TORONTO – Rogers Sportsnet is teaming up with TSN and its sister network, RDS, to provide wall-to-wall live coverage of the Canada/Russia Super Series, starting August 27. Together, the three sports networks have secured exclusive Canadian broadcast and digital media rights, in both English and French, to the eight-game hockey tournament.
English-language coverage will be divided between TSN and Sportsnet, with TSN televising Games 1, 4, 5 and 6 and Sportsnet airing Games 2, 3, 7 and 8. RDS will broadcast all eight games in French. All games will also be available live and on-demand on broadband at TSN.ca, Sportsnet.ca and RDS.ca.
As part of the deal, TSN and Sportsnet will create one shared broadcast team and production crew. This is the second co-production between Sportsnet and TSN, following joint coverage of last summer’s 2006 FIFA World Cup, and represents another programming partnership venture leading into the 2010 Olympics from Vancouver when the networks’ parent companies, CTVglobemedia and Rogers Media Inc., will provide multi-platform coverage of the Games.
"We are able to best serve Canadian viewers by teaming up and combining our resources to provide live coverage of all the games from this event," said Phil King, TSN’s president. "And as we’ve seen from the FIFA World Cup, this partnership has proven to be very successful."
"We are pleased our partnership will give Canadians another chapter in this storied hockey rivalry between Canada and Russia," said Doug Beeforth, president of Rogers Sportsnet. "Once again the big winner is the sports fan, and that’s what this joint venture is all about."
Sportsnet’s Peter Loubardias will provide the play-by-play alongside TSN game analyst Pierre McGuire and TSN’s Ryan Rishaug as rinkside reporter. The networks’ pre-games and intermissions will be from a shared broadcast studio. For RDS, Stéphane Leroux will handle the play-by-play with game analyst Norman Flynn, while Michel Lacroix will host the studio show alongside analyst Gaston Therrien.
The Canada/Russia Super Series will be held from August 27 to September 9, with the first four games taking place in Russia and the final four games in Canada. This one-time series, organized by Hockey Canada in partnership with the Canadian Hockey League, features the best under-20 players. Canada’s 26 player roster includes four players who won gold with Canada at the 2007 World Juniors (Karl Alzner, Sam Gagner, Leland Irving, Brad Marchand), 18 players with Under-18 program experience and 10 players that have taken part in the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.
For the schedules, go to www.tsn.ca, www.sportsnet.com or www.rds.ca.
