Hockey changes without me, even though I don't watch TV any more

In 2008, CTV bought the rights "in perpetuity" to Canada's other national anthem, the old Hockey Night in Canada theme. Which makes it no longer the theme to HNIC, which is a CBC program[me]. Instead, CTV has been using it during its NHL broadcasts for the past year.

I would have blogged about this change earlier if I were still living in a media market where the cable TV provider carried a CBC station. (I got so, so spoiled when we lived in Seattle; they carried CBUT-TV out of Vancouver as if it were a local station. Oh, man. Six hours of hockey makes a rainy winter afternoon and evening in the Pacific Northwest almost bearable.) As it is, it went completely under my radar that HNIC's theme had changed, and I didn't even know it until I saw today that Neil Peart of Rush will be recording a new version of the theme for CTV.

But as for HNIC, it must feel weird to have new music precede Don Cherry's antics outfits on Saturday nights. Will school bands play (skip to 1:15) the new theme in their symphonic concerts? Can people use it to teach themselves guitar (equal time: Canadiens version) and Mario Paint?

At least HNIC's opening titles still include Foster Hewitt's "Hello, Canada, and hockey fans in the United States and Newfoundland."