TORONTO – Rogers Media Inc. has asked the CRTC to amend two conditions of license for The Score to enable it to slightly increase (from 10% to 15% of its schedule) the amount of analysis, interpretation and documentary programming it can provide in order to compete with online services offered by TSN, CBS Sports and ESPN. It also wants to push back mandatory news updates every 15-minutes when its airing live sports events to just once an hour.
Rogers purchased Score Media Inc. this past summer for $171 million and its specialty station The Score currently broadcasts in more than 6.6 million homes across Canada and is available in high definition format. Score Media also includes closed captioning service Voice to Visual Inc., and mixed martial arts program The Score Fighting Series. CRTC-appointed trustee Peter Viner is overseeing the day-to-day operations of Score Media pending receipt of the CRTC's final ruling.
In its application to take control of the channel Rogers contends that increasing its analysis of all sports, including amateur and underrepresented sports will “benefit viewers as well those athletes and organizations that are involved in underrepresented sports.”
“Rogers believes that approving these amendments will enable The Score to continue to operate in a manner that meets the demands of Canadian sports fans in a digital age without altering the nature of the headline sports news service.”
Rogers values its tangible benefits package at $17.1 million which represents 10% of the value of the transaction. It has committed to direct $2 million each year to the development, production and exhibition of the Sportsnet Winter Games featuring the best in Canadian amateur action sports. The programming will be produced independently from RMI by a third party producer.
Each year Rogers will also direct $500,000 in scholarship funding to post-secondary institutions offering degrees in multimedia or digital media production such as Ryerson University, British Columbia Institute of Technology, Northern Alberta Institute of Technology and Southern Alberta Institute of Technology – SAIT Polytechnic for students interested in multimedia sports production.
It’s also promising to direct $920,000 each year to the independent production of Canadian amateur sports programming. This would include the establish of the Sportsnet Amateur Sports Initiative devoted to the development and independent production of Canadian amateur sports programs, such as the Tour of Alberta (cycling), Canadian men’s and women’s basketball and women’s hockey, which Rogers claims are not currently broadcast on Canadian sports channels.
The funds in the benefits package will flow to the Canadian independent production sector and none of the costs of administering it will be taken from the funds says Rogers. In addition, all of the programming created through this initiative will be incremental to the programming regularly produced and acquired for Rogers’ sports services. It adds that program proposals will be welcomed from producers across Canada for coverage of amateur sports and athletes in a variety of disciplines.
In summary, it says the acquisition of The Score is a “natural fit” within Rogers’ strategy for improving linear sports programming for Canadians going forward.
“We operate in a highly competitive sports programming market and compete for viewers with a variety of linear and nonlinear services providers, including ESPN, TSN and CBS Sports. Rogers believes our expertise in sports broadcasting will positively contribute to the growth and success of The Score’s headline news mandate while at the same time diversifying and complementing our current sports offerings,” it contends in its application.
Rogers maintains its investment will allow “The Score to continue to expand and evolve to meet the challenges posed by other linear and non-linear sources of sport information programming and thereby remain Canada’s leading source for sports news and information.”
The company adds that it intends to enhance The Score’s linear programming with multi-platform services that will allow Canadians to access their sports news and information content on mobile devices or via the Internet.
“We believe the complementary nature of these digital offerings will help ensure the long-term popular appeal of the linear programming service.”
It concludes that it is “not seeking to change the nature of service of The Score.”
“Rogers currently holds licenses for two English-language Category C sports specialty services that offer significant amounts of live sports programming, Sportsnet and Sportsnet One, and a Category B niche sports service, Sportsnet World, which caters exclusively to soccer, cricket and rugby programming. Through these services, we have become a national leader in delivering high-quality sports programming to Canadian homes and mobile devices. By adding The Score to the mix, we will acquire a unique mechanism to supplement our current offerings and reach a younger demographic of sports fan.”
