TSN Hockey

TSN Hockey (formerly the NHL on TSN and The NHL Tonight on TSN) is the blanket title used by TSN's broadcasts of the National Hockey League.

TSN Hockey
The TSN Hockey logo, used since 2014.
Also known as	Leafs on TSN Sens on TSN Jets on TSN Habs on TSN (2011–2014; 2017–present) NHL on TSN (2002-2014) The NHL Tonight on TSN TSN Wednesday Night Hockey Scotiabank Wednesday Night Hockey
Genre	Sports
Starring	Various
Opening theme	The Hockey Theme
Composer	Dolores Claman
Country of origin	Canada
Production
Production locations	CFTO Studios, Toronto
Release
Original network	TSN
Picture format	480i (SDTV), 1080i (HDTV)
Original release	1985 – present
Chronology
Followed by	NHL on Sportsnet (national cable broadcaster as of 2014-15, briefly 1998-2002)
Related shows	NHL on CTV NHL on NBC (U.S. rightsholder)

After holding the Canadian national cable rights to the NHL from 1985 to 1998 and again from 2002 to 2014, it was announced in November 2013 that TSN and Bell Media had lost these rights to Rogers Communications and Sportsnet as part of an exclusive, twelve-year media rights deal that took effect in the 2014–15 NHL season.[1] In August 2014, following its loss of national NHL rights, TSN split its singular national feed into four regional channels (itself an imitation of the structure of Sportsnet),[2] allowing the network to air its regional NHL games on the main TSN feeds, still subject to blackout, rather than on part-time channels.[3] With these changes, TSN will only broadcast regional NHL games for the foreseeable future; however, its regional coverage expanded in the 2014 season—while losing the Montreal Canadiens to Sportsnet, TSN added regional coverage of the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs, alongside its existing rights to Winnipeg Jets games.[3]

The TSN Hockey name is used primarily as a blanket title for TSN's regional NHL coverage, and national segments featuring its analysts, and not used as the on-air title of the broadcasts themselves, which are branded as Leafs on TSN, Sens on TSN, Jets on TSN, and Habs on TSN respectively.

Regional broadcasts

Toronto Maple Leafs

TSN began airing Toronto Maple Leafs games regionally, presented by Molson as Molson Canadian Leafs Hockey, in the 1998-99 season, when they first lost the national contract. The package was originally for 30 games, but reduced to 17 once TSN re-acquired the national rights in 2002. Ten of those games were ones that TSN acquired from the NHL to air nationally. The other seven, TSN acquired from the Maple Leafs as regional games. However, TSN eventually came to an agreement with the other five Canadian clubs to air these games nationally.[4] Originally Joe Bowen and Harry Neale called the regional Leafs telecasts in the booth, with Glenn Healy serving as "Inside the Glass" reporter. The deal expired at the conclusion of the 2006-07 season, and from the 2007-08 season through 2013-14, every Maple Leafs game on TSN was broadcast as a national NHL on TSN game.

Beginning in the 2014-15 season, owing to Bell Canada's ownership stake in the Leafs' owner, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment and the loss of TSN's national cable rights, TSN began to air 26 regional games per season, split with Sportsnet Ontario, and aired by TSN4.[3][5]

Ottawa Senators

On January 29, 2014, the Ottawa Senators announced a new, 12-year regional broadcasting deal with Bell Media that took effect in the 2014-15 season; TSN5 began to air regional Ottawa Senators games beginning in the 2014-15 season. The deal also included an extension of Bell's radio rights with CFGO, and French-language regional television rights for Réseau des sports.[6][7][8]

Winnipeg Jets

Upon their return to the city, TSN began broadcasting regional Winnipeg Jets games beginning in 2011, under a 10-year media rights deal with Bell Media that also included radio rights for co-owned CFRW.[9] Winnipeg Jets games not televised nationally by the NHL's national broadcast partners are broadcast by TSN3, and are available in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, and parts of Northwestern Ontario.[10]

Regional Jets games were previously carried by TSN Jets, a part-time multiplex channel of TSN exclusive to the Jets' market. The TSN Jets channel was a subscription-based premium service, costing $9.95 CAD per-month during the NHL season, but was available on a free preview basis for the start of the inaugural season. Despite the fee, representatives from both MTS and Shaw Cable stated that "thousands" of their customers had subscribed to the Jets channel.[11] On August 18, 2014, TSN officially confirmed that the TSN Jets feed would be discontinued, and that regional Jets games would be moved to the new TSN3 channel for the 2014-15 season.[10]

Montreal Canadiens

TSN has occasionally held regional, English-language rights to the Canadiens. Its most recent deal ran from 2010 through 2014. They were broadcast on a part-time TSN feed available to digital television services in the Canadiens home market, with Dave Randorf on play-by-play, alongside Dave Reid. Bell Media declined to renew its English-language rights through the 2013–14 season, although TSN Radio station CKGM still owns English radio rights, and Réseau des sports replaced its national French-language rights with regional rights for the 2014–15 season.[3][12] English-language television rights to the Canadiens were acquired by Sportsnet East under a three-year contract.[13]

Prior to the 2017–18 season, TSN announced that they had reacquired the English-language rights to broadcast Canadiens games, replacing Sportsnet, and now airing on TSN2.[14] John Bartlett, who handled play-by-play for Canadiens games on Sportsnet East, also moved to TSN, but returned to Sportsnet the following season.[15] Soon after, long-time TSN talent Bryan Mudryk took over play-by-play duties.[16]

Past coverage

National games

TSN owned the national cable rights to the NHL in Canada from 1987 through 1998, after which what was then called CTV Sportsnet purchased the national cable rights to NHL games. Prior to this, TSN's NHL coverage was sparse as they only acquired games a la carte. From 1987-88 to 1997-98, they usually showed games twice per week through the regular season and in the first round of the playoffs they provided extensive coverage of series not involving Canadian-based teams. TSN was the first ever holder of cable rights to the NHL in Canada, although the task of acquiring these rights were complicated by contradicting statements by CBC that it did own the cable rights to the NHL, along with the involvement of competing beer company Molson in Canadian NHL rights at the time (TSN was founded by its competitor, Labatt). With the help of a Molson employee who was a friend of TSN's founder Gordon Craig, a deal was reached between TSN, Molson, and the NHL.[17]

TSN's most recent period as national rightsholder lasted from 2002 to 2014. During this period, TSN usually televised three or four games per week during the regular season, with its flagship broadcast, Wednesday Night Hockey, airing on Wednesdays. In some cases, TSN took the American feed of the game (i.e. ESPN/ESPN2) if it didn't involve a Canadian team. During the playoffs, TSN had third, fifth, seventh, and eighth choices of first-round series, second and fourth in the second round, and second in the Conference Finals. These changes allowed TSN to broadcast playoff games involving Canadian teams,[18] such as at the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs, as TSN televised the Calgary Flames' first-round series against the Chicago Blackhawks, the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs when the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Washington Capitals in seven games, and the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs when the Vancouver Canucks lost in four straight games to the San Jose Sharks.

In January 2015, after it was announced that the NHL-organized World Cup of Hockey would be revived in 2016, Bell Media attempted to make a bid of nearly $32 million for its Canadian broadcast rights during a blind auction. However, broadcast rights to the tournament were instead awarded to Rogers; although Bell Media representatives refused to elaborate, the company believed that Rogers' national rights to the NHL had contained provisions allowing the company to match outside offers for such events.[19]

The 1986 Canadian coverage of the NHL All-Star Game was to be provided by CTV. However, CTV had a prior commitment to carry a U.S. miniseries.[20] As a result, TSN took over coverage of the game in Hartford.

On-air staff

James Duthie serves as the lead in-studio host with analysts including Bob McKenzie, Darren Dreger, and Pierre LeBrun. Tessa Bonhomme is a secondary studio host, primarily working Canadiens games. Craig Button, Dave Poulin, Mike Johnson, Glenn Schiiler and Aaron Ward also contribute periodically in the studio. Mark Masters (Maple Leafs), Sara Orlesky (Jets) and John Lu (Canadiens) serve as in-arena hosts.

Gord Miller does play-by-play for both Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators regional games. Ray Ferraro primarily works Maple Leafs games and occasional Senators games while Jamie McLennan and Mike Johnson serve as colour commentators for a majority of Sens games.[21][22] On Winnipeg Jets broadcasts Dennis Beyak does play-by-play and Kevin Sawyer provides colour commentary.[23] For Montreal Canadiens regional games, Bryan Mudryk work play-by-play duties while colour commentary is rotated between Mike Johnson, Dave Poulin and Craig Button.[24]

Miller, Beyak, Ferraro and Button are also assigned to work the World Junior Championships in January. During their absences, McLennan and an alternate play-by-play announcer would work both Maple Leafs and Senators games, with Mudryk substituting on occasional Senators games. Canadiens radio voice Dan Robertson would replace Mudryk on its television broadcasts, and Brian Munz would substitute on Jets broadcasts.[25]

Former staff

The studio hosts were Jim Van Horne (1985–1990), John Wells (1989–1995) and Gord Miller (1995 to 1998), with Bob McKenzie providing studio analysis. Lead play-by-play broadcasters were Wells (1985–86), Jim Hughson (1987–1994) and Paul Romanuk (1994–1998). Color commentators were Roger Neilson (1987–1989) and Gary Green (1987–1998). Howie Meeker was also often part of the game-night crew, providing highlights and analysis with the telestrator.

When TSN re-acquired the national cable rights to the NHL in 2002, Pierre McGuire was hired as its lead hockey analyst. After the 2011 NHL Draft, it was announced McGuire had taken a full-time position as a reporter for NBC Sports, effective as of the 2011-12 season. Pierre still makes occasional appearances as an analyst during TSN's hockey coverage and on TSN Radio.[26]

Other broadcasters used by TSN include play-by-play announcers Dan Shulman (1994-1998), Pierre Houde (1996–97), Vic Rauter (2002-2003), Dave Randorf (2002-2014) and Chris Cuthbert (2005–2020); and colour commentators Ryan Walter (1993-1998), Randy Gregg (1994-1995), Glenn Healy (2003–08), and Mike Johnson (2010-2014).

Staff changes after losing national rights to Rogers

After the NHL announced that it had accepted Rogers' bid over TSN's to take over national cable rights, news sources such as the Toronto Star[27] and the National Post[28] speculated on where TSN's hockey personalities (such as James Duthie, Bob McKenzie, Darren Dreger, Chris Cuthbert, and Gord Miller) would end up. Initially, Rogers was only able to lure Dave Randorf and Mike Johnson among TSN's major personalities. However, Mike Johnson re-joined TSN in September 2017 after being terminated by Rogers Media on August 10, 2016, and would later make appearances on American television for NHL Network and NBC Sports.[29] Despite getting offers from Rogers, Duthie instead signed a long term contract with TSN.[30] In addition, not only did McKenzie, Dreger, Cuthbert, and Miller also decide to stay with TSN, but all four started to appear on a regular basis south of the border on NBC's hockey coverage (McKenzie, Dreger, and Cuthbert officially joined NBC, while Miller, who did occasional play-by-play work for NBC since 2011, saw an increased role).[31][32] Cuthbert and Miller still end up being broadcast to a national audience whenever Rogers simulcasts NBC's feed of regular season and first round playoff games that they are working.

Theme song

In June 2008, CTVglobemedia acquired the rights to "The Hockey Theme" after the CBC failed to renew its rights to the theme song. A re-orchestrated version of the tune, which had been the theme song of Hockey Night in Canada for forty years, has been used for hockey broadcasts on TSN and RDS since the fall of 2008.[33]

TSN announced on the September 24, 2008 edition of SportsCentre the debut date for the song. It began on October 14, when the Colorado Avalanche visited the Calgary Flames.

References

1. "NHL deal with Rogers a huge blow to TSN and CBC: Mudhar". Toronto Star. November 26, 2013. Retrieved November 26, 2013.
2. "TSN's expansion to five national feeds debuts Aug. 25". TSN.ca. Bell Media. Retrieved August 11, 2014.
3. Faguy, Steve (August 18, 2014). "NHL broadcast schedule 2014-15: Who owns rights to what games". Fagstein. Retrieved August 23, 2014.
4. "TSN scores with more Maple Leafs games". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
5. "TSN shut out as Rogers signs 12-year, $5.2B NHL deal, CBC job cuts loom after losing editorial control of HNIC". National Post. 2013-11-26. Archived from the original on 2013-11-28. Retrieved 2013-11-28.
6. "TSN, TSN Radio 1200 become Senators' broadcasters". TSN.ca. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
7. "Senators to sign major new TV deal with Bell, TSN". Ottawa Sun. Retrieved January 29, 2014.
8. "Sens, Lets, and Leafs featured regionally on TSN's feeds". TSN.ca. Bell Media. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
9. "Jets reach broadcast agreement with TSN". Winnipeg Free Press. July 21, 2011. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
10. "Jets game broadcasts moving to TSN3". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
11. "Winnipeg fans flying to buy TSN Jets". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved August 18, 2014.
12. "TSN Acquires Regional Rights to 24 Montreal Canadiens Games". CTVglobemedia (press release). October 21, 2010. Archived from the original on September 12, 2014.
13. "Canadiens, Sportsnet ink new regional deal". Sportsnet.ca. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
14. "TSN becomes official English-language regional broadcaster for Habs". TSN.ca. Retrieved 14 June 2017.
15. "John Bartlett exits TSN Habs coverage, will handle Leafs for Sportsnet". Montreal Gazette. 2018-08-17. Retrieved 2018-08-23.
16. "TSN Features Live Coverage of 50 Regular Season Montreal Canadiens Games as Part of 2018-19 Regional NHL Broadcast Schedule – Bell Media". www.bellmedia.ca. Retrieved 2018-09-15.
17. "From Rookie to Pro". Broadcaster Magazine. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
18. TSN signs new broadcast deal with NHL
19. "TSN shut out as Rogers wins TV rights to 2016 World Cup of Hockey". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
20. Bostrom, Don (February 2, 1986). "NHL ALL-STARS SKATE AROUND JOAN - BARELY PRO HOCKEY". Allentown Morning Call. p. C8.
21. "TSN Announces Toronto Maple Leafs 2020-2021 Regional NHL Broadcast Schedule – Bell Media". www.bellmedia.ca. Retrieved 2021-01-09.
22. "TSN Announces 2020-21 Ottawa Senators Regional NHL Broadcast Schedule – Bell Media". www.bellmedia.ca. Retrieved 2021-01-09.
23. "TSN Announces 2020-2021 Winnipeg Jets Regional NHL Broadcast Schedule – Bell Media". www.bellmedia.ca. Retrieved 2021-01-09.
24. "TSN Announces Montreal Canadiens 2020-2021 Regional NHL Broadcast Schedule – Bell Media". www.bellmedia.ca. Retrieved 2021-01-09.
25. "TSN Celebrates its 30th Annual World Juniors with Exclusive Live Coverage of Canada's Favourite Holiday Hockey Tradition, Live from Czech Republic, Beginning Dec. 26 – Bell Media". www.bellmedia.ca. Retrieved 2020-02-22.
26. "McGuire leaves TSN for full-time gig in U.S". Vancouver Sun. June 28, 2011. Archived from the original on 1 July 2011. Retrieved 11 July 2011.
27. "Rogers-NHL deal: Where will the personalities end up?". Toronto Star. 26 November 2013. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
28. "NHL's deal with Rogers turns Canada's sports television landscape on its head". National Post. 26 November 2013. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
29. Staples, David (August 10, 2016). "Cult of Hockey: Why would Sportsnet let go excellent hockey analyst Mike Johnson?". Edmonton Journal. Retrieved June 29, 2018.
30. "James Duthie spurns overtures from Rogers to stay with TSN". The Globe and Mail. 26 November 2013. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
31. https://www.sbnation.com/nhl/2014/10/7/6935735/bob-mckenzie-darren-dreger-nbcsn-tsn
32. https://www.si.com/more-sports/2014/10/06/espn-nba-television-deal-media-circus
33. "CTV acquires rights to hockey theme song", CTV News, June 9, 2008

External links

• NHL on TSN.ca