By Steve Faguy
MONTREAL – With the COVID-19 outbreak forcing the suspension or cancellation of most live sporting events for the foreseeable future, Canada’s all-sports networks are struggling to fill their suddenly wiped schedules with alternative content, and that means a lot of panel talk shows, documentaries, movies and trips down memory lane.
We noted CBC aired Red Bull’s Ice Cross, which is basically downhill skating in hockey gear, from Japan (taped in February) this past Saturday night instead of the usual NHL games.
“We’re looking at what we can do for programming for the next week,” said Patrick Tremblay of Bell Media’s RDS, which suddenly found itself without its most popular content — Montreal Canadiens games — on Thursday. The game broadcast that night was replaced with a special edition of the live analysis show D’un autre angle talk show that normally airs on RDS2 during the game, followed by a rerun of its 25th anniversary documentary series.
RDS will be broadcasting classic playoff matches involving the Canadiens, Raptors and Blue Jays over the next three weeks. But “our news programs will remain in place,” Tremblay said, as sports fans look for the latest information on when their teams will begin playing again.
TSN and Sportsnet have so far replaced live hockey and basketball with reruns (like game six of last year’s Toronto Raptors-Milwaukee Bucks Eastern Conference NBA playoffs in prime time Saturday on Sportsnet), and particularly curling and hockey (NHL on Sportsnet and IIHF on TSN). TSN has also been re-running SportsCentre repeatedly in primetime and rebroadcasting ESPN’s SportsCenter.
(Stateside, however, some sports talk shows are suspending production for now due to the risks of gathering workers together, such as ESPN’s Pardon The Interruption. So far, such productions at Canada’s sports networks have not been suspended.)
TVA Sports, meanwhile, ran special editions of a panel talk show last week and has filled its upcoming week in primetime with “vintage” NHL programming, including playoff and all-star games. “TVA Sports supports the decisions of its partners taken in the best interest of their fans, athletes and public health,” read a statement sent by the network. It said its on-air personalities would continue to be seen in original programming until live sports return.
CBC still has some amateur sports on the weekends, but has so far replaced Hockey Night in Canada with airings of Canadian action movie Bon Cop Bad Cop and its sequel. Citytv also replaced HNIC with movies on Saturday.
“Everyone understands the situation,” Tremblay said. “It’s not something that’s unique to sports channels.”
However, he added RDS wants to find alternative live programming to broadcast before viewers get bored with reheated content. They’re just not sure yet what that will be.
The lack of live programming will undoubtedly have a major impact on viewership, and in turn advertising revenue. Tremblay said it’s too early to talk about how advertisers may be compensated. In a statement, TSN said it remains “in close discussions with our advertising partners as the situation unfolds.”
Sarah Thompson, co-chair of the Canadian Marketing Association’s media council and chief strategy officer at the Mindshare agency, said it’s a “complex time” for clients. “We need to be sensitive and considerate of the global crisis,” she wrote in an email. “We have been in close discussions with our media partners about invested dollars, especially in sports, and we are finding solutions really quickly that create opportunities for the remainder of the year.”
Programming schedules are being updated daily. It’s best to check the sports channels’ web sites when looking for up to date programming information as there remains a several day lag in what can be sent through the pay-TV industry’s legacy electronic program guide systems to set top boxes.
