Rogers Sportsnet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Rogers Sportsnet | |
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| Type | Cable television specialty channel |
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| Country |  Canada |
| Availability | National |
| Owner | Rogers Sportsnet Inc. (Rogers Media) |
| Key people | Douglas Beeforth - President |
| Launch date | October 9, 1998 |
| Past names | CTV Sportsnet (c. 1998-2000) |
| Website | www.sportsnet.ca |
Rogers Sportsnet is a Canadian cable television sports specialty channel, operating four regional feeds and one national high-definition feed. It is owned by Rogers Sportsnet Inc., which is a subsidiary of Rogers Media.
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[edit] History
Rogers Sportsnet was launched on October 9, 1998 as CTV Sportsnet. The name was chosen to match the regional "Fox Sports Net" operations across the United States. CTV owned 40% and was the managing partner of the new network; Rogers, Molson and Fox owned 20% each.
When CTV purchased NetStar, the parent company of TSN, in 1999, they were forced to sell either Sportsnet or TSN by the CRTC. CTV elected to sell Sportsnet, on which the other shareholders had first right of refusal; as Rogers was the only interested party, Rogers bought CTV's interest and renamed the service Rogers Sportsnet. During the transition period, CTV was allowed to control programming on both networks, and some cross-affiliation and programs there were going to be tape-delayed on TSN, most notably figure skating, were given to Sportsnet. Rogers has since acquired the shares of Molson and Fox, but does air some programs from Fox networks, notably including NASCAR and Major League Baseball, though MLB coverage outside of the Blue Jays has not always been the Fox domestic feed.
[edit] Regional feeds
 Rogers Sportsnet East |
 Rogers Sportsnet Ontario |
 Rogers Sportsnet West |
 Rogers Sportsnet Pacific |
Broadcasting nationally across Canada, the station is actually similar to a regional sports network in the United States, with four regional feeds airing different sporting events tailored to the region they serve. As well, Sportsnet also operates a national high-definition programming service. The Sportsnet feeds are:
- Sportsnet East, which serves the Ottawa region, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador.
- Sportsnet West, which serves Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.
- Sportsnet Pacific, which serves British Columbia and the Yukon.
[edit] Programming
Rogers Sportsnet is the main television outlet for the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team which, like the network, is owned by Rogers Communications. Blue Jays games are broadcast nationally, across all Sportsnet feeds. Sportsnet also offers ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball package nationally as well.
Sportsnet Pacific carries selected Seattle Mariners games produced by FSN Northwest as part of a rights deal with the Mariners. Other Sportsnet feeds carry selected regional baseball games produced by other American networks (such as the YES Network and NESN), although the MLB Extra Innings package is available for purchase in Canada.
Sportsnet is also a major Canadian broadcaster of National Hockey League games. The network's four regional feeds carry selected games of the NHL teams based in their respective regions: the Ottawa Senators on Sportsnet East, the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sportsnet Ontario, the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers on Sportsnet West, and the Vancouver Canucks on Sportsnet Pacific. The Montreal Canadiens are the only Canadian NHL team not to air games on Sportsnet, as they currently have a television contract with the French-language RDS network.
Although cable companies in Canada are permitted to carry only the local Sportsnet feed on analogue cable packages, all four feeds can be carried on satellite television or digital cable. However, in some instances programming on the out-of-market Sportsnet feeds, such as regional NHL games, are blacked out.
In early 2005, Rogers Sportsnet was part of the consortium that won the Canadian broadcast rights to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, as well as the London 2012 Summer Olympics. This was considered a serious coup, as the CBC had consistently won Olympic broadcast rights from the 1996 Summer Olympics through to the 2008 Summer Olympics. CTV and TQS will be the primary broadcasters; Rogers Sportsnet, TSN and RDS will provide supplementary coverage.
[edit] Original programs
- Pratt and Taylor - Simulcast of the popular Team 1040 sports radio program out of Vancouver. Hosted by David Pratt and Don Taylor. Available only on Sportsnet Pacific.
- Hockey Central - News and reports from the NHL with Daren Millard, featuring the following team of hockey personalities- Nick Kypreos, Bill Watters and Gord Stellick.
- IBM Golf Report - All the latest Golf news as well as previews of upcoming tournaments with Gerry Dobson & Mark Evershed.
- Prime Time Sports - Simulcast of the popular Fan 590 sports radio program out of Toronto. Takes a look at current and popular sports stories with host Bob McCown and various sports journalists.
- Soccer Central - News and reports from the Canadian and World Soccer scene, highlights from matches from all the major leagues in Europe and around the world with Gerry Dobson and Craig Forrest.
[edit] Personalities
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[edit] The "Parking Lot"
Presently, both Rogers Sportsnet and its main competitor TSN are based in the CTV complex in Toronto. Sportsnet, originally controlled by CTV prior to its acquisition of TSN, has been based there from the start and never moved out. Hence, when on-air personalities, such as Darren Dreger, move from one channel to the other, it has been referred to as "crossing the parking lot" or, less commonly, "crossing the street." Some at Sportsnet have complained about feeling like "poor country cousins" to CTV and TSN at Agincourt [1].
This peculiarity has been made light of by a couple of notable personalities on Rogers Sportsnet. Bob McCown, a radio personality on Rogers-owned The Fan 590, has constantly commented on his show Prime Time Sports (a simulcast of his radio show on The Fan 590) that Sportsnet executives throw bottles across the street at the TSN studios. In addition, Sportsnet Connected anchor Sean McCormick has openly stated on-air that he drives to work with his wife, Jennifer Hedger, who anchors Sportscentre on TSN.
In 2007, Rogers Sportsnet will leave the CTV compound in Agincourt to downtown Toronto to the Rogers Campus, a cluster of buildings in the Mount Pleasant-Jarvis Street area. [1]
[edit] Sportsnet HD
Sportsnet HD is a high definition simulcast of Rogers Sportsnet. Most of the time, the channel is a mirror of the Ontario feed, but will sometimes simulcast programmes with the other three regions or air completely separate programming. The channel launched on September 1, 2003 with the Toronto Blue Jays versus the New York Yankees. Toronto Blue Jays games make up the majority of Sportsnet's live HD programming, as the team itself is owned by Rogers. When the HD Blue Jays games are shown on the regular Sportsnet channels, they are some of the few that broadcast in widescreen, with most other networks using the edge-crop technique instead. NHL coverage is not currently available on Sportsnet HD because only TSN has national cable rights.
[edit] Competition
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ a b Going Downtown. Globeandmail.com. Retrieved on March 23, 2007.
