TORONTO – As of 2008, the Canadian Football League will only be available to TSN or RDS subscribers.
The league and the two CTV-owned sports specialties signed a five-year broadcast and multiplatform rights agreement that will see all CFL games on the two channels.
The CBC, as it now stands, will have no football on its schedule as of the 2008 season.
TSN president Phil King told a conference call on Wednesday the multi-million-dollar agreement includes broadcast, broadband and wireless rights, meaning some games will be made available on the web and the league will have a higher profile on wireless handsets.
All told, it’s the most comprehensive rights package ever secured by either TSN or RDS for a single sports property, says the press release,
Under the agreement, TSN and RDS acquire:
* Broadcast rights for the CFL’s entire 77-game package annually, comprised of 72 regular-season games, four divisional playoff matches and the Grey Cup
* Digital rights for these games, including broadband, mobile, video-on-demand and interactive TV
* Exclusive rights to host content and sell advertising on the CFL’s websites www.CFL.ca and www.LCF.ca
For the first time ever, the playoffs and Grey Cup will be a TSN/RDS production with TSN/RDS crew and commentators working all the games. In the current expiring contract, TSN was obligated to sub-license a number of regular-season games, playoffs and the Grey Cup to conventional television.
The new deal also has sub licensing rights for TSN, but King said he didn’t anticipate using them.
The deal also provides ESPN Classic with greater access to the CFL archives, allowing for expanded coverage of classic CFL match-ups, including playoff games and Grey Cups.
"This is a groundbreaking deal of enormous magnitude for TSN. The CFL has recognized TSN as a fitting home for all its games, and for the first time in history, the coveted Grey Cup will be produced and televised on TSN," said King, President, TSN. "It is our intention to air every single CFL game on TSN, TSN HD and TSN Broadband. The CFL is a valued partner of ours and we look forward to growing the sport and brand to an even higher level and reaching new audiences with expanded coverage on multiple platforms."
"This new agreement allows RDS to extend its existing exclusive French-language coverage of the CFL while simultaneously providing a brand new component for our viewers with digital media initiatives. We will be able to deliver CFL games to Francophones in Canada in more ways than ever before," added Gerry Frappier, president, Le Réseau des sports.
"For Canada, this deal represents a mammoth sea change in how major rights-holders regard specialty television in English Canada. This is akin to the Super Bowl moving to ESPN and is a tremendous credit to the teams at TSN, RDS and our CFL partners," said CTV president Rick Brace.
Until now, TSN and the CBC shared the rights to the league, with CBC airing the Grey Cup since forever (except for a year or two here and there on CTV) but the Corp will have to go without after next season – a prospect that doesn’t phase CBC CEO Robert Rabinovitch, who told Cartt.ca in October:
"(Losing hockey) would change our (business) model quite dramatically. And there’s no question about it – it’s a significant possibility," he said then.
"I can’t say the same about football. Football – you know, whether we get it or not – I’m not so certain is that important anymore. We’ll have to have the Grey Cup, but when you look at the whole schedule and alternatives, maybe it should go only on specialty channels. We’ll see what happens."
– Greg O’Brien
