TSN Acquires Rights to 24 Regional Habs Broadcasts
October 21, 2010 3 Comments
Toronto, ON (October 21, 2010) – TSN announced today it has secured the exclusive regional English-language broadcast rights for Montreal Canadiens games. The multi-year agreement will see TSN present 24 games in the current season to viewers in Quebec, Atlantic Canada and parts of Eastern Ontario, including Ottawa, Belleville, Kingston and Pembroke, on a TSN alternate feed, with at least 30 Canadiens games to be broadcast regionally during the 2011-12 and 2012-13 NHL regular seasons. The announcement marks the first time TSN has had English regional broadcast rights for Canadiens games since the 2001-02 season.
TSN’s regional coverage of the Montreal Canadiens begins this coming Monday, October 25 when the Habs take on the Phoenix Coyotes at 7:30 p.m. ET. Presented in both HD and standard definition, the broadcasts will be produced by TSN with veteran broadcaster Dave Randorf calling the game action on Monday along with analyst and former NHL player Mike Johnson.
TSN has secured carriage of Monday’s game on Bell Satellite TV on channel 1402 in HD and channel 402 in SD. TSN is working with other distributors in the territory to ensure the broadest possible distribution of the Montreal Canadiens games. Fans should contact their local television service provider for specific channel details.
“The Montreal Canadiens are extremely pleased to have concluded a broadcasting agreement with TSN that will enable a greater number of hockey fans in the province of Quebec and in other parts of the country to see the Canadiens in action,” says Pierre Boivin, President of the Montreal Canadiens. “Over the years, TSN has been an outstanding partner of the NHL and the quality of their broadcasts will continue to enhance the hockey experience on television for our fans.”
“TSN is thrilled to deliver more coverage of one of the NHL’s most storied franchises to fans in Eastern Canada with exclusive English-language broadcast rights to 24 additional Montreal Canadiens regular season games,” said Stewart Johnston, President, TSN. “The addition of these Montreal match-ups bolsters TSN and TSN2’s already impressive NHL broadcast schedule to 148 total games – the most ever in network history – and gives Canadiens fans more coverage of their favourite team than ever before.”
TSN’s 24 Montreal Canadiens regional games complement the network’s previously announced national broadcast package, which includes 16 Canadiens games, for a total of 40 Canadiens games this season.
2010-11 TSN Montreal Canadiens Regional Broadcast Schedule
Regular Season
October
• Monday, Oct. 25 – Phoenix @ Montreal at 7:30 p.m. ET
• Friday, Oct. 29 – Montreal @ NY Islanders at 7 p.m. ETNovember
• Tuesday, Nov. 2 – Montreal @ Columbus at 7 p.m. ET
• Friday, Nov. 5 – Montreal @ Buffalo at 7:30 p.m. ET
• Tuesday, Nov. 9 – Vancouver @ Montreal at 7:30 p.m. ET
• Tuesday, Nov. 16 – Philadelphia @ Montreal at 7 p.m. ET
• Thursday, Nov. 18 – Nashville @ Montreal at 7:30 p.m. ET
• Monday, Nov. 22 – Montreal @ Philadelphia at 7 p.m. ETDecember
• Sunday, Dec. 19 – Montreal @ Colorado at 8 p.m. ET
• Tuesday, Dec. 21 – Montreal @ Dallas at 9 p.m. ET
• Sunday, Dec. 26 – Montreal @ NY Islanders at 7 p.m. ET
• Tuesday, Dec. 28 – Montreal @ Washington at 7 p.m. ET
• Thursday, Dec. 30 – Montreal @ Tampa Bay at 7:30 p.m. ET
• Friday, Dec. 31 – Montreal @ Florida at 5 p.m. ETJanuary
• Sunday, Jan. 2 – Atlanta @ Montreal at 1 p.m. ET
• Thursday, Jan. 6 – Pittsburgh @ Montreal at 7:30 p.m. ET
• Monday, Jan. 17 – Calgary @ Montreal at 7:30 p.m. ETFebruary
• Tuesday, Feb. 15 – Buffalo @ Montreal at 7:30 p.m. ET
• Thursday, Feb. 24 – Toronto @ Montreal at 7:30 p.m. ETMarch
• Thursday, March 3 – Montreal @ Florida at 7:30 p.m. ET
• Tuesday, March 8 – Boston @ Montreal at 7:30 p.m. ET
• Thursday, March 10 – Montreal @ St. Louis at 8 p.m. ET
• Thursday, March 17 – Tampa Bay @ Montreal at 7:30 p.m. ETApril
• Tuesday, April 5 – Chicago @ Montreal at 7:30 p.m. ETTSN is Canada’s Sports Leader and Canada’s most-watched specialty network. Delivering more sports coverage in High Definition than any other network in Canada, TSN’s comprehensive broadcast schedule features an exciting lineup of sports including NHL, IIHF, CFL, NFL, NBA, MLB, Season of Champions Curling, Golf’s Majors, F1, NASCAR Sprint Cup, Grand Slam Tennis and Championship Boxing events. TSN properties include TSN2, TSN MOBILE and the industry leading sports website TSN.ca. Official broadcaster of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and London 2012 Games of the Olympiad, TSN is a division of CTVglobemedia.
Puck The Media 
Good stuff. Hopefully Centre Ice in Canada will pick up these broadcasts instead of the US feeds.
Mind you, seeing RDS on Centre Ice would be even better, but that’s a bit of a pipe dream.
You won’t ever see RDS on Centre Ice because they would rather people subscribed to RDS itself.
I’d bet that providers will (mostly) use the TSN feed. For Rogers, Shaw and Bell it would mean that they would only have to carry 1 feed, instead of 2.
DirecTV’s version of Center Ice has shown RDS feeds if there is no other english language broadcast, but it doesn’t happen very often/ DirecTV subscribers probably won’t see these english language TSN broadcasts either as TSN is only shown as a last resort, a bit like RDS. Dish Network and InDemand on cable may show more of the TSN feeds.