EDIT: For more up-to-date information on TSN’s coverage see “Rugby World Cup Starts Tomorrow on TSN and TSN2” and the full broadcast schedule.
And the news on where the major sports events of 2011 will air continues to roll out today. I have found out that TSN and TSN2 will exclusively broadcast the 2011 Rugby World Cup in Canada. TSN and TSN2 will also have the 2015 Rugby World Cup. The 2011 tournament takes place from September 9-October 23 in New Zealand, with the final at the 60, 000 seat Eden Park in Auckland. TSN or TSN2 will broadcast all Canadian games, the quarter finals, semi finals and the final live. They will also have other key games.
For more updates on the Rugby World Cup, and all things Canadian sports media, follow me on Twitter.
A Rouge Point 
Will TSN and or TSN2 repeat these games later the next day? I don’t think many rugby fans like myself will watch these games that early or late in the morning.
In addition, who will air the rest of the games, will TSN sub-license the rest of the games to maybe Setanta Sports or another channel?
Thanks
I don’t really know any other information yet. I expect that TSN2 will repeat some of the games. I think that NBC will re-air the final on Sunday afternoon.
Pedro… you have to get up to watch them at this time… that is what rugby fans do!
Surprised to see South Africa missing from the ‘best of the best’ list. They are one of the big 5 along with Australia, NZ, England and France
I’d put them there too talentwise, just not sure that they have the following in Canada that the others do.
They have a huge following in Canada
I was not aware of that, thanks.
What no South Africa, come on … they are the best of the best and have a huge following in Canada
This is f@!king awesome! 2007 rugby world cup setanta had the exclusive rights to north america; this meant regardless of weather you watched on the internet, pay per view at home, or went to the pub to watch it – it was going to sting you $25 dollars per game which definitely adds up over a dozen games or so. I for one will definitely be staying up late to watch these games; however at the least, if you watch a lot of rugby, you should have a PVR by now (get it sorted!). Go the AB’s!
setanta canada is showing all 48 match live,channel 2420 YAY HD
Setanta Canada isn’t showing any matches. Don’t know where you got your information. TSN/TSN2 will have live coverage in Canada.
Yahoo, I was so worried I would have to buy Setanta for a month. I hope the games will be rebroadcast at a better hour for us east coast types and have more than just the Canadian games. Being an All Blacks fan for many years and having suffered through their losses in the last 3 cups I am hopeful that this time the cup will stay in New Zealand. Thank you TSN for both the Tour de France and the Rugby. Maybe TSN could make a commitment to more Rugby during the year. After all it is the best game in the world and many Canadian women and men enjoy the intricacies of its play both on and off the pitch.
I have a feeling that TSN’s contract for the World Cup could include other IRB events. I’m not certain of that though.
Hi Louise,
You can find a great deal of top-level rugby content on Setanta which is not available on other channels. Our existing subscribers are well aware that the channel is well worth the price. Setanta has exclusive rights to the following:
– Super 15
– ITM Cup
– Tri Nations
– Currie Cup
– Magners League
– Heineken Cup
– Aviva Premiership
– IRB Rugby 7s
Andy Shapiera (Marketing Manager, Setanta Sports Canada)
Come on Andy – Shameless sales pitch.
I for one am a disappointed Setanta subscriber. For all international matches which they advertise they air they play them a day later so they can charge you $20 per head at your local pub to watch it live (on their sister channel – Premium sports),
Sooooo, when I heard that the WC was going to be shown on TSN I had a grin from ear to ear. Very exciting news. I’m sure they’ll show the games delayed as well as live. Not much other sports happening in parallel so may even get some prime time stuff and good bar atmosphere watching (for free!)
I think we may see primetime repeats on TSN2 for sure, maybe not TSN though. TSN will have CFL on Friday/Saturday night and NFL on Sunday/Monday night, as well as NHL preseason and NHL regular season in October. TSN2 certainly has a lots of primetime slots open though. I think it could work like the French Open, Wimbledon and Tour de France.
Sorry Andy – Setanta is a huge waste of time for Rugby – I signed up to see the 6 Nations only to find out it was on 24-48 delay and that was after forking over $15/month – youy were not upfront about it – was in very small typeface. Setanta is the soccer channel – face up to it.
Very pleased the RWC will be on TSN – was just about to have to switch from ExpressVu to Shaw to be able to see the games
Yes, Setanta does “broadcast,” our have the exclusive rights to this content, sadly!!
Unfortunately though, on a weekend that would normally have 5 – 6 games of rugby they will only cover one and the rest of the time it’s soccer, soccer, soccer, and in case you might the replay’s replay, there is a little more soccer.
“Our existing subscribers are well aware that the channel is well worth the price”
WRONG – No Rugby World Cup and no 6 Nations = I am canceling my $15 per month subscription with Setanta and will be watching the matches FOR FREE on HD with TSN.
As far as I know Setanta still has 6 Nations, not TSN.
Do you have any plans to show IRB7s live, instead of two weeks late coverage of selected tournaments like last year?
TSN never has broadcast the IRB 7s. Sportsnet World will probably show it. It would be best to ask them on their Facebook page.
Where did you get the “confirmed” schedule for TSN/TSN2?
Their media site says “TSN is the exclusive home in Canada for Rugby’s showcase event. TSN and TSN2 will broadcast all Team Canada matches, the quarter-finals, semifinals and Finals along with other key matches from the 2011 and 2015 tournaments. Coverage will be broadcast in High Definition and be available on various TSN platforms. Featured on:TSN, TSN2”
Do you think the NFL labor dispute will be resolved by then?
Looks like it will be. I think a deal will be in place by the start of August.
Click to access rugby_world_cup_2011_tsn_and_tsn2_broadcast_schedule.pdf
During a ticat game last week TSN said they would be showing all games on either TSN or TSN2, not just the select few they announced in the release.
I missed that. Sounds great (more than I expected to be honest). Thanks.
Great to hear it. I can’t get Setanta in my locale without buying a satellite dish and, frankly, their badly unprepared/unresearched commentators did such a hatchet job on Canada last time I wasn’t too impressed.
Those times look like EDT times ……. based on the actual game times in Kiwi-land. PLEASE tell me that they’ll be broadcast simultaneously across the country so that we can see them live (at a reasonable hour) in BC.
Yes they are EDT times (best way to keep it simple, NZ switches from DST to standard time midway through the World Cup). They will be live across the country. Gotta love how well it works for you guys out west. I expect the full schedule will be release soon, so check back for it.
Before you sign op to Setanta Canada in the belief you will get RWC coverage see the reply they gave to my inquiry a few days ago:
Q: I am purchasing Setanta thru Rogers in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. My interest is exclusively Rugby Union.
What is your planned coverage of Rugby World Cup 2011? Specifically will you be covering Ireland games live? What about other European teams?
I was extremely disappointed at the coverage in the last RWC. Currently, you do not seem to be covering the Irish pre-RWC games.
A: Thank you for your query.
Unfortunately, Setanta Sports does no have the broadcasting rights for the Rugby World Cup 2011 in Canada. To be updated of our latest schedule, please visit our website, http://www.setanta.com/ca/TV-Listings/ .
If you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.
I think this post makes it pretty clear that TSN, not Setanta, has rights to the 2011 World Cup.
I’d never subscribe to a channel (in particular a $15/month one) assuming they would show something though. Always good to check first.
What happened to South Africa? when mentioning the teams that are the best of the best you forgot to mention them and I think they are way in front of some of the teams you mentioned, after all they have won the World Cup Twice in the not so distant past! Lets hope we can see a few of theirgames too ! GO BOKS GO!!!
The teams I listed were just ones that have many expats in Canada who support them. Of course South Africa is one of the favourites.
are all the times you posted in eastern standard time?
Yes
Click to access rugby_world_cup_2011_tsn_and_tsn2_broadcast_schedule.pdf
here is the full listing
what is wrong with u guys all tsn knows is the maple leafs ,maple leafs the jays ,the argos, the raptors,and t.o fc what the f… they know about rugby. i know rugby cause im from fiji
Would you rather the games be on PPV for a couple hundred $. Or on Setanta for $15 a month. Why complain when the games are all on channels that many sports fans get. Nobody else is complaining.
dude they gonna be streamming it live
let me ask give me one reason that tsn cares about rugby, man i had to watch irb sevens on my pc all year, what do u think tsn was showing or doing than?
With all due respect, this event is a bit bigger than IRB 7s. Frankly, who cares if TSN cares about rugby. They are giving the biggest rugby event in the world the best coverage it has ever received in Canada. All except 2 games live on TV. Lots of repeats. Again, I don’t see why you are complaining.
For what its worth, TSN doesn’t have Canadian rights to the IRB 7s. Setanta Sports does.
if tsn is canadian than why has setanta got canadian rights whereas the british tv this is supposed to be our backyard, instead of showing poker etc the could have showed tri-nations which just ended if they cared, frankly speaking tsn is and always being a biased network thank u very much
Again, Setanta is a Canadian network and they also owned rights to Tri-Nations.
You say this is “our backyard”, yet the Tri-Nations takes place far away from Canada. TSN is showing the Rugby World Cup because it is a huge event and Canada is playing in it.
If TSN “didn’t care” about rugby, then they wouldn’t be showing almost every game of the World Cup.
if tsn did care about rugby than they should have got rights to all rugby events long ago why wait so long
You make it sound as if TSN is a charity, not a business. They would have if it made sense from a business standpoint. Fact is, rugby doesn’t get very good ratings in Canada. The only way to make money off most rugby competitions is to charge subscribers a premium subscription ($15, like Setanta does) to watch the games. TSN has shown a few Canadian internationals over the years, which is where most of the interest in the sport is in Canada.
Your argument is flawed. You are confusing caring about a sport with making smart business decisions. One could argue that Sportsnet doesn’t care about Canadian football because they don’t show it. That isn’t true, they just don’t believe it is a good business decision to invest money in it.
Rugby is a growing sport in Canada, but it still can’t even pull in the ratings of other niche team sports like soccer and basketball. Games tend to be on either during the middle of the night, when nobody is watching, or on weekend afternoons when there are other sports on that more people watch.
so money money money screw the people they will make us watch whatever they want. rugby fans from all over the world live in canada and we have been deprived of our beloved sport by smart business decision?, i know for for a fact that i with the others rugby fans have stayed up all night just to watch the sport we love, even though it was streammed on the internet (irb sevens)
Yes, but there really aren’t that many rugby fans in Canada, compared to other sports.
I honestly don’t understand why you are complaining. It is a shock that TSN is showing this amount of coverage of the World Cup. Just take it for what it is and be happy. Your favourite sport is getting mainstream coverage; maybe it will be as popular as basketball or soccer 10-20 years down the road.
And you haven’t been deprived of your sport. Its readily available on Setanta, the channel that has the rights to most of the big events. If TSN were to buy rights to these rugby events, subscription rates would go through the roof. The majority of people who subscribe to it, wouldn’t want that.
If you want to watch rugby, its available on Setanta. Its not as though major rugby events aren’t shown in Canada because virtually all of them are.
The other option for the World Cup was Setanta, a channel which some may say “cares” about rugby more than TSN. If you’d rather pay $15 to watch an event that most are getting for free, then I really don’t get your thinking.
go canadan go n go fiji go
this is useless, you buy the rights to the world cup then dont show all the games. Setanta would’ve showed all the games, especially South Africa. Way to ruin my world cup
Um, they are showing all of the games except 2, and those 2 are available on TSN.ca. I’m not sure what you’re complaining about.
Being a Kiwi recently moved to Canada I almost had a heart attack when after scanning Setanta listings I couldn’t find any RWC coverage.
So Yeah ignore the whingers… Cheers TSN!!
P.S you should also look into the cost of securing some 4 nations rugby league broadcasting rights (especially NZ vs AUS). The sport is more closely linked to NFL without all the forward passes, rest breaks and protective gear. Further Rugby league in my view also has bigger hits and the linebreaks are also more impressive (which the north American Crowd is bound to appreciate) when comapred to Rugby.
But Yeah for now all that matters is the RWC Go the AB’s!!!
Yeah, I like rugby league a lot too. CBC is actually showing an international between Canada and the US on September 17 at 3:30pm ET I believe. If that gets okay ratings, then knows, maybe the sport will get more mainstream coverage here in Canada.
The thing is, for casual fans, rugby league strategy is much easier to understand compared to union.
i like the way u suggest MAYBE . did u guys c the pre game prior to can vs tonga except 4 gareth rees and brian spanton that nigel reed guy had no clue wat to say or talk about. looked like he was lost or just doesnt have it in him, tsn get someone else please.
BY THE WAY FIJI WILL EVENTUALLY BEAT S.A TONIGHT
This page has quite a few comments. You’ll have to be a bit more clear on what I (or someone else) said maybe about.
Would there be a better choice than Reed somewhere in Canada, maybe. TSN chose him because he has an English accent (which yes, is a stupid reason) and a bit of a background in rugby (obviously growing up in England, he’s watched his fair share of it). I’m not sure that most other sportscasters in Canada would have been a better choice. I like Rees and Spanton; and again, any pre-game show is better than none at all.
And not so much on Fiji beating South Africa. I think the Springboks are co-favourites to win right now, along with New Zealand.
Yo Ron – Go have take your Yaqona and go to sleep!