CTV 1, CBC 0

Sometimes I love the CBC. As a publicly funded national broadcaster, they air stuff that would otherwise never get a national broadcast. They aired Exotica, for Pete's sake. Un-cut. When's the last time you saw Atom Egoyan on ABC? They aired Kids in the Hall. Back in the day, they started that bastion of maple-flavoured Canadian-ness, Hockey Night in Canada. Plus there are no CSIs of any kind on the good old corp.

Other times, though, they really do suck. Their painful attempts at sitcoms are just brutal (this category of broadcasting is also known as all CBC comedy not featuring Rick Mercer). They allow Brian Williams hours of air time during the Olympics despite the presence of the eminently more entertaining Ron MacLean. They constantly reprimand Don Cherry for being Don Cherry, which is especially irritating given that they hired him to be Don Cherry and that they garner big audiences and ad revenues because he's, well, Don Cherry.

So it's kind of hard to feel bad when they get their ass handed to them. Like, when they lose the Olympics to CTV. Or, more to the point, when they piss off the composer of one of the most famous theme songs in history to the extent that said composer sues them, then plays hardball when its time to renegotiate the rights to the song and then sells the song to CTV in the end anyway. I love the Hockey Night in Canada theme song*. I guess CTV loves it too. Sometimes being a business operation that has actual shareholders is what it takes to see a smart business decision.


*Note this love is only increased by the fact that it has never been featured as a paso doble on Dancing with Stars, unlike the Monday Night Football theme. E'gads. I love Dancing with the Stars. I love Monday Night Football. I just didn't need to see them together in one spandexy package...