The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
CBC is turning to Hollywood to fill the Saturday night void left by the ongoing NHL lockout. Movie Night in Canada, a six-hour block of films, will premiere Oct. 16 in the time slot normally reserved for a doubleheader of hockey. "We all look forward to the return of Hockey Night in Canada to CBC Television," said Harold Redekopp, executive vice-president, in a memo to CBC employees. "In the meantime, it's essential to protect our distinctive, high-quality, Canadian prime-time schedule by doing everything we can to maintain audiences and revenues on Saturday night." The schedule is designed to appeal to all age groups with a family film at 7, a blockbuster at 9 and a classic at 11. The network hopes Movie Night in Canada will be short-lived, but many analysts are writing off the 2004-05 season as the NHL and its players appear miles apart on a new collective bargaining agreement. Redekopp noted in his memo that the significant revenue from hockey helps the network "pay for the great lineup of Canadian drama, comedy, documentaries and information programming we bring to our viewers throughout the broadcast season." "Movie Night in Canada will help us continue to generate revenue for CBC Television during the lockout period," he said, "so that we can continue to bring Canadians the finest in Canadian public television."
