TSN announces 5 national feeds

[RM14]

NLL needs to get on one of the TSN's. Provide their content for free to get the ball rolling just like the NHL did with NBC a few years ago. I wouldn't mind tuning into some HD Roughnecks.

TSN should also get into some quality coverage of Major Junior Hockey. A national game of the week at least. Some of these Junior towns would go nuts to host a national game if it became a thing like Monday night football.

[calgarygeologist]

At least the new channels will be free. The only things I watch on TSN has been NHL broadcasts and the documentaries (from ESPN.)

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by RM14

NLL needs to get on one of the TSN's. Provide their content for free to get the ball rolling just like the NHL did with NBC a few years ago. I wouldn't mind tuning into some HD Roughnecks.

TSN should also get into some quality coverage of Major Junior Hockey. A national game of the week at least. Some of these Junior towns would go nuts to host a national game if it became a thing like Monday night football.

TSN already has NLL rights. And by "NLL rights", I mean "Toronto Rock broadcasts". Other than when playing the Rock, TSN only grudgingly showed the Roughnecks in the championship final, and the Rush and Stealth not at all. Hopefully that does change with the additional feeds.

[Alberta_Beef]

I believe TSN has full NFL rights and had just been selling some games to Sportsnet. TSN/Bell should have exclusive NFL coverage this season.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by Alberta_Beef

I believe TSN has full NFL rights and had just been selling some games to Sportsnet. TSN/Bell should have exclusive NFL coverage this season.

If this is correct TSN should move the Thursday night games to their network. The Thursday night broadcast should be greatly improved this season now that CBS has taken over the production. The previous NFL Network productions have been brutal and worthy of being on the crappy SportsNet channel.

[Igottago]

Originally Posted by Flames Fan in Exile

EPL, Liga, Serie A,... That will make me happy. Tired of the standard def goal channel. *gag*

This. TSN should go hard after all types of soccer. I think its getting more and more interest in North America. And I just want to see all the best games, all the time.

[Jimmy Stang]

I think that beIN Sports owns the rights to Liga and Serie A in North America, but that doesn't rule out sub-licensing or TSN swooping in the next time the rights are bid for. The crappy thing about beIN is that they don't even have a proper channel on some providers, so it requires a web site subscription for many people. For now, anyway.

I do wonder how much interest (and resources) Sportsnet will have in keeping some of their soccer coverage, which would be an obvious thing for TSN to go after.

[Split98]

They wont, because licensing. But IF they started offering TSN subscriptions online (like an Apple TV app, Chrome app or whatnot) I'd be all over this.

Would love for more NFL, AHL (was hoping they'd snag CHL with SportsNet grabbing the NHL) and WRC (please?!) without ordering cable.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

If this is correct TSN should move the Thursday night games to their network. The Thursday night broadcast should be greatly improved this season now that CBS has taken over the production. The previous NFL Network productions have been brutal and worthy of being on the crappy SportsNet channel.

I wouldn't say NFL network productions are anywhere near SN quality. Mike Mayock is a way better analyst than a lot of the guys that do the Sunday broadcasts for CBS and Fox.

[lazypucker]

I hope there will be more NFL, Tennis, Rugby, and European Soccer (can't stand the MLS) content on the new TSN channels. I hope they don't have to resort to keep playing crappy movies like Bull Durham and Rocky I-V like what they are doing now on the main TSN channel...

[Poe969]

I think they should do the whole "grass roots" hockey coverage like someone suggested from above. Having TSN in small cities for games would be amazing. It would also go a long way for draft coverage and world juniors and stuff. It would be hockey that isn't as good as the NHL but the coverage would be better than the other guys so it would pretty much even out.

[Ozy_Flame]

It's a travesty the Canada/Germany quarter-final of the FIFA u-20 Women's World Cup this Saturday - in Edmonton - is not being televised. What a missed opportunity to grow Canadian soccer.

[Enoch Root]

I would like to see the CFL put all their games on in the same evening (utilizing the multiple channels on TSN), much like the NFL (at least the old NFL before Thursday night and Saturday games). Have a full CFL orgy one night a week instead spreading the games over 3 or 4 days.

Just throwing that out there.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

I would like to see the CFL put all their games on in the same evening (utilizing the multiple channels on TSN), much like the NFL (at least the old NFL before Thursday night and Saturday games). Have a full CFL orgy one night a week instead spreading the games over 3 or 4 days.

Just throwing that out there.

That doesn't make sense at all for TSN as you dilute the max amount of viewers available to watch each game as they will tune into the game that involves their favorite team. I try to watch every game weekly but if they played them all on one day I would see two games max. They need every single game to be viewable on it's own nationally.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

That doesn't make sense at all for TSN as you dilute the max amount of viewers available to watch each game as they will tune into the game that involves their favorite team. I try to watch every game weekly but if they played them all on one day I would see two games max. They need every single game to be viewable on it's own nationally.

Well it worked pretty damn well for the NFL.

And I bet you are in the vast minority if you watch more than one game per week.

What it does is create more interest - a focus on that league for a period of time. That focus creates discussion, which creates viewership.

The CFL is scattered all over the place. You want to catch the Stamps this weekend? Oops, they played on Thursday.

Another advantage is that not all games are close. With one game at a time, if it is 29-4 in the 3rd quarter, people stop watching. With multiple games, you can switch to the more interesting one.

[Mango]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

It's a travesty the Canada/Germany quarter-final of the FIFA u-20 Women's World Cup this Saturday - in Edmonton - is not being televised. What a missed opportunity to grow Canadian soccer.

You can watch it on CBC. Kick off is 6pm.

[Alberta_Beef]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Well it worked pretty damn well for the NFL.

And I bet you are in the vast minority if you watch more than one game per week.

What it does is create more interest - a focus on that league for a period of time. That focus creates discussion, which creates viewership.

The CFL is scattered all over the place. You want to catch the Stamps this weekend? Oops, they played on Thursday.

Another advantage is that not all games are close. With one game at a time, if it is 29-4 in the 3rd quarter, people stop watching. With multiple games, you can switch to the more interesting one.

NFL has 32 teams and is drawing fans from a nation of about 315 million. CFL has 9 teams drawing from a population of about 35 million. You don't see a slight difference?

The NFL also has 3 (or more) games times on Sundays, one on Monday, one on Thursday and occasionally some on Saturdays.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Alberta_Beef

NFL has 32 teams and is drawing fans from a nation of about 315 million. CFL has 9 teams drawing from a population of about 35 million. You don't see a slight difference?

Thanks tips. Obviously Canada is a smaller market, but the object is still to maximize viewers. Hoping people will watch every game is one strategy (that doesn't appear to be working). Condensing the offering to generate discussion and viewership is another.

The NFL also has 3 (or more) games times on Sundays, one on Monday, one on Thursday and occasionally some on Saturdays.

The NFL is now spreading their coverage out because they have the viewership (it has already been created). It wasn't always that way, it has grown substantially over the past 3 decades (in part because of the Sunday football-day, IMO).

The CFL needs to generate interest - they aren't in a situation where they can focus on maximizing viewership by spreading it out, like the NFL is currently in.

[Enoch Root]

They could stagger-start the games by half-hour increments. That way you could watch the end of every one.

Personally, I would watch a lot more CFL that way.

[SuperMatt18]

TBH I never understood why CFL never tried to have a more consistent time for their games.

You could easily have the 4 games per week at consistent time slots on Friday/Saturday.

Friday 7:30 ET Start (9:00 ET for West hosted Game)
Saturday 1:00 ET Start
Saturday 4:00 ET Start
Saturday 7:30 ET Start

Stick to something like that consistently.

Personally I think a big part of the NFL success is that you know at 1:00ET, 4:00ET, and 8:00 ET on Sundays you are going to have a game to watch. Same thing with HNIC for the hockey fans, you know that every Saturday you had a game to watch at 7:00 ET and 10:00 ET. CFL should try to follow that same consistency and take over Friday/Saturday nights in the summer when there are limited sports options available elsewhere.