Short answers, pulled from the story.
Sportsnet One officially began broadcasting at 12:00 p.m. ET on the 14th of August 2010. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission granted Rogers Sports & Media the license to operate this new specialty service in March 2010.
The channel originally operated under the name Rogers' Mainstream Sports Specialty Service when it launched. Rogers Media executed a significant brand overhaul on the 3rd of October 2011, changing the official name from Rogers Sportsnet One to simply Sportsnet One.
Selected Toronto Blue Jays games appeared as exclusive content when the service first launched alongside certain Premier League soccer matches. By 2014, the channel carried all 41 regular-season games for the Toronto Raptors basketball team.
Sportsnet Flames and Sportsnet Oilers are available only in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. Cable providers in Manitoba do not carry either channel due to blackouts affecting Winnipeg Jets fans since the team revived in 2011.
Rogers Cable was the sole distributor at the moment of launch on the 14th of August 2010. Shaw Direct and Shaw Cable added the service to their lineups on the 15th of September 2010 while Telus Optik TV followed two days later.