TORONTO – Hardcore sports fans will be able to celebrate Canada Day with Sportsnet 360, as Rogers officially debuts the rebranded network from recently-acquired The Score network to the Sportsnet brand.
Sportsnet 360 will be unveiled at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT on July 1 during the station’s first live event broadcast, the Blue Jays vs Detroit Tigers game live from Toronto’s Rogers Centre.
After the Jays game, Sportsnet 360 will debut its newest show, Blue Jays Xpress – a 30-minute, interactive post-game show hosted by Sportsnet 590 The FAN’s Eric Smith, with former Blue Jays Paul Spoljaric and Greg O’Halloran providing analysis and Sportsnet’s Michael Grange contributing to the discussion.
“We built Sportsnet 360’s programming strategy specifically with the hardcore sports fan top of mind,” said Sportsnet’s vice-president of programming Navaid Mansuri in a release. “With a solid roster of live sports events headlined by UFC, CIS, basketball and soccer, combined with existing coverage of WWE and an unparalleled breadth of sports news, scores and highlights, Sportsnet 360 will deliver immense value to our passionate viewers and is the ideal complement to our other Sportsnet channels and platforms.”
Sportsnet 360 will also be the new exclusive home of Ultimate Fighting Championship in Canada. In addition to UFC, Sportsnet 360’s programming pillars also include WWE, CIS, basketball, and soccer.
New programs include:
UFC: Beginning July 1, UFC will be front and centre on Wednesday nights with four hours of UFC programming in prime time headlined by exclusive Canadian coverage of The Ultimate Fighter. The UFC Wednesday night line-up will also feature UFC Central, UFC Wired and Unleashed. Sportsnet 360 will also provide coverage of more than 30 live UFC events on Saturday nights each year.
Debuting in 2014, Sportsnet 360 will also broadcast The Ultimate Fighter Nations: Canada vs. Australia, featuring some of the world’s top welterweight mixed martial arts prospects. Broadcast details will be announced at a later date.
BLUE JAYS XPRESS: The 30-minute show featuring Smith, Spoljaric, O’Halloran and Grange will air weeknights following Blue Jays games, and will include live post-game reaction from Manager John Gibbons, interviews from the field and the clubhouse, in-depth highlights and reports on games from around the AL East and MLB. Blue Jays Xpress will also present fan reaction live from the streets outside of Rogers Centre during the Jays’ home games.
WWE: As the exclusive broadcaster in Canada, Sportsnet 360 will continue to present marquee shows such as Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown. The line-up also includes Vintage Collection, NXT, The Experience and Aftermath, a first of its kind, post-game show for Monday Night Raw.
CIS: Programming includes expanded coverage of men’s and women’s CIS sports, headlined by the Vanier Cup and including marquee events such as: Football (Mitchell Bowl and Uteck Bowl), Men’s and Women’s Hockey Championships; Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships, and more to be announced at a later date.
BASKETBALL: In addition to continuing coverage of NCAA basketball, Sportsnet 360 will broadcast the men’s and women’s FIBA events for: 2013 Americas Championship, 2013 U19 World Championship, 2014 Basketball World Cup and 2014 U17 Basketball World Cup.
SOCCER: Sportsnet 360 will now air Toronto FC matches and select international events including qualifying matches for 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil.
