SPORTS TELEVISION: Why rent when you can buy? Why owning the content is better

By Chris Zelkovich

WHILE THAT LOGIC HAS BEEN applied to real estate, sports networks are using it when it comes to insulating themselves from ever-increasing rights fees.Buoyed by the success it has achieved since the late Ted Rogers bought the Toronto Blue Jays basically as programming for Sportsnet back in 2000 (not to mention as part of the huge “Rogers” branding exercise as wireless phones took off), the media company is looking at owning even more sports properties – and in a deeper fashion.It began last year when Sportsnet got wind that that the Grand Slam of Curling might be coming on the...