By Paul Patskou
The first televised Grey Cup game was on November 29, 1952, shortly after the advent of television in Canada. Only those who could access CBLT in Toronto were able to view live that first historic telecast. Since there was no videotape or satellites in the early 1950’s, Grey Cup games were shown outside of southern Ontario on a delayed basis by shipping the kinescopes to other TV stations across the country. Filming the transmission off a TV monitor with a 16mm film camera produced these ‘kines’.
Starting in 1954, viewers in some Canadian cities were able to view the game live due the use of partial Canadian microwave hook-ups as well as the use of U.S. microwave relay stations. Television coverage of live Grey Cup games did not occur across Canada until 1957 when the cross Canada microwave network was established.
Football fans watching a Grey Cup rebroadcast from the 50’s or 60’s immediately sense that the viewing experience is lacking. Besides the fact that the game is in black & white, the absence of replays is most obvious. That is because today we are accustomed to seeing replays immediately, from various angles and in slow motion.
However, from 1952 until 1964, there were no replays on televised CFL games. The first Grey Cup aired that was enhanced by the use of replays occurred in 1965. And those replays may have had only two or maybe three camera angles and the playback was only for a fixed number of seconds. The 1966 Grey Cup game benefited from the use of replays but was also the first Grey Cup to be televised in colour.
By the 1960’s, Grey Cup games were covered with additional cameras revealing various close-ups and angles. Over the years, telecasts of Grey Cup games improved with various enhancements and additions that not only allowed the viewers to become closer to the action but also produced an improved picture quality with the advent of cable and satellites.
New broadcasting features that have delighted viewers fairly recently include the virtual first-down marker and the televising of games in high definition. Game officials to review plays on the field now use the sophisticated replays of today. In addition, in order to increase the opportunities for fans around the world to view CFL games live, there is now access to the games on broadband, which can be viewed on home computers globally. That’s a far cry from the first televised Grey Cup game in 1952, which was available only to those few fans with television sets with access to the lone TV station airing the game.