TSN2
TSN2 went on the air at 7 p.m. Eastern on the 29th of August 2008, and its first live event was the US Open tennis tournament. The Canadian English-language sports channel served as the secondary feed of The Sports Network, better known as TSN. It belonged to CTV Specialty Television Inc. On the surface, it was just one more channel on the dial. Underneath, it raised awkward questions. What did the rules allow a channel like this to be? Which rival broadcasters objected to it, and why? And why did some viewers hunting for it come up empty on their own cable lineups? The answers begin with a much smaller experiment that TSN ran more than a decade earlier.
In 1997, TSN launched something it called its "alternate feed." The reason was practical. Some regions suffered occasional blackouts of TSN programming, and the alternate feed offered a way around them. In its first form it was narrow. It could run only on analogue cable in specific areas, where it replaced the national service. National satellite providers, by contrast, carried it alongside the main feed. Alternate programming could take up no more than 10% of the TSN schedule, an average of 2.4 hours a day.
In fall 2006, the CRTC changed the arrangement by letting TSN air multiple feeds nationally. The alternate feed would now exist only on digital platforms. Sportsnet's regional feeds had already been allowed to work that way. For digital cable and satellite subscribers, TSN suddenly had two channels to fill. The alternate feed began carrying far more live events, which could reach a national audience whenever the main feed was tied up with another event. A side channel built for blackouts had quietly become a second national outlet.
The CRTC had actually approved a separate TSN2 channel back in 2000. It never launched, because of a prohibition on live programming. The authority for it expired in 2004, and nobody applied to renew it. That is why the TSN2 of 2008 has no direct link to the earlier licence.
Instead, the new channel operated under the one CRTC licence that covers TSN as a whole. At first it rested on a legal fiction, the idea that it was a timeshift channel of TSN for Western Canada. Most of its programming therefore had to be tape delayed from the main feed. Non-live shows aired on a three-hour delay. That let viewers in the Pacific Time Zone watch many programs at the same local time as TSN viewers in the Eastern Time Zone. Up to 10% of the schedule could still go to alternative live sporting events that TSN could not carry because of other commitments. Not everyone in Canadian broadcasting accepted that reading of the rules.
On the 6th of August 2008, The Globe and Mail announced that the alternate feed would give way to a new network called TSN2. The channel promised "major league programming" throughout the day. Auto racing and tennis were expected to get extensive coverage.
The money side was different from the old arrangement. The alternate feed had been free of charge. Service providers, and possibly their customers in turn, would have to pay extra to carry TSN2. The alternate feed was discontinued in August 2008. The new channel would also be available in high definition.
Two days after the announcement, on the 8th of August 2008, CTVglobemedia and ESPN Inc. received CRTC approval through their joint venture, CTV Specialty Television. The approval covered a spin-off called TSN Extra. It was described as a channel focused on college sports, plus simulcasts of TSN's sports properties.
When launch night arrived, viewers could watch in standard or high definition. After the tennis came an encore of a Friday night CFL game that had aired earlier on TSN.
On the 15th of September 2008, The Globe and Mail reported a complaint filed with the CRTC. It came from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and from Score Media. The CBC held the licence for CBC SportsPlus, a channel focused on Canadian athletes, with a particular interest in amateur sports. Score Media owned The Score, which is licensed as a sports news service similar to ESPNews. That licence limits how much live programming it can air.
Both companies accused TSN2 of exploiting the rules for west coast timeshift feeds. Those rules limit how much alternate programming such feeds may show. John Levy of Score Media argued that, on his reading, TSN2 should not be allowed to sell new advertising on the network. The CRTC dismissed the complaints.
Soon after TSN2 launched, the CRTC proposed removing genre exclusivity protections for "mainstream sports" and "national news" channels. One byproduct was that TSN could use streamlined conditions of licence allowing "multiple feeds," with no limits on alternate programming. TSN was officially permitted to use them on the 1st of February 2010. Those conditions, since formalized as Category C licensing, let TSN2 run as a pure multiplex with an autonomous schedule. The tape delay was no longer observed.
On the 25th of August 2014, TSN added TSN3, TSN4 and TSN5, which served mainly as regional feeds of TSN. After that August 2014 expansion into a regional sports network, TSN2 settled into a role as a secondary outlet for national programming.
At launch, TSN2 promised more than 800 hours per year of live events. It would also repeat live events that TSN had shown earlier in the night. Repeats of TSN originals, such as SportsCentre, filled the remaining hours.
Its alternative programming typically meant National Basketball Association games featuring the Toronto Raptors, along with NASCAR Xfinity Series races. The channel also carried tennis, boxing, baseball and Major League Lacrosse. On the 22nd of October 2008, TSN2 announced that it would air 25 Raptors games during the 2008-09 NBA season.
On the 20th of August 2010, TSN2 announced a multi-year agreement with Canada Basketball. It became the exclusive Canadian broadcaster of several international tournaments under a two-year deal. These were the 2010 FIBA World Championship, the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women, the FIBA Americas Championship 2011 and the FIBA Americas Championship for Women 2011. In 2010, TSN and TSN2 also became the new Canadian broadcasters of the Spengler Cup hockey tournament, with TSN2 showing most of its games.
On the 18th of February 2013, TSN2 began simulcasting two TSN Radio shows. They were Mike Richards in the Morning and the new TSN Drive with Dave Naylor. Beginning with the 2017-18 season, the channel also carried regional Montreal Canadiens games. These are blacked out outside the team's designated media market.
The list of providers carrying TSN2 includes Bell Satellite TV, Shaw Direct, Telus Optik TV, SaskTel, Vidéotron and EastLink, along with a number of independent cable systems. One name was missing at the start. Rogers Cable, which serves much of the Greater Toronto Area, did not carry TSN2 from its launch.
The gap had a visible cost. Lacking carriage agreements, the Raptors games on TSN2 in 2008-09 were not available to cable subscribers in the team's home market of Toronto. The same was true in other regions served by Rogers Cable. Months of negotiations followed.
In May 2009, TSN2 finally joined the Rogers lineup. The timing was pointed. It arrived just before that year's first division rivalry series between the American League East's Toronto Blue Jays and the Boston Red Sox. Rogers also owned the Blue Jays.
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Common questions
When did TSN2 launch?
TSN2 launched at 7 p.m. Eastern on the 29th of August 2008, in standard and high definition, with live coverage of the US Open tennis tournament.
What did TSN2 replace?
It replaced TSN's alternate feed, which had existed since 1997. The alternate feed was free of charge, while providers had to pay extra to carry TSN2.
Why was TSN2 treated as a timeshift channel at first?
It operated under the legal fiction that it was a timeshift channel of TSN for Western Canada. That meant most programming was tape delayed from TSN, with a limited share of alternative programming.
Who complained about TSN2 to the CRTC?
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which holds the licence for CBC SportsPlus, and Score Media, owner of The Score, complained to the CRTC. The CRTC dismissed the complaints.
When could TSN2 operate with its own schedule?
From the 1st of February 2010, revised conditions of licence allowed TSN2 to operate autonomously from TSN's main channel as a pure multiplex.
What kind of programming does TSN2 usually show?
Its alternative programming typically includes Toronto Raptors NBA games and NASCAR Xfinity Series races. It has also carried tennis, boxing, baseball and Major League Lacrosse, and regional Montreal Canadiens games since 2017-18.
Why could many Toronto viewers not watch Raptors games on TSN2 in 2008-09?
Rogers Cable did not carry TSN2 from launch, so cable subscribers in Toronto and other Rogers regions could not see those games. TSN2 was added in May 2009.
All sources
20 references cited across the entry
- 3CRTC Decision 97-290Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission — July 3, 1997
- 6TSN getting set to launch companion channelThe Globe and Mail — August 6, 2008
- 8NewsTSN goes on the offence, unveils three new channelsMay 6, 2014
- 12TSN2 gets 25 Raptors gamesThe National Post — October 22, 2008
- 15NewsTSN's regional NHL coverage features 191 games2017-09-15
- 19Rivals want TSN2 kicked out of gameThe Globe and Mail — September 15, 2008
- 21Broadcasting Public Notice CRTC 2008-103Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission — October 30, 2008