[News] Jay Onrait and Dan O'Toole leave TSN UPDATE: They're back!

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

Speed Channel in Canada will probably end up the same as the Outdoor Life Network which was taken over by NBC Sports in the USA. That is airing shows such as Duck Dynasty because their programming isn't licensed in Canada.

OLN Canada was always operated as a separate channel from the US version (co-owned by Bell, Rogers, and OLN in the US; now wholly owned by Rogers). Originally, it aired a lot of the same content as the US version, but also had a percentage of other programming too and it has to maintain Canadian Content standards and meet other obligations to maintain its license. It is the same as channels like FX Canada, Discovery Channel, and the Food Network.

Speed doesn't have a separate Canadian channel. They black out some programming that has separate Canadian rights holders, but otherwise, it's the same channel as what's available in the US. It is the same as channels like A&E, TLC, Spike, and AMC.

[Deelow]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

they don't write the content, only the entertainment

I realize they don't write everything, by neither did Ron Burgundy. They still need to be able to present with confidence. I'm not saying they can't do that, but it's a different animal than 40mins of hockey every night.

[Alberta_Beef]

Originally Posted by SebC

"I'm pregnant - with your baby!"

I found this hilarious since it was the same girl who's name he didn't know when he was going on about how he appreciates all his co-workers. She is definitely a good sport.

[Alberta_Beef]

It's also interesting that wiki has FS1 airing in Canada (likely the channels for speed)

[jessnuts]

Is it time for cabbie to take his talents to the news room?

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by Alberta_Beef

It's also interesting that wiki has FS1 airing in Canada (likely the channels for speed)

Bell is finally airing Speed in HD starting on May 23th. The SD channel is hard to watch because the video quality is so bad. I thought I'd finally get to watch Moto GP in HD but with Fox taking over, that is probably out the window. On the other hand getting a new sports channel is good.

[Alberta_Beef]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

Bell is finally airing Speed in HD starting on May 23th. The SD channel is hard to watch because the video quality is so bad. I thought I'd finally get to watch Moto GP in HD but with Fox taking over, that is probably out the window. On the other hand getting a new sports channel is good.

I believe the Moto GP is going to be aired on FS1 if I remember correctly

[Bertuzzied]

Originally Posted by jessnuts

Is it time for cabbie to take his talents to the news room?

He has talent?

[jessnuts]

I thought he used to be pretty good at things like court cuts on the score. He would have to tone down the silliness and be paired with a more straight cut partner (think Abbott and Costello), but he's got potential I think...and I assume the Lebron factor in my use of the word talents wasn't missed. I just think the pairings sportscentre has now are too plain, and when they try and be jay and Dan funny, they just annoy me (Brian Mudrek).

[Drake]

June 28 is the last day for these two at TSN , they did separate interviews last week with Sports Illustrated.

Canadian sports broadcasters Jay Onrait and Dan O'Toole will host their final TSN Sportcentre on June 28. The following week, they'll be in Los Angeles to start their new broadcasting adventure: The duo will serve as the primary highlight readers for the upcoming Fox Sports Live program on Fox Sports 1. Their first day on the air comes Aug. 17, the date the new network launches in about 90 million homes.

In separate interviews with SI.com this week, both Onrait and O'Toole said Fox Sports executives have given them a rough outline of what they envision for Fox Sports Live, the new network's challenger to ESPN's SportsCenter, The show will air daily from Los Angeles from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. ET and Onrait and O'Toole will work Monday through Thursday with the following setup: Charissa Thompson and a still-to-be-determined panel will appear on one side of the studio, and Onrait and O'Toole will be on the other side doing highlights. The day's sports schedule will determine how much airtime each grouping gets during a show. Onrait and O'Toole will also co-host a 90-minute Fox Sports Live show on Sunday night, as well as continue their popular podcast.

"Charissa will be the star of the show, let's be honest," Onrait said. "We'll be sliding in and hanging out in the corner like Chris Elliott did [on "Late Night with David Letterman"] all those years ago."

Fox first approached the duo last August at the London Olympics (Onrait and O'Toole hosted a two-hour show for TSN from Trafalgar Square), and the duo flew to Los Angeles two months later for further discussions. As negotiations heated up, the anchors talked daily (along with their producer, who is joining them at Fox) and made a joint decision to take the new job. "When they [TSN] saw the offer, they said they did not think they could match it," O'Toole said. "But talking with all of our bosses, they were almost of the mindset they did not want to keep us from this opportunity. It was like, 'Guys, you have to try this.' It is a whole new audience that we can hopefully entertain. As opposed to a country of just over 30 million, we will be in 90 million homes. It's just staggering the amount of eyeballs we can potentially reach."

Both Onrait and O'Toole said they were overwhelmed by the amount of messages they have received from Canadians, including a tweet of support from Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. "When you are in a studio in Scarborough, Ontario at 1 a.m. doing a show, you don't lose track of who you are broadcasting to, but you forget that show is repeating for 12 hours across the entire country, and countless families wake up with it," OToole said.

O'Toole is married with two daughters, one five years old, the other two. He said he and his wife went back and forth about uprooting a comfortable life in Ontario (O'Toole was born and raised on a pig farm in Peterborough, Ontario; Onrait is from Athabasca, Alberta, a town of 3,000 in the Canadian prairie). "My wife likes California wine, so I kept stressing that," O'Toole said. "That was one of my sales tactics. It will honestly be a new adventure every day."

I asked each of the new Fox Sports 1 anchors to provide a one-sentence description of the other:

Said Onrait of O'Toole: "Unable to concentrate on one thing for more than five seconds."

Said O'Toole of Onrait: "Extremely talented and extremely strange."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/mor...ole/index.html

[$ven27]

So they just said #40 of their Podcast is the final one, this is probably the thing I'm most sad about.

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by $ven27

So they just said #40 of their Podcast is the final one, this is probably the thing I'm most sad about.

Onrait said right after the news broke that the podcast will continue

fox sports has podcasts I imagine it just changes over to that

[Bertuzzied]

BOBrovskkiiiiiiii!!!

Last show tonite!

[Azure]

If their producer is going with them, they might actually be successful.

[$ven27]

Yeah, hopefully Tim can make it down there.

[WCW Nitro]

Am I the only one who thinks these two aren't funny at all?

[Flabbibulin]

Originally Posted by WCW Nitro

Am I the only one who thinks these two aren't funny at all?

yes

[$ven27]

Originally Posted by WCW Nitro

Am I the only one who thinks these two aren't funny at all?

I don't find them funny on TSN, it's over the top and trying too hard IMO. However I cry of laughter from their podcast.

[oldschoolcalgary]

Originally Posted by WCW Nitro

Am I the only one who thinks these two aren't funny at all?

nope...but we seem to be in the minority.

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by Azure

If their producer is going with them, they might actually be successful.

Originally Posted by $ven27

Yeah, hopefully Tim can make it down there.

Negotiations heated up earlier this year, and this month Fox Sports signed Onrait, 38, and O'Toole, 37 (as well as their longtime TSN producer, Tim Moriarty), to a multiyear deal to serve as anchors for Fox Sports Live, which will air nightly from Los Angeles from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. ET and will be Fox Sports 1's challenge to SportsCenter

think it was a package deal