CBC's Run Almost Done

You've no doubt heard it said plenty over the past dozen years or so.
"CBC Sports. Canada's Olympic Network."
In less than 48 hours, the folks who run the Mother Corp. will have to retire that moniker for at least another six years. When the flame goes out in Beijing on Sunday, it's curtains for CBC's run as the Olympic broadcaster of record in Canada.
The world's athletes next gather in two years time in Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Games and we'll see coverage presented by a CTV Globemedia/Rogers Communications consortium that will put the Olympics primarily on TSN, Sportsnet and CTV. They'll have a second go at it again in 2012 for the London Summer Olympics.
CBC has avoided — so far, at least — getting all sentimental about the fact that they're losing the grip on Canadian Olympic broadcast rights that they've held since 1996 in Atlanta. Beijing 2008 marks the end of a five-Games partnership with TSN that has supplied Canadians with comprehensive Olympic coverage (further enhanced this year with hundreds of hours of online broadcasts).
Sunday at 6 p.m., CBC begins its Beijing swan song and it intends to include a retrospective of its Olympic coverage over the past 12 years. To hear the higher-ups there tell it, though, the public broadcaster intends to push hard to get back into the Olympic game in 2014 (there's a strong belief that its just-approved digital channel, CBC Sports Plus, will be a key weapon in a future bid to combat the CTV/Rogers group).
But that's for another day. If you're a fan of the way CBC presents Olympics (and there is a lot to like about their live-emphasis programming), enjoy what's left of Beijing. It'll going to be a little while before we see the likes of it again.