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The TSN license currently comprises two 24-hour programming services, branded as TSN and ]. From its launch until 2006, TSN operated as a single, national service. In 2006, the ] (CRTC) ruled that TSN could operate multiple feeds with a limited amount of alternative national programming—this was followed by the launch of TSN2—a second 24-hour network under the TSN license that was legally considered a ] of TSN. As of 2010, TSN has been subject to ] by the CRTC, which allows multiple feeds to be operated under the TSN license with no restrictions on alternate programming; since then, TSN used this ability to operate an autonomous TSN2, along with part-time feeds for regional NHL coverage. The TSN license currently comprises two 24-hour programming services, branded as TSN and ]. From its launch until 2006, TSN operated as a single, national service. In 2006, the ] (CRTC) ruled that TSN could operate multiple feeds with a limited amount of alternative national programming—this was followed by the launch of TSN2—a second 24-hour network under the TSN license that was legally considered a ] of TSN. As of 2010, TSN has been subject to ] by the CRTC, which allows multiple feeds to be operated under the TSN license with no restrictions on alternate programming; since then, TSN used this ability to operate an autonomous TSN2, along with part-time feeds for regional NHL coverage.


On August 25, 2014, the primary TSN service will be re-structured into four 24-hour networks; '''TSN1''', '''TSN3''', '''TSN4''', and '''TSN5'''. The four TSN networks will essentially operate as a group of ]s available nationally (similarly to TSN's main rival, Sportsnet): the networks will have a particular focus on specific regions of Canada for regional programs (such as NHL games subject to ] in the rest of the country), but will still air common programming, and can be split for alternate national programs, such as expanded coverage of larger leagues and events.<ref name=gandm-tsn5 /><ref name=tsn-fivefeeds /> On August 25, 2014, the primary TSN service will be re-structured into four 24-hour networks; '''TSN1''', '''TSN3''', '''TSN4''', and '''TSN5''', that will essentially operate as a group of ]. The four channels will air some common programming, but will be capable of airing alternative programming and split coverage of larger sporting events, along with regional programming such as NHL games subject to ] in the rest of the country).<ref name=gandm-tsn5 /><ref name=tsn-fivefeeds />


==History== ==History==

Revision as of 03:48, 25 August 2014

For the sports information service, see The Sports Network (wire service).

Television channel
The Sports Network
CountryCanada
HeadquartersToronto, Ontario
Ownership
OwnerBell Media (80%)
ESPN Inc. (20%)
(CTV Specialty Television Inc.)
(The Sports Network Inc.)

The Sports Network (TSN) is a Canadian English language sports specialty service. Established by the Labatt Brewing Company in 1984 as part of the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels, TSN has been principally owned by Bell Canada since 2001—presently through its broadcasting subsidiary Bell Media, with a minority stake held by ESPN Inc. via a 20% share in the Bell Media subsidiary CTV Specialty Television Inc. TSN is the largest specialty channel in Canada in terms of gross revenue, with a total of $400.4 million in revenue in 2013.

TSN's networks focus on sports-related programming, including live and recorded event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming. As of 2014, major programming rights held by TSN include exclusive coverage of the Canadian Football League and the Canadian Curling Association's national championships, coverage of the NBA and the Toronto Raptors, regional television rights to the Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Winnipeg Jets of the NHL, along with Canadian rights to the tournaments of FIFA (soccer) and the IIHF (ice hockey), the NFL (shared with sister network CTV), Formula One, NASCAR, the English Premier League (split with Sportsnet) and the Grand Slam tennis tournaments, among others. TSN also receives a large amount of programming through its minority partner, ESPN. Until 2014, when full national rights to the league were assumed by Rogers Media, TSN was prominently the most recent cable rightsholder of the NHL in Canada.

The TSN license currently comprises two 24-hour programming services, branded as TSN and TSN2. From its launch until 2006, TSN operated as a single, national service. In 2006, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) ruled that TSN could operate multiple feeds with a limited amount of alternative national programming—this was followed by the launch of TSN2—a second 24-hour network under the TSN license that was legally considered a west coast feed of TSN. As of 2010, TSN has been subject to Category C licensing by the CRTC, which allows multiple feeds to be operated under the TSN license with no restrictions on alternate programming; since then, TSN used this ability to operate an autonomous TSN2, along with part-time feeds for regional NHL coverage.

On August 25, 2014, the primary TSN service will be re-structured into four 24-hour networks; TSN1, TSN3, TSN4, and TSN5, that will essentially operate as a group of regional sports network. The four channels will air some common programming, but will be capable of airing alternative programming and split coverage of larger sporting events, along with regional programming such as NHL games subject to blackout in the rest of the country).

History

Early history

File:TSN Old Logo.svg
TSN's original logo, used from launch until 2001.

Licensed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on April 2, 1984 as Action Canada Sports Network, the channel was launched by the Labatt Brewing Company on September 1 of the same year as The Sports Network, or TSN. The network was founded under the leadership of Gordon Craig, a former employee of CBC Sports; alongside coverage of the co-ownedToronto Blue Jays, TSN also reached a deal with ESPN (itself only 5 years old) shortly before launch to provide additional programs. Although reaching around 400,000 subscribers TSN's early years were hindered by its initial status as a premium service, bundled in a high-cost package with movie channels such as First Choice and Superchannel, alongside competition with free-to-air sports broadcasts by CBC Television among others.

To improve the prominence of the network, TSN sought to obtain the national cable rights to the National Hockey League—rights that, according to the league, were not sold under the current arrangement with CBC. However, the task was complicated by claims by CBC that it owned the cable rights to the NHL, along with the involvement of the competing beer company Molson in Canadian NHL rights at the time. However,with the help of a Molson employee who was a friend of Gordon, a deal was reached between TSN, Molson, and the NHL to allow the network to broadcast games on cable.

By December 1987, TSN had reached one million subscribers, but the network's staff sought wider distribution for the channel as part of basic cable service; the CRTC approved the network's request for permission to allow TSN to be carried as part of a basic cable lineup. Mike Day, producer of TSN's daily sports news program SportsDesk lamented about the shift to basic cable and the larger audience it would bring, commenting that "one night you're doing a news show that potentially has an audience of one million people, and the next day the potential is five million people."

Due to CRTC regulations on the foreign ownership of broadcasters, Labatt was forced to sell TSN and RDS upon its acquisition by Interbrew in 1995. Labatt's broadcasting assets were sold to a privately held consortium named NetStar Communications, the investors of which included a number of Canadian firms as well as ESPN Inc., which held an interest of about 30%. The Sports Network launched its website TSN.ca on October 1, 1995.

In 1997, the CRTC began permitting TSN to offer an "alternate feed", which could be used to provide an regional opt-out of the main TSN service for programming that must be blacked out in the rest of the country. Alternate programming could make up a maximum of 10% of the TSN schedule—an average of 2.4 hours a day.

Acquisition by CTV, expansion

In 2000, after ESPN blocked two attempts by the Canadian partners to sell NetStar to Canwest, CTV Inc. acquired the Canadian partners' shares. CTV Inc. was acquired by Bell Canada and The Woodbridge Company (publisher of The Globe and Mail newspaper) as part of the joint venture Bell Globemedia in 2001. As a result of its purchase of TSN, CTV would be forced to sell its regional sports network CTV Sportsnet, eventually selling it to minority shareholder Rogers Media. Following the acquisition, TSN would move its operations to CTV's Agincourt complex. However, Sportsnet would not move from Agincourt until 2008 (when it moved to the Rogers Building in Downtown Toronto), which led to the now-competing networks sharing the same building as their headquarters. This oddity would become an inside joke between personalities on both networks, who commonly referred to jumping between the two networks as "crossing the parking lot."

Following the sale, TSN began to closer align its on-air imaging with that of ESPN; the most prominent effect of these changes came with the re-branding of TSN's flagship sports news program SportsDesk as SportsCentre—a Canadian version (in both format and spelling) of ESPN's SportsCenter. TSN also launched a number of digital specialty channels in 2001; including a local version of ESPN Classic, the NHL Network— a network devoted to ice hockey and the National Hockey League, and WTSN—a channel dedicated to women's sports In August 2003, TSN and Discovery Channel became the first ever specialty television services in Canada to be avaliable in high definition. TSN's first live HD broadcast was of a Canadian Football League game between the Montreal Alouettes and Hamilton Tiger-Cats—a game which was delayed due to the effects of a major blackout which occurred the day prior.

Beginning in 2006, the CRTC officially allowed TSN to operate national secondary digital feeds with limited amounts of alternative programming. Following this development, TSN began to use such a feed to broadcast additional programming that could not be aired on TSN due to scheduling conflicts or other events. On August 29, 2008, the feed evolved into a new 24-hour channel, similar to ESPN2, known as TSN2. Upon its launch, TSN2 was legally considered a west coast timeshift feed of TSN, although soon after TSN2 was launched, the CRTC announced a proposal to remove genre exclusivity protections for "mainstream sports" and "national news" channels in the near future. As a byproduct of the decision, TSN would be allowed to use streamlined conditions of licence (legally referred to as a Category C license as of September 2011), which state that the service may offer "multiple feeds", without any restrictions on alternate programming. TSN was officially permitted to use these streamlined conditions of licence on February 1, 2010.

Acquisition by Bell, TSN Radio

On September 10, 2010, Bell Canada announced plans to re-acquire 100% of CTVglobemedia's broadcasting arm, including its majority control of TSN. Under the deal, Woodbridge Company Limited, Torstar, and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan would together receive $1.3 billion in either cash or equity in BCE, while BCE would also assume $1.7 billion in debt (BCE's existing equity interest is $200 million, for a total transaction value of $3.2 billion). Woodbridge has since simultaneously regained majority control of The Globe and Mail, with Bell retaining a 15% interest in December 2010. The deal closed on April 1, 2011, after the CRTC approved the sale on March 7, 2011 – the new company became known as Bell Media.

Main article: TSN Radio

After a longstanding speculation about TSN's interest in launching its own TSN-branded radio network, TSN entered radio broadcasting with the launch of the first TSN Radio station, a relaunch of AM station CHUM in Toronto on April 13, 2011. Bell Media's Bell Media Radio division already operated several sports radio stations elsewhere in Canada (most of which were branded as The Team, a name introduced by previous owner CHUM Limited in its own failed attempt at establishing a national sports radio network), it was reported that Bell could theoretically relaunch these other stations as a part of TSN Radio as well.

Also in 2011, TSN acquired broadcast rights to the returning Winnipeg Jets. TSN would establish another part-time feed, TSN Jets, to broadcast the games. Additionally, co-owned CFRW would also gain radio rights to the new Jets. CFRW, along with Montreal station CKGM, also migrated to the TSN Radio brand on October 5, 2011. Additionally, Bell would also launch TSN Mobile TV, streaming versions of TSN and TSN2 offered through Bell Mobility's Mobile TV services.

On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced that it would sell its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment to two major telecommunications companies; Bell Canada (TSN's main parent company) and Rogers Communications (owners of the competing Sportsnet chain of sports channels) with a 37.5% share each (Larry Tanenbaum will increase his ownership to a quarter of the company as well), in a deal expected to be valued at around $1.32 billion in total. The deal was completed in summer 2012, following the approval of Canada's Competition Bureau, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (with regards to MLSE's television channels), as well as the leagues for each of MLSE's main sports franchises. The deal was expected to have a major impact on future broadcast rights for MLSE's teams, including the Toronto Maple Leafs and Toronto Raptors, as their ownership of the teams will offer enhanced coverage for the team through new platforms such as mobile television.

In March 2014, TSN launched its TV Everywhere service TSN Go, allowing subscribers to TSN on participating service providers to stream TSN and TSN2 online or through a mobile app. TSN Go is currently available only to Bell TV and Rogers Cable subscribers.

Loss of national NHL rights, "#MoreTSN"

Following the announcement of Bell and Rogers' acquisition of MLSE, concerns were again raised by critics, speculating that Bell Media could attempt to acquire full rights to the NHL after CBC's current contract with the league expires in the 2013–14 season – using their ownership of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the NHL's highest valued franchise, as an impetus for such a coup. Concerns were also raised that such an arrangement could prevent wireless service providers other than Bell and Rogers from accessing its content. However, the CRTC ruled in favour of Telus in a decision requiring Bell and other media companies to allow other competing wireless providers access to its content, and not exclusively tie it to their own service (as they had attempted to do with TSN Mobile TV). However, in November 2013, rights to the NHL were instead acquired by Rogers, giving it exclusive national broadcast and cable television rights to the league in Canada for 12 years, beginning in the 2014-15 NHL season.

Critics considered Rogers' move to be a major blow against Bell and TSN, showing concerns for how the network could sustain itself without what is considered a key property in Canadian sports broadcasting. However, they also acknowledged the network's continuing rights to IIHF hockey tournaments (including the popular World Junior Hockey Championships), the Canadian Football League (whose contract lasts through 2018), and TSN's growing regional NHL rights portfolio, including the Toronto Maple Leafs—which would, beginning in the same season, air 26 games on TSN per season. In a series of Twitter posts by TSN personality Bob McKenzie, he explained that even with the loss of national NHL rights, TSN's goal was to remain "THE source for all things hockey" through its analysis programs and regional coverage, and that this was not the first time that TSN had lost its cable rights to the NHL (having lost them to CTV Sportsnet for a period upon its launch in 1998).

On May 6, 2014, TSN announced that it would launch three new national channels—TSN3, TSN4, and TSN5, in September 2014 to coincide with the network's 30th anniversary. TSN president Stewart Johnston described the expansion an "important evolution" for the network, as it would allow TSN to make more efficient use of its portfolio of sports properties: the network promoted that these new channels would allow TSN to broadcast a larger amount of ESPN content and live events, particularly including expanded coverage of major events (such as Grand Slam tennis and curling tournaments) with multiple games occurring simultaneously. Although the expansion was discussed by TSN staff as early as 2012, critics considered the loss of NHL rights to Rogers (which had recently expanded its Sportsnet operation to seven national services with the acquisition of The Score, now Sportsnet 360) to be a catalyst for the move, as TSN attempts to maintain its position as the top specialty television service in Canada.

The launch date of these new channels—marketed under the hashtag "#MoreTSN"—were pushed up to August 25, 2014 in order to allow multi-court coverage of the 2014 US Open tennis tournament. TSN also announced that it would use these new channels to house regional NHL games beginning in the 2014-15 season, featuring the Jets, Maple Leafs, and Ottawa Senators.

Channels

As is permitted for all Category C sports services, the TSN licence is permitted to have multiple channels, and currently encompasses all of the channels listed in the table below. However, unlike premium services like The Movie Network, subscribers to the original channel are not automatically entitled to receive additional channels, and in many cases they are (or previously were) only available by paying a separate charge to a service provider. For example, until 2013, Rogers Cable customers were required to subscribe to the HD Specialty Pack add-on in order to receive TSN HD (whereas most other HD simulcast channels were provided at no additional charge); Rogers customers must still pay for a higher-tier package to receive both TSN and TSN2.

On May 6, 2014, TSN announced plans to launch three additional multiplex channels, for a total of five 24-hour national channels. In effect, the existing "TSN" service will be replaced by four regionally-focused feeds (regions described below), similar to the Sportsnet regional channels, while TSN2 will retain a national focus. Although all five channels will be available nationally, on most local providers the primary channel location currently occupied by TSN will be filled by the appropriate regional feed, which will carry regional NHL coverage where available, regionally-scheduled editions of SportsCentre, and local programming co-produced with TSN Radio stations. The channels will also frequently be split to carry event content from major leagues and tournaments with multiple simultaneous games (such as the Premier League, curling, the NCAA basketball tournament, and tennis), and additional studio shows simulcast from ESPN.

Their launch date was originally announced as September 1, 2014, to coincide with the 30th anniversary of TSN's launch. On August 11, TSN announced that the launch date had been moved up to August 25 in order to accommodate multiple-court coverage throughout the US Open Tennis Championships.

Bell executives stated that the expanded five-channel service will be offered for the same rate as currently charged for TSN and TSN2 together. Most major Canadian television providers will carry the new channels upon their launch, including Bell, Cogeco, Eastlink, MTS, SaskTel, Shaw, Source Cable, Rogers, and Telus.

Channel Launch date Description and programming
TSN September 1, 1984
August 15, 2003
The main channel which airs most of the major sports events to which TSN holds rights, as well as most editions of SportsCentre.

On August 15, 2003, TSN launched a high definition simulcast, branded as TSN HD, airing widescreen and high-definition feeds of programming when available. As virtually TSN's entire schedule is now broadcast in HD, the separate branding was dropped from on-air usage in 2013, and the HD feed is now letterboxed for standard definition viewers. All of the other TSN channels below have had HD simulcasts available since their respective launch dates.

On August 25, 2014, this feed will be renamed TSN1 and become the primary TSN feed for viewers in British Columbia and the Yukon.

TSN2 August 29, 2008 A full-time multiplex channel, which replaced a part-time "alternate feed" in operation since 1997. While mainly serving as an overflow channel for TSN's various sports rights, it is the primary channel for TSN's Toronto Raptors (and other NBA) regular-season coverage.
TSN3 To launch
August 25, 2014
Will be the primary TSN feed for viewers in the Prairies, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, and carry regional Winnipeg Jets broadcasts.
TSN4 Will be the primary TSN feed for viewers in most of Ontario and carry regional Toronto Maple Leafs broadcasts.
TSN5 Will be the primary TSN feed for viewers in eastern Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada, and carry regional Ottawa Senators broadcasts.

The other sports channels owned or managed by Bell Media and ESPN Inc., including ESPN Classic, NHL Network, and the French-language Réseau des sports and related channels, operate under separate licences.

Former channels

Channel First air date Last air date Description and programming
Canadiens on TSN
(TSN Habs)
October 25, 2010 April 10, 2014 A part-time feed which carried English-language regional broadcasts of Montreal Canadiens games, in the eastern Canadian territory shared by Montreal and the Ottawa Senators. It was provided at no additional charge to customers in this region who subscribed to TSN through Bell Satellite TV, Bell Fibe TV, Bell Aliant FibreOP, and Shaw Direct.

Should TSN renew its rights to Canadiens regional coverage (which expired at the end of the 2013–14 season), regional games would be expected to move to TSN5.

Jets on TSN
(TSN Jets)
September 20, 2011 April 11, 2014 A part-time feed which carried regional broadcasts of Winnipeg Jets games, restricted to the Jets' NHL home territory of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, and parts of northwestern Ontario. Although carried at no charge for a free preview period, access to the channel soon became a paid add-on on local providers by December 2011, costing $9.95 per month for the duration of the NHL season. On August 18, 2014, TSN officially confirmed that the TSN Jets channel would be discontinued, and that regional Jets games will be moved to TSN3 for the 2014-15 season at no additional charge.

Programming

Studio programming

TSN's flagship news program is SportsCentre, a sports news program airing several times throughout the day. Formerly known as Sportsdesk, it was revamped to closer resemble ESPN's own SportsCenter (including the use of its theme music, logo, and opening) in the Fall of 2001 as part of a corporate restructuring, closer aligning itself with new minority owner ESPN. In 2006, a new studio was built in order to prepare the show for its transition to high definition – becoming the first daily news program in Canada to be produced in HD beginning on September 25, 2006. Other original programs on TSN include the daily hockey news program That's Hockey, the talk show Off the Record with Michael Landsberg, the automotive newsmagazine Motoring, and TSN The Reporters.

In connection with ESPN's minority ownership in TSN, the network has a long-term agreement with ESPN International for the Canadian rights to ESPN original programming including Pardon the Interruption, Around the Horn, Sunday NFL Countdown, ESPN FC, and ESPN Films documentaries including the 30 for 30 series, among others, though it does not always air these program simultaneously with their U.S. broadcasts.

Significant domestic broadcast rights

Hockey

TSN is a major broadcaster of ice hockey in Canada. From 1987 to 1998, and again from 2002 to 2014, TSN held national cable rights to broadcast the NHL in Canada. Under its most recent contract, TSN aired regular season games on weeknights and Sundays, including exclusivity on Wednesday nights, as well as various Stanley Cup Playoffs games, as the league's secondary rightsholder after CBC Sports. Its most recent contract expired at the end of the 2013–14 NHL season (following the 2014 NHL Draft); Rogers Communications (owners of Sportsnet) has secured a twelve-year contract for sole national rights beginning with the following season. TSN's then-parent company CTVglobemedia attempted to strike a similar exclusive deal in 2006 ($1.4 billion over ten years), but was not successful.

TSN continues to hold three regional, English-language rights contracts:

TSN also held regional English-language rights to the Montreal Canadiens (separate from the French-language contract held by sister channel RDS) through the 2013–14 season; neither TSN nor the Canadiens have confirmed whether this contract will be renewed. All of these regional contracts are independent of the national rights deal and are not directly affected by the new league deal with Rogers.

TSN also has a broadcasting contract with Hockey Canada, giving it the rights to broadcast the IIHF World Junior Championships, Men's and Women's World Hockey Championship, the IIHF World U18 Championship, Allan Cup, Royal Bank Cup, Spengler Cup, Telus Cup and Esso Cup.

CTV acquired the rights to The Hockey Theme, which has been the theme song of Hockey Night in Canada for 40 years, after the CBC decided not to renew its rights to the theme song in June 2008 amid a legal dispute with its composer, Dolores Claman. A reorchestrated version of the tune has been used for hockey broadcasts on TSN and RDS since fall 2008.

Other

As of the 2008 season, TSN is the exclusive broadcaster of the Canadian Football League, airing all of the league's games, including the season-ending Grey Cup. The channel also previously held rights to the Vanier Cup, the country's championship university football game. It has since moved to Sportsnet, who acquired exclusive rights to CIS tournaments in May 2013.

TSN also broadcasts Toronto Raptors games produced by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which included 47 games across TSN and TSN2 in the 2010–11 season.

In February 2011, TSN announced that it had begun a new broadcasting relationship with Major League Soccer, airing 24 matches during the 2011 season that involved the league's Canadian clubs, Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps FC. Its slate expanded to 30 games in 2012 with the debut of the Montreal Impact in the league. In addition, the network, along with TSN2, broadcasts a package of other regular-season games, the MLS All-Star Game, MLS Cup Playoffs and the MLS Cup. In January 2014, TSN announced that it would take over broadcast rights to Whitecaps games beginning in the 2014 Major League Soccer season, under a separate deal.

On October 27, 2011, Bell Media and TSN announced that they had secured broadcast rights for FIFA soccer tournaments from 2015 to 2022. The rights include the 2018 FIFA World Cup, 2022 FIFA World Cup, and the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup hosted by Canada.

TSN has hosted much of Canada's supplementary Olympic coverage, being the first pay television channel in the world to ever broadcast the Olympics with the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, and having been part of the CBC's coverage from 1998 to 2008. In 2010, TSN began to participate in CTV and Rogers' joint broadcast rights to the Olympic Games for 2010 and 2012. TSN continued to be a part of CBC's coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics, but also in conjunction with Sportsnet (who participated in the CTV/Rogers coverage).

TSN also broadcasts Canada's major curling tournaments; it holds exclusive rights to the Canadian Curling Association's Season of Champions series through 2020 (which include Canada's men's and women's national championships, the Scotties Tournament of Hearts and Tim Horton's Brier, along with the World Curling Championships). It also organizes The Dominion All-Star Curling Skins Game, an annual skins curling tournament.

TSN has also historically been a broadcaster for Major League Baseball in Canada, as its former parent company, Labatt, was also the owner of the Toronto Blue Jays. However, TSN's coverage of the Blue Jays has decreased in recent years, as Sportsnet, which is owned by the Blue Jays' parent company, Rogers Communications, holds the team's broadcast rights, along with national rights to MLB in Canada. Rogers continued to sub-licence a yearly package of games to TSN for several seasons afterward until 2010, when TSN began to sub-license ESPN's national MLB broadcasts instead (thus giving Sportsnet exclusive rights to all Blue Jays games), beginning with Sunday Night Baseball, and expanding to Monday Night Baseball and Wednesday Night Baseball beginning in the 2014 MLB season.

In May 2011, Bell Media and Skate Canada announced a 10-year rights agreement making CTV, TSN and RDS the official broadcasters of Skate Canada. As part of the agreement, CTV, TSN and RDS acquired exclusive multimedia rights to all of Skate Canada’s premier domestic events including Skate Canada International and the Canadian Figure Skating Championships. In 2011, TSN carried the Rugby World Cup, also with live and tape-delayed coverage.

Significant international broadcast rights

Along with its coverage of Canadian events, TSN also airs coverage of international sporting events (primarily American), often simulcast from other broadcasters. TSN also currently airs Formula One and NASCAR racing events. TSN2 carries a weekly early NFL game (to compliment sister terrestrial network CTV's other regional games), NBC Sunday Night Football and Monday Night Football. TSN also carries some of ESPN's NFL analysis and highlight programs, including NFL Live, Sunday NFL Countdown, and Monday Night Countdown. In December 2013, Bell Media and the NFL agreed on a multi-year extension of their broadcast partnership which will see more NFL games on TSN, including the Sunday 1pm and 4pm et regular season games. TSN also currently serves as the main Canadian outlet for TNT's NBA coverage, along with exclusive Canadian rights to the NBA Finals.

TSN is the exclusive rights holder in Canada for all four Tennis Grand Slams (accordingly, as of 2014, minority owner ESPN is also the exclusive rights holder for all four). In 2012, the channel signed multi-year extensions for the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon. On May 16, 2013, TSN signed a multi-year extension for the US Open.

TSN is also the rights holder for all four of golf's major championships – The Masters (first two rounds), US Open, British Open and PGA Championship. In addition, it carries the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup and simulcasts the RBC Canadian Open.

On February 1, 2011, TSN announced that they had acquired the rights to the Tour de France in a "multi-year" deal. This deal ultimately lasted for three years; the rights were acquired by Sportsnet in 2014.

In 2011, as part of a larger deal with ESPN International, TSN acquired rights to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. In the 2013-14 season, TSN began to air more regular season games, with particular emphasis on the Kansas Jayhawks due to their addition of Thornhill, Ontario native Andrew Wiggins.

On October 29, 2012, TSN announced that it had acquired the rights to air English Premier League matches in a three-year deal starting with the 2013–2014 season. The channel will air over 100 matches per season from 2013–2016, with coverage on TSN, TSN2 and TSN Mobile.

In August 2009, TSN and TSN2 began airing live and delayed coverage of Australian Rules Football. Selected games from the Australian Football League (AFL) Premiership Season and Finals Series including the AFL Grand Final are broadcast live or on delay every weekend.

Through its partnership with ESPN, TSN also holds exclusive Canadian broadcast rights to several other events which ESPN either owns outright, such as the X Games, or for which it owns the worldwide broadcast rights, such as the College Football Playoff, the World Series of Poker, and various NHRA events.

Professional wrestling

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TSN featured live professional wrestling in the form of World Wrestling Entertainment's flagship show, WWE Raw for over a decade. However, the Raw program, which aired live, occasionally had been censored live for extremely violent scenes, or when female wrestlers or characters were assaulted by male wrestlers. These actions are supposed to be in order to meet Canadian broadcast standards, with repeat broadcasts often more heavily edited. This disappointed many wrestling fans over the years, and is unusual since the violence of wrestling scenes are not significantly different from other television programs aired on regular Canadian networks. (WWE has since toned down the level of violence and sexuality on its programming to meet standards for the U.S. TV-PG rating.)

It was expected that in fall 2006, when TSN started airing the ESPN iteration of Monday Night Football (as well as the NBC Sunday Night Football games), that WWE Raw would air on tape delay during the NFL season. However, WWE instead decided to move the program to rival sports network The Score (now known as Sportsnet 360) rather than air on tape delay, although Raw was still aired on a 15 minute delay due to limits on the amount of live programming that channel could air in a week. As of Raw 1000 in 2012, the program is aired without a tape delay.

The final episode of WWE Raw on TSN aired July 31, 2006; the 2007 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony was also aired on the network, but no other professional wrestling programming is known to have aired on the channel since then (though TSN's sister network E! Canada does air the WWE reality show Total Divas). Off The Record with Michael Landsberg continues to occasionally feature professional wrestlers in unscripted interviews, which it has throughout its run.

In 2004, both TSN and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA Wrestling), (known then as NWA-TNA), erroneously announced that Impact! would air on the network, although that deal was never completed and the article on the TSN Wrestling page was taken down shortly after. However, TSN's French-language sister network RDS airs the program.

In past years, TSN also aired shows from the American Wrestling Association (AWA), Stampede Wrestling and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) Monday Nitro, as well as producing a one-hour show called Pro Wrestling Plus, which featured highlights from various promotions and was hosted by Stampede announcer Ed Whalen; that program was the Canadian equivalent of the syndicated American program Pro Wrestling This Week.

Personalities

Main article: List of The Sports Network personalities

Programming

Original programmes

Former programmes

International distribution

  • Jamaica – distributed on Flow Cable systems.
  • Bahamas – distributed on Cable Bahamas systems.

References

  1. Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (April 2, 1984). "Public Notice CRTC 1984-81". Retrieved February 22, 2011.
  2. ^ "TSN goes on the offence, unveils three new channels". The Globe and Mail. May 6, 2014. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
  3. ^ "TSN expanding to a total of five national feeds". TSN.ca. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  4. ^ "CRTC Decision CRTC 84–339". CRTC. Retrieved March 3, 2011.
  5. ^ "From Rookie to Pro". Broadcaster Magazine. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  6. "Decision CRTC 87-901". CRTC. Retrieved August 25, 2014.
  7. "TSN 25th Anniversary".
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  73. Cable Bahamas channel lineup

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