Sports broadcasting contracts in Canada

This article refers to sports broadcasting contracts in Canada. For broadcasting rights lists of other countries, see Sports television broadcast contracts.

Baseball

Major League Baseball

• Sportsnet, as its parent company Rogers Communications is the owner of its sole Canadian franchise, the Toronto Blue Jays, holds national rights to Major League Baseball in Canada, including assorted games from U.S. regional sports networks (particularly the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, and Los Angeles Dodgers), the MLB All-Star Game, and the postseason. Games air across Sportsnet and its sister national services Sportsnet One and Sportsnet 360.
• Rights to ESPN's Monday Night Baseball, Wednesday Night Baseball, and Sunday Night Baseball are held by TSN and RDS (French)
• In French, postseason games are split between TVA Sports (Sportsnet's French-language partner) and Réseau des sports.
• In 2014, after successfully sponsoring its addition to the whitelist of foreign channels approved for carriage in Canada, Rogers Cable became the first provider in Canada to offer MLB Network.
• Games available on U.S. over-the-air channels available in Canada on cable or satellite, such as national games on Fox, and local coverage on superstations such as WGN-TV, WPIX, and formerly WPCH-TV. MLB Network is also available on some providers.
• The MLB Extra Innings subscription package is available through most Canadian television providers, as well as MLB.tv.

Caribbean Series

• MLB Network holds English-language rights to the Caribbean Series in Canada.
• RDS holds French-language rights to the Caribbean Series in Canada.

World Baseball Classic

• Sportsnet, a division of Rogers Communications, holds English-language rights to the 2013 and 2017 editions in Canada.
• RDS, a division of Bell Media, holds French-language rights to the 2013 and 2017 editions in Canada.

Basketball

National Basketball Association

The NBA's Canadian marketing arm is managed by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, parent company of the Toronto Raptors. In turn, MLSE is majority-owned by Bell Canada and Rogers Communications; as such, coverage is mostly confined to their co-owned TSN and Sportsnet properties, along with the MLSE-owned NBA TV Canada. Toronto Raptors games are primarily aired by TSN and TSN2, with selected games airing on Sportsnet, Sportsnet One, or Sportsnet 360.^[1] Ancillary Raptors content, including game encores, air on NBA TV Canada.

TSN airs 146 regular-season games, including 41 Toronto Raptors games, plus NBA All-Star Weekend, the NBA Playoffs, and The Finals.^[2]

In 2016, Sportsnet and TSN alternated coverage of Raptors playoff games and the NBA Finals, and simulcast the All-Star Game held in Toronto. NBA TV Canada primarily carries NBA TV and other ESPN games, as well as encore broadcasts. All remaining games are available through the NBA League Pass out-of-market sports package.

U.S. college basketball

TSN owns the Canadian broadcast rights to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament through a deal with ESPN International. CBS coverage of the tournament is also available in Canada. The TSN channels also simulcast regular-season games from ESPN.

Coverage of games is also available from U.S. networks carried in Canada, such as Big Ten Network and CBS Sports Network, along with broadcast network coverage or syndicated packages. An out-of-market sports package offered by some providers includes other games from U.S. outlets that are not otherwise available in Canada.

International basketball

TSN and RDS hold broadcast rights to the Canadian national men's basketball team and FIBA tournaments.^[3][4]

Cricket

Asian Television Network owns the vast majority of Canadian cricket rights, with marquee events typically airing live on CBN, and selected events and other programming airing on ATN Cricket Plus. ATN also owns the rights to the ICC Cricket World Cup, this tournament is broadcast on pay-per-view throughout Canada.

• Stanford 20/20 – will be shown on CBN.

The Indian Premier League was telecast live on CBN with replays and highlights on ATN Cricket Plus. However, starting with the 2011 IPL tournament, games were shifted to being aired live on pay-per-view and on Sportsnet.

Curling

• TSN holds exclusive rights to the Curling Canada's Season of Champions series through 2020, which include Canada Cup of Curling, Continental Cup of Curling, the Scotties Tournament of Hearts and Tim Hortons Brier (Canada's men's and women's national championships), along with the World Curling Championships.^[5]
• TSN also holds exclusive rights to the European Curling Championships.
• As its parent company is the owner of the series, Sportsnet is the primary broadcaster of the Capital One Grand Slam of Curling, although late-round coverage of some events are shared with CBC.^[6][7][8]

Cycling

• Tour de France: RDS (French)
• Giro d'Italia: beIN Sports Canada (English and Spanish) and RDS (French)
• Milan–San Remo: beIN Sports Canada (English and Spanish) and RDS (French)
• Tour of Flanders: beIN Sports Canada (English and Spanish) and RDS (French)
• Paris–Roubaix: RDS (French)
• Liège–Bastogne–Liège: RDS (French)
• Tour of California: RDS (French)
• UCI Road World Championships: RDS (French)
• UCI Track Cycling World Championships: RDS (French)

Field Hockey

• Hockey World League: Asian Television Network (2015)^[9]

Football

Canadian Football League

• TSN – all games including playoffs and Grey Cup
• RDS – all Montreal games in French; as well as playoffs and the Grey Cup.

National Football League

Contracts are current as of the 2016 NFL season.

• CTV – Sunday afternoon games in both the "early" (1:00 pm ET) and "late" (4:05 / 4:25 pm ET) windows, most playoff games, and the Super Bowl.
  • CTV Two occasionally airs additional Sunday afternoon games. In Atlantic Canada, all regular-season games in the Sunday late-afternoon window are relocated to CTV Two Atlantic.
  • Additional Sunday afternoon games, and playoff games interfering with other major events carried on CTV, may air on one or more of the TSN feeds. The divisional playoff game on late Sunday afternoon usually airs on TSN due to the possibility of a late-running game interfering with CTV's broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards that evening.
• TSN – Sunday afternoon games in both the "early" (1:00 pm ET) and "late" (4:05 / 4:25 pm ET). Airs all games in the NBC Sunday Night Football and ESPN Monday Night Football packages, including the NFL Kickoff game and Pro Bowl, but excluding NBC's game on U.S. Thanksgiving night. CTV may have the option to simulcast these games, as occurred for the 2007 New England Patriots-New York Giants game (following the last-minute decision to simulcast that NFLN game on NBC and CBS; at that time TSN also held the NFLN package), but Bell TV does simsub TSN's simulcasts over U.S. feeds.
• Sportsnet – All games in the Thursday Night Football package, all (U.S.) Thanksgiving Day games. Games simulcast by U.S. broadcast networks are also simulcast (for simsub purposes) on City.^[10][11]
• RDS / RDS2 – exclusive French-language rights. Presently RDS carries selected Sunday games (up to two per week in either the 1:00, 4:05/4:25, and Sunday Night Football) and the playoffs, and RDS2 carries Monday night games.

NBC, CBS, and Fox are available in Canada but their broadcasts may be subject to simultaneous substitution. NFL Network is available as well, but its games are similarly blacked out in Canada in deference to Rogers. Finally, NFL Sunday Ticket is also available through virtually all service providers, whereas in the U.S. the service is exclusive to DirecTV.

Due to Canadian regulations that permit stations from different areas to be carried in the same market, several games may be available in each of the Sunday timeslots through a combination of domestic and American stations from different areas, without a subscription to Sunday Ticket. By contrast, outside a handful of areas where multiple neighbouring network affiliates are available, no more than three games may be aired in a given U.S. market on any Sunday afternoon (up to four games in week 17).

Canadian university football

As of 2016, Sportsnet broadcasts the national CIS playoff games, namely the Mitchell Bowl, the Uteck Bowl, and the Vanier Cup. Ici Radio-Canada Télé carries many QSSF games. In 2016, Sportsnet's sister broadcast network City began broadcasting a four-game CIS Game of the Week package of regular season games.^[12][13] Games not covered by these contracts are often carried by local cable community channels.

In 2015, Global aired a Hardy Trophy semi-final and championship game as part of the Shaw TV (Shaw Cable) Canada West conference package.^[14]

U.S. college football

Many ESPN games are aired by TSN's feeds. The network also holds rights to most bowl games (which were, in the past, shared with Sportsnet 360, and not withstanding conflicts with the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship), and the College Football Playoff.

Coverage of games is also available from U.S. networks carried in Canada, such as Big Ten Network and CBS Sports Network, along with broadcast network coverage or syndicated packages (such as American Sports Network on WNYO-TV and WHAM-TV, and formerly SEC TV, aired by WPCH-TV, which has historically been carried on Canadian providers as a superstation). An out-of-market sports package offered by some providers includes other games from U.S. outlets that are not otherwise available in Canada (such as Fox Sports Networks, and ESPN games not picked up by the TSN channels).

Australian rules football

• Australian Football League: TSN2, TSN.ca, and WatchAFL^[15]

Golf

• TSN carries coverage of the Masters Tournament (weekend coverage is simulcast by CTV), the U.S. Open, The Open Championship, and the PGA Championship, as well as selected other R&A, USGA and PGA of America events. It also carries a limited schedule of PGA Tour coverage (including the early rounds of the Canadian Open, sub-licensed from Golf Channel), Ryder Cup and President's Cup. TSN is also the exclusive broadcaster of the Canadian Women's Open.
• Global and RDS (French) carry live coverage of most PGA Tour events carried by U.S. network television (in many cases carrying the weekend rounds).
• Golf Channel (based in the U.S. but available in much of Canada on digital cable/satellite) carries early-round coverage of all PGA Tour events, and four-round coverage of some late/early-season tournaments. This coverage was carried on TSN prior to 2007.

Hockey

History

The CBC's Hockey Night in Canada, at that time owned by "Canadian Sports Network", the production arm of MacLaren Advertising, was outbid for the broadcast rights to the 1972 Summit Series by a partnership of Harold Ballard and Bobby Orr, but HNIC staff were used.^[16]

Globe and Mail writer Bruce Dowbiggin credits TSN with turning the World Junior Hockey Championships from an obscure non-event when it accuired the rights in 1991 (and which it remains in most hockey countries) to one of Canada's most beloved annual sports events, and at the same time cementing the link between Canadian nationalism and hockey, and inspiring the NHL's Winter Classic.^[17][18]

National Hockey League

Rogers Communications is the sole national rightsholder of the NHL in Canada as of the 2014–15 NHL season. Most national telecasts air on Sportsnet properties, and include, but are not limited to:^[19][20][21]

• Scotiabank Wednesday Night Hockey; exclusive national window on Wednesday nights.
• Thursday night games on Sportsnet 360
• Simulcasts of games from U.S. broadcasters, including regional sports networks and NHL on NBC coverage.
• Hockey Night in Canada: exclusive national windows on Saturday nights, multiple games airing across CBC Television, City, and Sportsnet channels.
  • In rare circumstances, due to non-hockey programming conflicts such as UFC events or the Major League Baseball postseason airing on Sportsnet One and/or 360, the Sportsnet regional channels may air different games.^[22] However, all four Sportsnet regional channels are available nationwide through the digital services of most providers.
• Rogers Hometown Hockey: National Sunday night game on Sportsnet.
• Stanley Cup Playoffs coverage; early rounds divided between CBC and Sportsnet. All games from conference finals onward are exclusive to CBC.
• Canadian distribution and marketing rights to the NHL.tv (Rogers NHL GameCentre Live) and NHL Centre Ice services, which carry out-of-market games and U.S. nationally televised games not aired by Sportsnet channels.
• Weekly regular-season doubleheaders and playoff games with Punjabi language commentary on Omni Television (Hockey Night in Canada: Punjabi Edition).^[23]

French-language rights were sub-licensed to Quebecor Media; all coverage airs on TVA Sports. La super soirée LNH serves as the flagship broadcast on Saturday nights, typically featuring the Montreal Canadiens.^[24][25]

Regional

Canadian teams also contract with local or regional broadcasters for selected pre-season and regular season games not covered by the national contracts. These deals are separate from the national rights deal, and may cover up to 60 regular-season games per season. Rights are current as of the 2014–15 NHL season.

• Vancouver Canucks: Sportsnet Pacific
• Edmonton Oilers: Sportsnet West
• Calgary Flames: Sportsnet West
• Winnipeg Jets: TSN3
• Toronto Maple Leafs: Sportsnet Ontario (16 games), TSN4 (26 games)
  • Rights to the Maple Leafs' regional telecasts are divided equally between TSN and Sportsnet. Of Sportsnet's 26 regional Leafs games, ten are broadcast nationally in conjunction with Rogers' national NHL rights deal.
  • Club-owned channel Leafs TV no longer airs live coverage of any Maple Leafs games, but still airs replays and other ancillary coverage of the team.
• Ottawa Senators: TSN5 (English); RDS / RDS2 (French)
• Montreal Canadiens: Sportsnet East / City Montreal (English);^[26] RDS (French)

Each team's regional game broadcasts are restricted to viewers of that team's designated home broadcast region as assigned by the NHL. Outside said region, these broadcasts are made available exclusively through NHL Centre Ice (TV) or Rogers NHL GameCentre Live (online). If the originating channel is available outside a team's region (e.g. out-of-market Sportsnet feeds), the game broadcasts must be blacked out in these other areas. Sportsnet also operates part-time channels for the Canucks, Flames, and Oilers in case of scheduling conflicts: these channels are tied to the Sportsnet One service.

Under previous (2002–14) rights deals with RDS, French-language rights to all Canadiens games were included in the national NHL contract and could be televised nationally. With the national rights changing hands to Rogers/TVA as of the 2014–15 season, the Canadiens had the option to either continue packaging its rights with the national deal, or opt-out and sell regional-only rights separately.^[27] The Canadiens opted for the latter, signing a separate twelve-year deal with RDS for French-language TV rights in the team's designated broadcast region.^[28] (The team is part-owned by TSN/RDS parent company BCE.)

U.S. teams in close proximity to the Canada–US border are now also able to sell Canadian regional broadcast rights to their games. As of the 2013–14 season, Bell Satellite TV and Bell Fibe TV own regional rights to Buffalo Sabres broadcasts for portions of Canada within a 50-mile radius of First Niagara Center, approximately stretching from Niagara Falls to the community of Stoney Creek in Hamilton. Sabres game broadcasts are available to Bell TV subscribers in this region at no extra cost, and moreover are no longer available as part of the NHL Centre Ice package through other providers serving this region.^[29] The Detroit Red Wings, whose market borders on Windsor, Ontario, is presumably able to sell similar rights but has not yet done so.

As with other sports properties, game broadcasts on U.S. terrestrial stations carried in Canada, such as the NBC broadcast network's national rights package as well as WGN-TV's broadcasts of the Chicago Blackhawks, are not subject to blackout for Canadian cable/satellite subscribers receiving those stations.

Canadian Hockey League

Sportsnet airs the Memorial Cup tournament and selected other games from across the CHL's member leagues. Many regular-season games are aired locally by the applicable cable community channels.

College ice hockey

• NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Championship: TSN (sub-licensed from ESPN)

TSN also carries a package of regular season games from various broadcasters (primarily American Sports Network, NBCSN, and other regional sports networks such as NESN for the Beanpot Tournament). Games are also available via Big Ten Network and CBS Sports Network.

Other events

• TSN – National championships and most international events sanctioned by Hockey Canada (including but not limited to IIHF world championships, Telus Cup, Royal Bank Cup, Esso Cup, and the Allan Cup)
• TSN also now holds broadcast rights to the Spengler Cup.
• RDS: American Hockey League

Horse Racing

• TSN is the exclusive home of the biggest and most prestigious thoroughbred horse races in North America, as the network announced a multi-year deal with the Woodbine Entertainment Group that will see TSN broadcast each leg of the Canadian Triple Crown – the Queen’s Plate, the Prince of Wales Stakes and the Breeders’ Stakes. As part of that deal, TSN has acquired rights for seven Canadian horse races, including the Woodbine Oaks, Ricoh Woodbine Mile, Pattison Canadian International and the Pepsi North America Cup on the standard bred side.
• TSN also delivers exclusive live coverage of the American Triple Crown: the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes.

Mixed Martial Arts

Ultimate Fighting Championship

TSN airs major events, including PPV preliminaries, domestic UFC Fight Night events, and The Ultimate Fighter. Coverage was also sub-licensed to Fight Network, broadcasting preliminaries for non-PPV events, international Fight Night events and producing ancillary UFC programming (such as pre-shows) for TSN.^[30][31]

Motorsports

FIA Championships

• Formula 1: TSN, RDS
  • Monaco, Canadian, United States & Mexican Grands Prix also on NBC
• WEC: FOX Sports Racing
• World RX: RDS, WSTV ^[32]
• Formula E: FOX Sports Racing, RDS
• European F3: RDS2 (Highlights)
• ERC: RDS2 (Highlights), Discovery Velocity (Previous season highlights)
• WTCC: Discovery Velocity (Previous season highlights)

FIM Championships

• MotoGP: beIN Sports Canada, RDS (MotoGP class Delayed, Moto2/Moto3 Highlights) ^[33][34][35]
• WorldSBK: beIN Sports Canada ^[33][34]

NASCAR

• Sprint Cup Series: TSN, RDS
  • Sprint Cup Series qualifying and practice sessions: TSN, FOX Sports Racing
• Xfinity Series: TSN, RDS
• Camping World Truck Series: FOX Sports Racing
• Pinty's Series: TSN, RDS2 (Highlights)

Some races are also available via NBC and FOX affiliates carried on Canadian television providers.

IndyCar

• Verizon IndyCar Series: Sportsnet 360,^[36] TVA Sports
  • Indianapolis 500 and Toronto races also on City ^[36]
  • St. Petersburg, Indy GP, Indianapolis 500 and both Detroit races also on ABC
• Indy Lights: Sportsnet ^[37]

Touring Car

• DTM: Motor Trend OnDemand (Saturday race live), CBS Sports Network (Sunday race delayed), RDS (Highlights)
• BTCC: CBS Sports Network (Highlights)
• Supercars: CBS Sports Network (Highlights)
• TCR International Series: Motor Trend OnDemand (Highlights)

Sports Car

• WeatherTech SportsCar Championship: FOX Sports Racing
• Blancpain GT Series: CBS Sports Network (Delayed)

Drag racing

• NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series: FOX Sports Racing ^[38]

Others

• Dakar Rally: Sportsnet ONE (Daily highlights), RDS (Highlights)
• Race of Champions: Motor Trend OnDemand (Live), RDS (Delayed)
• Canadian Superbike Championship: TSN (Highlights) ^[39]

Olympics

• 2016 Summer Olympics: CBC, TSN, RDS, Sportsnet
• 2018 Winter Olympics: CBC, TSN, RDS, Sportsnet

Rugby union

• Rugby World Cup: TSN
• The Rugby Championship: TSN
• Americas Rugby Championship: TSN
• Super Rugby: TSN
• Pacific Nations Cup: TSN
• World Rugby Sevens Series: TSN

Skiing

• Alpine Skiing World Cup: CBC until 2010
• Alpine Skiing World Championships: CBC

Soccer

Major League Soccer

• National broadcasts: TSN has the primary national broadcast contract for the 2011 to 2016 seasons, including first selection of games involving Canadian teams. Games may air on either TSN or TSN2 in English, and in some cases also on either RDS or RDS2 in French. This includes:
  • 63 games involving Canadian teams (2015), including all Vancouver Whitecaps matches.
  • The MLS All-Star Game and MLS Cup for all six seasons. TSN also owns broadcast rights to the MLS Cup Playoffs, but only airs select games.
  • Additional games not involving Canadian teams, presently all simulcast from ESPN / ESPN2 or Fox Sports 1.
• Regional broadcasts: (Note there are no out-of-market blackouts, so all games are available across Canada to digital cable and satellite subscribers.)
  • Toronto FC: Games not part of TSN's national package are divided between TSN and Sportsnet.
  • Vancouver Whitecaps FC: All games broadcast on TSN;.^[40][41]
  • Montreal Impact: RDS and TVA Sports

Other domestic leagues

• Canadian Soccer League: selected games air regionally on Rogers TV

North American/Canadian Soccer

• CONCACAF Champions League: Sportsnet, Sportsnet One, and Sportsnet World
• Canadian Soccer Association-organized events, including national-team FIFA World Cup Qualifiers: TSN
• Canadian Championship: TSN

South American Soccer

• Copa Libertadores:
• Copa Sudamericana:
• Argentine Primera División:
• Brazilian League:
• Copa do Brasil: beIN Sports Canada
• São Paulo Championship:

International soccer

• FIFA events, including the World Cup (2015–2026): CTV, TSN, RDS (French), RDS2 (French)^[42] and Club World Cup: Sportsnet World
• UEFA's key national-team competitions, including the European Championship, UEFA Women's Championship and UEFA Under-21 Championship: TSN / RDS; contract runs 2011–2017 (including Euro 2012 and Euro 2016; U-21 tournaments in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017; and Women's Euro 2013). Some games will air on TSN2 / RIS.^[43] Tournaments apart from the main Euro championship may be carried online only.^[44]
• CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, CAF FIFA World Cup qualifiers (Except for Canada, Mexico and United States home matches): beIN Sports Canada
• CONCACAF FIFA World Cup qualifiers (Canada home matches only): TSN (English) and RDS (French)
• UEFA FIFA World Cup qualifiers: Sportsnet (English) and TVA Sports (French)
• UEFA Champions League: TSN, beIN Sports Canada (English) and RDS (French)^[45]
• UEFA Europa League: TSN, beIN Sports Canada (English) and RDS (French)
• UEFA Super Cup: TSN, beIN Sports Canada (English) and RDS (French)
• Premier League: The rights are divided equally between Sportsnet and TSN.
• La Liga: beIN Sports Canada
• Serie A: beIN Sports Canada and RAI Italia
• Bundesliga: Sportsnet World^[46]
• Ligue 1: beIN Sports Canada and RDS
• Copa del Rey (Except the Final): beIN Sports Canada
• Copa del Rey (Only the Final): TSN
• Supercopa de España: TSN
• Segunda División: beIN Sports Canada
• FA Cup: Sportsnet World and TVA Sports
• Football League Championship: beIN Sports Canada
• Football League Cup: beIN Sports Canada
• Coupe de France: beIN Sports (English and Spanish)
• Coupe de la Ligue: beIN Sports (English and Spanish)
• Trophée des Champions: RDS and BeIN Sports Canada
• International Champions Cup: TSN and RDS
• Scottish Premier League: Sportsnet World

Swimming

• World Swimming Championships: CBC

Tennis

• Australian Open: TSN (English) and RDS (French)
• French Open: TSN (English) and RDS (French)
• Wimbledon: TSN (English) and RDS (French)
• U.S. Open: TSN (English) and RDS (French)
• ATP World Tour Finals: TSN and RDS
• ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (except Canadian Open): TSN and RDS
• ATP World Tour 500: TSN and RDS
• Canadian Open: Sportsnet (English) and TVA Sports (French)

References