CBC Sports CBC Sports is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for English-language sports broadcasting. The CBC's sports programming primarily airs on CBC Television, CBCSports.ca, and CBC Radio One. (The CBC's French-languag ...

covered the sport of

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide #Curling stone, stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area that is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take t ...

from 1962 to 2011. The CBC began its curling coverage with the 1962 Macdonald Brier. From 2007 to 2011, it covered the Capital One Grand Slam of Curling. Previously, CBC's broadcasting rights have included the

Canadian Curling Association Curling Canada (formerly the Canadian Curling Association (CCA)) is a sanctioning body for the sport of curling in Canada. It is associated with more than a dozen provincial and territorial curling associations across the country, and organizes ...

, the

Tim Hortons Brier The Brier ('), known since 2024 as the Montana's Brier for sponsorship reasons, is the annual Canadian men's curling championship, sanctioned by Curling Canada. The Brier has been held since 1927, traditionally during the month of March. The wi ...

, the CBC Curling Classic, the

World Curling Championships The World Curling Championships are the annual world championships for curling, organized by the World Curling Federation and contested by national championship teams. There are men's, women's and Doubles curling, mixed doubles championships, as ...

, and Olympic Curling.

Current broadcasts

Capital One Grand Slam of Curling on CBC

Capital One Grand Slam of Curling on CBC is a presentation of the Capital One Grand Slam of Curling aired on the

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

network from 2007 to 2011 and will air again in 2012. CTV/Rogers Sportsnet had previously aired the Grand Slam since its inception in 2001. Bruce Rainnie serves as the play-by-play announcer,

Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a retired Canadian politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. Taking the PC ...

and

Joan McCusker Joan McCusker (born Joan Elizabeth Inglis; June 8, 1965) is a Canadian Olympic gold medallist curler and broadcaster. Career McCusker's greatest successes in curling came during the years she played second on the team of Sandra Schmirler (ski ...

are the colour commentators, and Scott Russell serves as a reporter. CBC airs the finals on the main network and the semi- and quarterfinals previously aired on Bold. All matches are simulcasted on CBCSports.ca. Due to a dispute with Grand Slam management group , the CBC pulled its Grand Slam coverage in January 2012 just before the 2012 The National event. On August 30, 2012, CBC Sports announced that they would air the 2012-13 Grand Slam of Curling in partnership with Sportsnet.

Former broadcasts

Cross Canada Curling

Cross Canada Curling was a series presented on CBC's World of Sport from 1961-1965. Cross Canada Curling featured teams from each of the eleven provincial and territorial curling rinks. The four western rinks played off in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

and the seven eastern rinks played off in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

and Halifax. The eastern and western champions would play each other in the final program.

Doug Maxwell Douglas Dean Maxwell (c. 1927 – August 31, 2007) was a noted Canadians, Canadian journalist and broadcaster, noted for his coverage in the sport of curling. Among his accomplishments, Maxwell served as director of the World Curling Championship ...

called the matches from Toronto,

Keith Barry Keith Patrick Barry (born 2 October 1976) is an Irish mentalist, hypnotist, magician and activist for the elderly. Early life Born in Williamstown, Waterford, Ireland, Keith's interest in magic began at the age of 5 with a Paul Daniel's magi ...

called the matches from Halifax, and

Don Wittman Donald Rae Wittman (October 9, 1936 – January 19, 2008) was a Canadians, Canadian sportscaster. Early life and education Born in Herbert, Saskatchewan, Herbert, Saskatchewan, Wittman attended the University of Saskatchewan and got his st ...

called the matches from Winnipeg as well as the championship game.

CBC Championship Curling/CBC Curling Classic

From 1966-1979, CBC sponsored its own bonspiel known as the CBC Championship Curling from 1966–1972 and the CBC Curling Classic from 1973-1979. The announcers for this event were

Alex Trebek George Alexander Trebek (; July 22, 1940 – November 8, 2020) was a Canadian and American game show host and television personality. He was best known for hosting the syndicated general knowledge quiz game show ''Jeopardy!'' for 37 seasons ...

(1966–1970),

Don Chevrier Don Chevrier (December 29, 1937December 17, 2007) was a Canadian sports announcer. He worked in television and radio, and was born in Toronto, Ontario. Biography Early life and career He began his broadcasting career at CJCA in Edmonton, Alb ...

(1969–1979),

Ken Watson James Kenneth Watson, (August 12, 1904 – July 26, 1986) was a Canadian curler. Biography Watson was born in Minnedosa, Manitoba and moved to Winnipeg later. He was the first man to skip his rink to three Brier championships in 1936, 1942 ...

(1966), Johnny Wayne (1968),

(1968–1978),

Don Duguid Donald Gordon Duguid (born January 25, 1935) is a Canadian champion curler. A three-time winner of the Canadian Brier and two-time World Curling champion, Duguid won the Brier in 1965, 1970 and 1971, and the Worlds in 1970 and 1971. He was onl ...

(1971–1979), and Don Wittman (1978–1979).

CCA on CBC

The CBC broadcast

matches, including the

and the

Scotties Tournament of Hearts The Scotties Tournament of Hearts ('; commonly referred to as the Scotties) is the annual Canadian women's curling championship, sanctioned by Curling Canada, formerly called the Canadian Curling Association. The winner goes on to represent Can ...

, from 1966-2008. CBC was the sole holder of broadcasting rights from 1962–1983 and shared rights with TSN from 1984-2003. During this period, TSN covered most weekday matches, and CBC came in for the semifinals and finals on the weekend. In 2004, the CCA and CBC agreed to a four-year deal which gave CBC exclusive rights to all CCA tournaments, including the Brier. The corporation chose to use

CBC Country Canada Cottage Life is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel owned by Blue Ant Media. Operated as a brand extension spin-off of the magazine of the same name, the network originally aired a variety of programming focusing on the ...

, a digital cable channel available in far fewer households than CBC or TSN, to broadcast most weekday matches. To add insult to injury (from the perspective of many curling fans), the time limits on sports coverage that the channel had at that time meant that Country Canada had to end coverage at the end of its scheduled coverage window, even if matches were still ongoing. This resulted in criticism from curling fans, sponsors, and ultimately the CCA itself, which claimed the CBC was in breach of contract and unilaterally ended the agreement after one season. The CBC threatened legal action, but ultimately agreed to once again divide rights with TSN from 2005 to 2007. In 2006, the CCA and TSN signed an exclusive six-year contract which would take effect in 2008, ending CBC's 42-year relationship with the CCA. Announcers for CBC's coverage of the CCA included Don Wittman, Don Chevrier, Doug Maxwell, Mark Lee, Don Duguid,

Colleen Jones Colleen Patricia Jones (born December 16, 1959) is a Canadian curler and television personality. She is best known as the skip of two women's world championship teams and six Tournament of Hearts Canadian women's championships, including an un ...

Sandra Schmirler Sandra Marie Schmirler (June 11, 1963 – March 2, 2000) was a Canadian curling, curler who captured three Canadian Curling Championships (Scott Paper Company, Scott Tournament of Hearts) and three World Women's Curling Championship, World Cu ...

, Mike Harris, Joan McCusker, and Bruce Rainnie.

Olympic Curling

CBC aired Olympic curling as part of its Olympic coverage in 1998, 2002, 2006, 2014, 2018, and 2022. The announcers for Olympic curling were Don Wittman (1998, 2002 & 2006), Don Duguid (1998), Joan McCusker (2002, 2006, 2014 and 2018), Mike Harris (2002, 2006, 2014, 2018, and 2022), Bruce Rainnie (2006 ''as sideline reporter'' & 2014, 2018, and ''as main commentator''), and

Joanne Courtney Joanne Margaret Courtney (born March 7, 1989, as Joanne Taylor) is a Canadian curler from Edmonton, Alberta. From 2014 to 2022, she was a member of the Rachel Homan rink which won the 2017 World Women's Curling Championship and represented Cana ...

(2022).

References

{{CBC Sports Curling broadcasters CBC Television original programming CBC Sports 1961 Canadian television series debuts Sports telecast series 1960s Canadian sports television series 1970s Canadian sports television series 1980s Canadian sports television series 1990s Canadian sports television series 2000s Canadian sports television series 2010s Canadian sports television series