TSN

The Sports Network (TSN) is English Canada's leading television sports channel specialty service. TSN premiered in 1984, in the first group of Canadian cable channels. Essentially designed as a Canadian version of ESPN, the extremely successful American all-sports cable channel, TSN remains one of the top-rated services on Canadian cable and satellite television.

Related Topics:
English Canada - Television - Sports channel - Specialty service - 1984 - Canadian - ESPN - Cable - Satellite television

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TSN was originally the property of Labatt Brewing Company, partly to help market the company's flagship products but also to act as a vehicle for the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team, also a Labatt property at that time. Labatt was forced to spin off TSN once it was acquired by Interbrew to satisfy foreign ownership rules. Ironically, as of 2005 most Blue Jays games are again on a service affiliated with the owner of the team, but that service is now Rogers Sportsnet.

Related Topics:
Labatt Brewing Company - Toronto Blue Jays - Interbrew - 2005 - Rogers Sportsnet

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Today the majority owner of TSN is Bell Globemedia, which also owns the CTV network. ESPN, the American cable channel, also has a minority share, and at one point got CTV to agree to change the name to ESPN Canada. That change never went through, although since fall 2001 TSN's logo and much of its on-air look has been patterned after the ESPN identity. TSN also airs much of ESPN's original programming, including Sunday NFL Countdown and Pardon the Interruption, as well as a number of events for which ESPN owns the worldwide or North American rights. This does not necessarily mean that all events carried by ESPN are carried by TSN, however (see below).

Related Topics:
Bell Globemedia - CTV - ESPN - 2001 - Sunday NFL Countdown - Pardon the Interruption - North America

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TSN's flagship program is SportsCentre, a highlights and sports news show that airs several times a day. The title is a Canadianization of the title of the similar ESPN programme, SportsCenter. Until 2001 it was known as SportsDesk.

Related Topics:
SportsCentre - SportsCenter

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The network covers most major national and international sports, such as National Hockey League, National Football League, UEFA Champions League and Canadian Football League games, and Formula One auto racing. It also shares the Canadian broadcast rights to the PGA Tour - for which it airs virtually all early-round coverage - as well as NASCAR, the Toronto Blue Jays, and the National Basketball Association (most games featuring the Toronto Raptors). Coverage of many of these events are simulcast with ESPN or other American networks, although in general TSN buys these rights from the leagues themselves, competing for the rights with Sportsnet or The Score. That said, TSN has frequently produced its own coverage of events, including curling (it does not presently own the rights), as well as Formula One racing, usually produced by TSN using the ITV1 commentary team.

Related Topics:
National Hockey League - National Football League - UEFA Champions League - Canadian Football League - Formula One - PGA Tour - NASCAR - Toronto Blue Jays - National Basketball Association - Toronto Raptors - The Score - Curling - ITV1

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It also features professional wrestling in the form of WWE's flagship show, WWE RAW. However, the programme has occassionally been censored live for extremely violent scenes (such as heavy beatings or displacement of a large amount of blood, which in fact are all fake) in order to meet Canadian broadcast standards, with repeat broadcasts often more heavily edited. This has disappointed many fans over the years. The show may be dropped in fall 2006 when the main NFL cable package, which TSN presently airs in Canada, moves to Monday nights in competition with WWE RAW.

Related Topics:
Professional wrestling - WWE - WWE RAW - 2006

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Outside Ontario, critics derisively call TSN the Toronto Sports Network, and charge it with a bias towards Toronto teams. Indeed, it airs coverage of Toronto Maple Leafs hockey games (in Ontario only, excluding Ottawa) but does not provide similar coverage of other teams. This perception has been taken advantage of by the network's main rival Rogers Sportsnet, which operates four different regional feeds, all of which do air regional coverage of local teams. The lack of coverage of many events covered by American services, and in some cases redundant coverage of events already covered by the American services that are allowed in Canada, continues to be a frequent bone of contention.

Related Topics:
Ontario - Toronto - Toronto Maple Leafs - Ottawa - Rogers Sportsnet

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TSN's sister French language sports service is Le Réseau des sports (RDS). Other services managed by TSN include ESPN Classic Canada and NHL Network.

Related Topics:
French language - Réseau des sports - ESPN Classic Canada - NHL Network

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TSN also hosts much of Canada's supplementary Olympic coverage, having been part of the CBC's coverage from 1996 to 2008, and will be part of CTV's coverage from 2010 to 2012.

Related Topics:
1996 - 2008 - CTV - 2010 - 2012

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Sports news segments on CTV owned-and-operated stations and on CTV Newsnet are co-branded with TSN.

Related Topics:
CTV - CTV Newsnet

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