molson's would be more than happy to come back, McLean or no McLean.

Fcukin' bull, I say. And McLean's got his head up his ass as well. As Number2 said, it's a 50% pay raise. He's got a sh!t load of nerve demanding that sort of hike when commoners are reeling from taxes, taxes, and more taxes (well, maybe not me, but I'm sure the rest of you TTP'ers pay taxes).

What's the star anyways? The 60 minutes of watered-down expansion-league hockey or the 10 minute intermissions?

Let him stew.

 

[Reccos]

Keeper Wow

All this venom and it's your birthday!!!!!

I don't have trouble with a major sponsor suggesting that they'd like this guy back on their program as they think it works. We don't know what was said or how they said it, but I have no problem with them making their views known. If that advertiser is funding that segment, then it could be argued that they should be able to make their views known especially as it is so close to the season. They probably committed advertising dollars believing it to be the two guys they had before.

For example, I don't always like Neil McCrae but some sponsors do as we all listen to him even when he pisses us off. There the sponsors do have a say about say advertising on the 7:35 am sports broadcast.

It would be different if they asked to have the ending of a show changed. Then again, they do that more subtly as they won't let their ads go on shows that are too controversial.

BTW, Happy Birthday, buddy.

 

[Keeper]

If that advertiser is funding that segment, then it could be argued that they should be able to make their views known especially as it is so close to the season.

You've got an excellent point there.

I've got problems with an advertiser suggesting, "Look, you do X and we'll give you money" or "Do X or we're pulling our money." Reality should reflect the CBC saying, "We do X with this guy and that guy. Who wants to sponsor it?" Thanks to Reccos, I can understand that if Labatts put up money thinking they were getting McLean & Cherry but then gets Cherry & Williams at the last minute, they've got a beef.

That's a fair complaint and I stand corrected.

 

[number2]

happy birthday left-wing pinko

I have to agree with Dude.

we’re talking about the most popular program in Canada here that paid the NHL something like $100m for broadcast rights

If Labatts tells the CBC pay him $.7m for a season or they pull sponsorsip, pay the fcuk.

Serioulsy though, I've go a better solution.

Fire Mansbridge, pay McLean the $.7m as well as an extra $.3m for a cool $1m a year and have him pull double duty. HNIC and the 11 o'clock news which is basically just reading the new scripts off the teleprompter. Oh, and get Labatts to sponsor the news as well


... And I still can't believe this made the cover of the Province today... but then again, i guess i should...

 

[Reccos]

Cover of Vancouver Papers- That's Nothing...

This story knocked the Throne Speech as the main front page story in the Globe and Mail.

 

[The Apprentice]

Report: MacLean, CBC reach agreement
Canadian Press
10/3/2002

TORONTO (CP) - Negotiations to bring back Hockey Night in Canada host Ron MacLean were set to resume Thursday with one report saying the two sides already have a tentative agreement.
The Globe and Mail reported Wednesday that MacLean and the CBC had reached a four-year deal worth about $450,000 annually. Thursday's meeting will deal with ``fence mending'', the newspaper said, citing an unnamed source.

The deal, which will include lockout protection if a labour dispute shuts down the 2004-05 NHL season, will make MacLean the second-highest paid sportscaster in Canada, according the report. MacLean's Coach's Corner sidekick Don Cherry ranks first.
Cherry was among one of MacLean's boosters.
``Behind the scenes, I did a lot of talking,'' Cherry told the Globe, adding he was astonished by the public's reaction.
``I've never seen anything like this in my life,'' he said. ``It's unbelievable. I knew there'd be a public outcry, but I never thought it would be as much as it was.
``I guess when we walk through airports from now on, they won't say `Who's the other guy?'''
John Shannon, a former HNIC executive producer, said public opinion may have played a part in kickstarting the renewed talks but it was MacLean who left the door open for CBC.
``The outcrying of the public. Did it help? Absolutely. How much? I don't put too much weight in that,'' said Shannon, now executive producer with Leafs TV. He worked on HNIC for 16 years and with MacLean from 1994 to 2000.
``In my opinion, what changed it more, Ron, in his interviews early in the week, made it clear that he still dearly wanted to work on the show. He gave them an opportunity to make the phone call.''
Even though Shannon wasn't convinced the outpouring of support for MacLean was entirely responsible for the two sides getting back to the table, it was a factor that couldn't be ignored.
``I'm absolutely amazed at the level of interest people have had in this,'' he said. ``Absolutely amazed.''
MacLean admitted he wasn't feeling a lot of stress about the possibility of not returning to HNIC.
``I'd be kidding if I said I wasn't thinking back and forth on it, but at the end of the day, and I keep using this cliche, when you're doing the right thing you don't fear the unknown and that really was where I was a peace with it and didn't feel to stressed about it.''
MacLean is scheduled to appear Thursday night on The Comedy Network's Open Mike with Mike Bullard.
``The reason Ron is on our show is because we met his price,'' Bullard said in a news release. ``A mug and a T-shirt.''
Labatt, a major HNIC sponsor, had urged the network Tuesday to resolve the dispute, but Shannon believes a sponsor's wishes would hold less sway than the public's.
``With Labatt's stance `Hey we need Ron MacLean', the CBC doesn't work that way,'' said Shannon. ``The CBC would not want to be regarded as someone who got pressured by a sponsor. They're a public broadcaster.'' The appeal of the folksy, humble MacLean and the institution that Hockey Night in Canada has become on Saturday nights came to a head in the MacLean-CBC saga, which pushed Iraqi weapons inspections and an ex-nun on trial in P.E.I. for allegedly assaulting children out of the spotlight in the Canadian media.
The 42-year-old from MacLean from Red Deer, Alta., is arguably the face of HNIC as Cherry's pun-pushing sidekick, the moderator of the Hot Stove Lounge media panel and a behind-the-scenes reporter.
Both MacLean and CBC had downplayed the issue of money, but that's where an earlier tentative first deal broke down.
MacLean asked for a 10 to 15 per cent raise and said the CBC offered him four. His yearly salary on his previous four-year contract that expired Monday had been pegged at about $400,000.
MacLean has been reported to make less money than Cherry, yet does more work for CBC Sports as a commentator at Olympic Games and the Calgary Stampede. Cherry recently signed a contract for a reported $700,000 a year.

 

[El Jefe]

El Jefe says bring Chris Rock into the picture as a favourable replacement for RM in lieu of affirmative action and a good old
WASP Cherry ass-wooping!

El Jefe