HNIC ‘Theme’ Contest Down To Semi-Finals
27/09/2008 05:02
Hockey Night in Canada is one step closer to receiving new theme music.
CBC has revealed that an expansive judging committee on Canada's Hockey Anthem Challenge contest has whittled the number of entries down from 14,685 to five semifinalists.
Television viewers will be given a sneak peek at the five submissions each night during The Hour beginning Sept. 29 through to Oct. 3 at 11 p.m. when host George Stroumboulopoulos profiles clips from the original online submissions.
Viewers will then get an opportunity see all five submissions in their entirety during the Hockey Night in Canada Anthem Challenge, a one-hour special co-hosted by Stroumboulopoulos and Ron MacLean on Oct. 4 (CBC, 9 p.m. ET local time).
Following that broadcast, round one of fan voting will open up to the country, closing on Oct 7.
The two finalists will then be revealed during Hockey Night in Canada's Thursday broadcast on Oct. 9 and the second round of voting opens and continues to Oct. 10.
The new theme will be unveiled on Oct. 11 on the traditional Saturday broadcast of Hockey Night in Canada. The winning entry will receive $100,000 in cash and half of the ongoing performance royalties, with the other half going to Canadian minor league hockey.
For the two rounds of voting, Canadians will be invited to vote online at CBCSports.ca/anthemchallenge, by phone and via SMS on their mobile phones.
CBC launched the Canada's Hockey Anthem Challenge contest on June 19 after the network did not renew the rights to the old Hockey Night In Canada theme song, which were subsequently purchased by CTV Inc.
SWIVEL HIPS SAYS:
Cheez, it looks like the CBC is turning the fiasco of having the Hockey Night In Canada theme song ripped right out from under their noses into quite a PR happening! Good on the Mothercorp.
It will be kind of interesting to see which song is finally picked in the end.