Canadian Broadcast Standards Council: Fights OK!

The CBSC, the arbiter of good taste in Canadian television, handed down its decision stating that showing hockey fights as part of highlight packages doesn’t promote violence.

The Canadian Broadcast Standards Council today released its decision concerning the broadcast of hockey fights during the sports news program Sportsnet Connected on specialty service Sportsnet East. The CBSC concluded that showing hockey fights during game highlights and updates did not promote or exploit violence.

Sportsnet Connected is a sports news program that features highlights, updates, news and interviews and is broadcast multiple times on weekday mornings. On the February 7, 2008 edition, the program provided the scores and highlights from a number of recent NHL games. The highlights included clips of fights between players, which had occurred during the normal course of play and which had begun due to some sort of on-ice incident, such as shoving or high-sticking. The clips consisted of players punching each other about the head and pulling on each others’ jerseys.

This is the correct decision. You can’t tell me that showing hockey fights is worse than watching brain dead dudes with penis issues pummel each other on the latest UFC.