CALGARY - It was the best news Vic Rauter had heard in a long time.

The popular voice of curling for TSN -- along with his broadcast partners Ray Turnbull and Linda Moore -- was silenced last season when the Canadian Curling Association awarded its television rights exclusively to the CBC.

But that disastrous move was put right yesterday as all three parties jointly announced that TSN is back in the mix for the 2005-06 season, beginning with December's Tim Hortons Olympic Trials in Halifax.

"I missed it. I think everybody did," Rauter said yesterday. "When it's part of your life for 19 years, 20 for Ray -- when it's not there, you miss it. I knew exactly what the people who were involved in hockey [during the NHL lockout] were going through. There's a withdrawal.

"You hear the comments from people, and how heartfelt they were about missing our coverage, and you're going, 'Well, sorry. I wish we could be there for you.' Well, now we are."

And that will make thousands of curling fans across the country a very happy bunch, indeed, based on last season's outcry over round-robin broadcasts from the Scott Tournament of Hearts and Tim Hortons Brier being shown on CBC's digital-only affiliate Country Canada.

"We knew curling had a large, vocal, passionate audience because we carried it for 20 years and you hear from them from time to time," said TSN president Phil King. "But what tends to happen with this kind of thing is that people speak up and loudly for a week or so, and then it dies out. But this one kept going for a year. Every time an event was on, the disappointment would ratchet up. Curling fans just didn't let it go."

The new deal looks almost exactly like the deal that was in place until April, 2004. TSN will show round-robin games at the Trials, Scott, Brier and Canada-based world championships for the next three years, while CBC shows weekend finals. The only difference now is that TSN won't show morning draws.

The new agreement was negotiated entirely by CBC and TSN, with the CCA looking on with crossed fingers in light of a letter it received last month from its major sponsors, expressing their displeasure with last season's broadcasting arrangements. "I have to give credit where it's due -- CBC reached out to us and asked if we'd be interesting in getting back to the table and we said, yes, we would," King said. "I would suggest there were compromises on the part of all three parties to make this work, and I think everybody really had their eye on what was good for the sport."

TSN was forced out of the curling picture last season after the CCA rejected the network's proposal that it be the exclusive rights-holder for the sport.

The new arrangement doesn't solve all the problems for the CCA. Parkes and board president Jerry Shoemaker will be facing some pointed questions next Thursday when directors and provincial representatives hold a special general meeting. Among the issues expected to be raised is how much money the TV deal ended up costing the CCA, which earlier this year attempted to launch a lawsuit against CBC to kibosh the deal, only to find out it didn't have a case. Reportedly, the CCA had to send a $743,000 cheque to CBC to cover production costs and moving some broadcasts from Country Canada to The Score to placate viewers.

© National Post 2005