2015 IIHF World Championship on TSN Begins Friday

With their additional channels feeds, TSN will be broadcasting more games than ever from the annual Ice Hockey World Championship which begins Friday. Canadians will see 58 games from the tournament, more than double from last year. The broadcast crew is as follows:

TSN’s acclaimed broadcast team of play-by-play commentator Gord Miller and analyst Ray Ferraro call all Team Canada and Group A games from Prague. They are joined by Bryan Mudryk, who delivers rink-side reporting throughout the tournament, and former Swiss Team National coach Sean Simpson, who will provide colour commentary for select Group A games. Play-by-play commentator Dennis Beyak and analyst Shane Hnidy call Group B games from the broadcast booth in Ostrava.

Hosting the network’s coverage from the TSN Studio is Rod Black. He is joined throughout the tournament by analysts Bob Errey and Dave Reid and TSN’s Director of Scouting Craig Button.

All Canada games will get a primetime encore presentation and TSN GO users can watch them live and/or on demand.

Schedule is as follows below. All times are Eastern.

Please Let This Be The End Of Tweets On Sports Broadcasts

The only exciting news to come out of another long NHL Trade Deadline Day on Monday was TSN airing a wildly inappropriate joke tweet that somehow got past whatever social media intern was supposed to be manning the system.

@mlse did you see this little "whoops, oh sh*t" yet? Asleep at the Twitter wheel TSN? Haha pic.twitter.com/RBdLwp3dbE

— Boe Jowen🇨🇦 (@kaboomin80) March 2, 2015

Screenshots of the broadcast quickly spread around the interweb and even earned a reply from one of the players in question. By 1pm, the TSN PR account tweeted out a general apology.

TSN just a poor mans TMZ. Embarrassing.

— Joffrey Lupul (@JLupul) March 2, 2015

Earlier today, an inappropriate and disrespectful tweet was erroneously aired. As soon as it was flagged, we immediately removed it. (1/3)

— TSN PR (@TSN_PR) March 2, 2015

However, TSN didn’t issue a formal online or onscreen apology until last night during their Leafs broadcast, and that was only after the parties involved in the tweet, Maple Leafs players Joffrey Lupul and Dion Phaneuf, and Phaneuf’s wife Elisha Cuthbert issued a lawsuit threat to the network as well as the original author of the tweet in question. Below is the statement:

The following is a statement by Peter A. Gall, Q.C. of Gall Legge Grant & Munroe LLP on behalf of their clients Dion Phaneuf, his wife Elisha Cuthbert and Joffrey Lupul.

“On behalf of our clients Dion Phaneuf, his wife Elisha Cuthbert and Joffrey Lupul, we have sent a letter to TSN demanding that TSN issue a formal apology and pay a significant amount of damages to each of our clients for broadcasting a false and defamatory tweet during their trade deadline show yesterday. We are sending a similar letter to the author of the tweet, Mr. Anthony Adragna.

“It is bad enough that there are people who spend their time using social media to publish such false and malicious stories, but it is made much worse when a reputable media outlet like TSN gives broad circulation and credibility to these false stories by republishing them as TSN did.

“If TSN and Mr. Adragna do not immediately comply with the demands set out in our letters, we have instructions from our clients to immediately commence a lawsuit against them.

And TSN’s apology:

On Monday when TSN was reporting on the NHL trade deadline it displayed a scrolling ticker of tweets from the public.

In spite of TSN’s protocols to prevent unfounded and inappropriate tweets from making it to air, a false, and inappropriate tweet was allowed to run.

There was no basis for the false allegation made in this tweet.

TSN unreservedly apologizes to Joffrey Lupul, Dion Phaneuf and Elisha Cuthbert and regrets any embarrassment this unfortunate incident has caused to them.

It seems unlikely that this will go to court and no doubt TSN will pay damages to the trio in an undisclosed settlement.

We can only hope that this leads to the end of sports broadcasts being filled with boring and uninteresting tweets and hashtags. Does anyone other than the author actually read the endless stream that adds nothing of value to the broadcast? In the end, the TSN’s of the world will most likely continue to show viewer tweets, albeit with much more moderation, as they want to social media for further #engagement and improving their #brand.

— Dan | @SportsOnCdnTV

FIFA Extends Bell Media World Cup TV Rights Through 2026

CBC and Sportsnet will be shut out of broadcasting the World Cup until 2030, at the earliest. In a surprise announcement yesterday that nobody was expecting, FIFA said they were extending their television contracts in Canada with CTV/TSN/RDS and in the US with Fox Sports and Telemundo without a bidding process.

Back in 2011, Bell Media won the World Cup rights from 2015 to 2022 which includes World Cup’s in Russia, Qatar, and the Women’s World Cup later this year in Canada, as well as numerous smaller tournaments. This extension adds the 2026 World Cup to the agreement along with the following tournaments: Women’s World Cup 2023, U20 World Cup 2023 and 2025, U17 World Cup 2023 and 2025, Beach Soccer World Cup 2023 and 2025, Futsal World Cup 2024, U20 Women’s World Cup 2024 and 2026, U17 Women’s World Cup 2024 and 2026, and FIFA Confederations Cup 2025.

“We are delighted to extend our partnership with FIFA and are proud to be the Canadian home of FIFA tournaments for the next 12 years,” said Phil King, President, CTV Programming and Sports. “This is another big win for Bell Media and for soccer fans in Canada. We are ready to welcome the world to this summer’s FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP CANADA 2015™ and are looking forward to showcasing the beautiful game for years to come.”

There is literally only one reason I can think of as to why FIFA would extend their agreements with these two North American broadcasters without the usual bidding process — a make-good gesture for when the 2022 Qatar World Cup will be moved from summer to the fall or winter. In the summer, the World Cup would be going against little other sports programming. With a move to the fall or winter, even with the time difference, World Cup games would clash with NFL and college football among other big-time programming.

Even more puzzling is awarding rights to a World Cup that has no location yet. There is a strong possibility that the USA and/or Canada could host the 2026 World Cup, which would’ve sparked a massive bidding war for record ratings, and we all know FIFA loves money. Now, this could be a major steal for Bell and Fox, something that no doubt is pissing off the ESPN suits.

correcting: Did FIFA just grant rights to WC2026 without opening it up to bidding? #typicalFIFA

— Bob Ley (@BobLeyESPN) February 12, 2015

As for CBC or Sportsnet, there is certainly little chance either network could afford FIFA rights anytime soon, but 2030 is a long time away in the sports media world, so maybe they’ll have a shot then.

2015 NBA All-Star Weekend on TSN

The annual NBA all-star weekend activities take place this weekend from Madison Square Garden and the Barclays Centre in New York City and will feature Kyle Lowry in the big game, the first Toronto Raptor to start in it since 2008.

SportsCentre will be crossing all week to NYC to host Rod Black and analysts Jack Armstrong and former Raptor Morris Peterson along with reporter Jermain Franklin. Coverage of the rising stars challenge, skills and dunk competition, and the all-star game will come from the excellent TNT broadcast crew.

Coverage will also be available via TSN GO and the all-star game available on TSN Radio Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal.

Friday Feb. 13, 9pm ET: BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge – TSN
Saturday Feb. 14, 7pm ET: State Farm All-Star Saturday Night – TSN2
Sunday Feb. 15, 7pm ET: NBA All-Star Game – TSN

2015 Canada Winter Games on TSN and RDS

I have no idea what the Canada Games are. I’m fairly positive I have never ever heard of the Canada Games. It seems a little weird for a country to have its own mini-Olympics. I’m also confused as to why sports such as archery, gymnastics, badminton, squash and judo are in the winter version.

Anywho, TSN and RDS will be covering the 2015 Canada Winter Games. Apparently they’ve been doing this for the past nine events. They will run from February 13 to March 1. All the details below.

TSN and RDS are once again bringing Canadians live coverage of the CANADA GAMES, delivering 40 hours of the action from Prince George, B.C. – host city of the 2015 CANADA WINTER GAMES. Marking the ninth CANADA GAMES to air on TSN and RDS, the 2015 CANADA WINTER GAMES officially get underway with the Opening Ceremony on Friday, Feb. 13 at 10 p.m. ET on TSN2 and RDS2 and culminate with the Closing Ceremony on Sunday, March 1 at 7 p.m. ET on TSN2 and RDS.

Two-time Olympic gold medallist and past CANADA GAMES participant Catriona Le May Doan will be in the TSN Studio to anchor TSN’s live coverage of the 2015 CANADA WINTER GAMES. SPORTSCENTRE’s Paul Hollingsworth will provide play-by-play throughout the CANADA GAMES, including men’s hockey alongside analyst Dave Reid and women’s hockey alongside analyst Cheryl Pounder.

TSN’s broadcast team also features:
Speed Skating: Two-time Olympic silver medallist Susan Auch
Curling: Olympic bronze medallist Melissa Soligo
Badminton: London 2012 Team Canada badminton head coach Ram Nayyar

“We are proud to deliver comprehensive coverage of the 2015 Canada Winter Games,” said Stuart Ballantyne, CEO of the 2015 Canada Winter Games. “Through our broadcast and webcast partnerships, the spirit of the 2015 Games and the northern story will be shared across the nation. From the excitement of the Opening Ceremony to the joy of winning a gold medal, Canadians will be able to journey with us to the 2015 CANADA WINTER GAMES from the comfort of their homes.”

The 2015 CANADA WINTER GAMES brings together more than 2,400 athletes, 1,000 coaches and officials, up to 4,500 volunteers, hundreds of media, and thousands of visitors in Prince George – the first city in British Columbia to host a winter edition of the games. The CANADA GAMES are held once every two years and alternate between winter and summer, representing the highest level of national competition for up-and-coming Canadian athletes.

TSN’s broadcast schedule for the 2015 CANADA WINTER GAMES is below (visit RDS.ca for RDS’s broadcast schedule):

TSN And CTV Team Up For Investigative Piece On Counterfeiting In Sports

Since being hired in July of last year, Rick Westhead has been doing some fantastic work for TSN in the sports business and investigate journalism department, something not really seen from other Canadian sports media outlets. His biggest piece airs this week on TSN and CTV — ‘Faking It’, a look at counterfeiting in the sports industry.

“When Toronto police told me how many fake NHL jerseys have flooded into the Toronto market alone, and how organized crime is becoming more invested in the business, I knew this was a story sports fans needed to hear,” said Rick Westhead. “Fans have such strong emotional ties to their favourite players and teams, and those ties are the reason they are willing to pay so much money for jerseys, game tickets, and autographs. With FAKING IT, we look into the way those three pillars of the sports business areunder attack by counterfeiters.”

FAKING IT examines the ways in which sports fans are being deceived by fake tickets, how some sports memorabilia may not be what it seems, and how bogus team jerseys make their way into the Canadian marketplace.

Along the way, Rick Westhead visits Canada’s biggest sports memorabilia show in an attempt to test the eye of expert authenticators, talks to professional sports organizations and their fans about the proliferation of fake tickets being sold online, and takes a hidden camera inside Chinese factories to investigate the making of knock-off jerseys that could soon be sold under the guise of officially licensed apparel.

In a co-production between SportsCentre and CTV’s investigative news program W5, Westhead will host the feature series that airs in three parts over the next three nights on SportsCentre and in full on Saturday night’s W5.

• Part One: The Name Game – Thursday, Feb. 5 at 6pm ET on SportsCentre
• Part Two: Tickets to Nowhere –  Friday, Feb. 6 at 6pm ET on SportsCentre
• Part Three: Jersey Ploys – Saturday, Feb. 7 at 6pm ET on SportsCentre
• FAKING IT – Saturday, Feb. 7 at 7pm ET on W5

Individual parts will be available for streaming on CTV and TSN digital platforms after each night with the full series available online Saturday night along with bonus footage.

2015 Australian Open Begins Tonight on TSN; More Tennis This Year Than Ever

Tennis fans will see more matches than ever this year as TSN brings multi-feed coverage to all four grand slams beginning tonight with day one of the 2015 Australian Open. TSN launched their five feeds with the US Open last summer so this year we will over 1000 hours of coverage of the Aussie Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.

With the additional coverage, viewers will be able to see every set of Canadian’s Genie Bouchard and Milos Raonic on their television or via TSN GO. Bouchard’s tournament begins tonight with her first round match scheduled for 3am ET on TSN5.

Day one’s coverage starts at 7pm ET tonight with just one feed on TSN5 and runs for 12 hours straight. Day two tomorrow night will see multiple feeds used. As usual with this mostly overnight tournament, TSN will show encore matches during the day. The women’s final will be at 3am ET on Saturday January 31 and the men’s on Sunday February 1 at 3am ET. As usual, a majority of the coverage will come from ESPN and Tennis Channel.

Full TSN schedule is below. Click to embiggen.

UFC Programming Moving To TSN, RDS and Fight Network

For the second time in a few days, TSN and RDS have announced they have grappled away more long-time Sportsnet and TVA Sports sports rights. First, it was the UEFA Champions & Europa League, and now, Bell Media announced yesterday that they have signed a multi-year deal that brings all UFC programming to TSN and RDS. In what one could say is the start of a possible partnership trend, certain UFC programming will also screen on the little-known Fight Network. All the UFC action including major live events, PPV prelim fights, Fight Night and the Ultimate Fighter series will be shown across the country, giving Canadians more programming than ever before!!!

TSN will begin its UFC coverage on January 3 with Countdown to UFC 182 at 7pm ET on TSN4 and TSN5, followed by the UFC 182 prelim fights from 8pm ET. Additional UFC shows such as UFC Now, UFC Unleashed, UFC Ulimate Insider, and Road to the Octagon will begin screening in early 2015.

The Fight Network, which appears to be available on nearly every cable and satellite provider in Canada, will broadcast Fight Night events from around the world and all prelim fights from pay-per-views held out North America. Fight Network will also show all weigh-ins, press conferences and post-fight coverage. They will also partner with TSN and RDS to produce pre-fight programming before PPV events.

Like the Champions League, it is entirely possible Sportsnet and TVA Sports couldn’t afford to spend the money to renew the UFC rights due to the gazillion-dollar NHL deal. One thing that hamstrung them though was that UFC screens a majority of its live events on a Saturday night, a night in which Sportsnet aims to show as many hockey games as possible and TVA Sports shows one game on each of its channels. SN360 will now be free to show NHL every Saturday night and possibly games on Wednesdays which was another UFC-heavy night.

TSN & RDS Grab Rights To UEFA Champions & Europa League From 2015

I’ve given TSN shit over the years for calling themselves The Home of Soccer in Canada despite not having FIFA tournaments, the UEFA Champions League and barely showing any non-Canadian MLS action. Well, it may be time to eat my toque. MLS and EPL games on the network increased with the addition of the three new feeds earlier this year (though still not enough to show a majority of MLS playoff games), TSN has the FIFA Men’s and Women’s World Cups beginning next year and now, TSN and RDS announced today they are the home of the UEFA Champions League and Europa League beginning in 2015.

In the multi-year agreement, TSN will broadcast up to 16 games each week during the group stage and extensive coverage of the knockout rounds and both finals. RDS will cover three games live each week.

In an unusual joint venture, beIN Sports Canada will show over 55 Champions games during the year and more than 90 Europa games providing Canadians will more European high-level football than ever before.

The deal also includes broadcast rights for games to be on TSN Radio across the country.

This huge get for TSN can easily be correlated to the Rogers multi-bazillion dollar NHL deal. Not wanting to speculate, but no doubt Sportsnet didn’t have the money to match what TSN was offering. It will be interesting to see how the EPL rights fall for the 2016 contract.

— Dan, @SportsonCanadianTV

MLS Cup Final and FIFA Women’s World Cup Draw This Weekend on TSN

The six-month countdown to the FIFA Women’s World Cup to be held in Canada begins this weekend with the official draw live from Gatineau, Quebec. TSN and owner Bell Media signed a seven-year deal recently to broadcast all FIFA events beginning with next year’s Women’s World Cup.

Live from the Canadian Museum of History, TSN’s coverage begins at 12pm ET on Saturday on TSN1/3/4 following their 10am English Premier League coverage. The draw will also be streamed online via TSN GO and in French-language on RDS. Following the one-hour draw, TSN delivers 30 minutes of post-draw discussion and analysis at 1pm, including interviews with coaches, players and tournament ambassadors in Gatineau, among them Canada’s women’s national team coach John Herdman and captain Christine Sinclair.

James Duthie and Jennifer Hedger will host the coverage from Gatineau. They will have Jason deVos and Kara Lang beside them providing expert analysis and opinion.

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Sunday afternoon TSN1/4/5 will have ESPN’s full coverage of the 2014 MLS Cup Final featuring the Los Angeles Galaxy taking on the New England Revolution from the StubHub Centre in California live from 3pm ET. The game was also be available online via TSN GO and on RDS2 for French-language viewers.

Commentator Adrian Healey, analyst Taylor Twellman and reporter Mónica Gónzalez will call the match with host Max Bretos, Alexi Lalas and Kasey Keller, providing pregame, halftime and post-game studio coverage from site.  During MLS Cup 2014, ESPN will debut a graphic telestration system that tracks the movement of players in real-time. The visual graphic, created by ChryonHego, is displayed on-screen, either during live play or in a replay, spotlighting key players and enabling viewers a better grasp of the strategy and in-game spatial movements used by the teams. MLS commissioner Don Garber will be interviewed on the ESPN set at halftime also.

As usual, MLS will struggle to get casual viewers going up against the NFL, but really, what other choice do they have? If it’s not NFL on Sundays as ratings competition, it would be college football on Saturday.

Videotron Becomes Final Provider To Offer Additional TSN Feeds

At the end of August, TSN launched three additional channels to create five individual and regionalized feeds for subscribers across the country. Of the dozen or so individual TV providers across the country, Quebec-based company Videotron was the only one not to, resulting in viewers missing out on US Open programming at the beginning and more recently, NFL telecasts. Subscribers who called TSN to complain were sent in the direction of Videotron, who were balking for whatever reason at carrying the three new channels.

As the Montreal Gazette reports, Videotron subscribers will finally be able to enjoy all five channels beginning this week.

Vidéotron president Manon Brouillette confirmed to The Gazette a month ago that the company had reached a deal to expand the number of TSN feeds from two to five, all in high definition. Shortly thereafter, Vidéotron started telling customers that it was adding the other three feeds on Oct. 29. The company told The Gazette on Friday that TSN1 will launch early, on Oct. 20, in time for the next Monday Night Football. The existing channels will be moved, so TSN1-5 are at to 186-190 in standard definition and 786-790 in HD. And all five feeds will be free to Vidéotron’s existing TSN subscribers and will count as a single channel in custom packages.

Currently, Videotron subscribers only receive TSN2, the national feed, and TSN5, the regional feed for Quebec and Atlantic Canada. At times, TSN uses all five feeds to show five different events taking place, so Videotron customers have been missing out on certain matches and events. After October 29, all digital cable and satellite customers in Canada will have access to TSN 1–5.

TSN New Channel Placement and First Week Schedule

TSN launches three additional channels today, as outlined over the weekend. One change from that previous post is that Alberta will have TSN1 as their primary channel, not TSN2.

For those having trouble finding the channel numbers for TSN3, TSN4 and TSN5 on their cable/satellite provider, here they are:

With the new feeds, TSN promises:

• More hockey: Expansion of international events such as more games at from the World Juniors and Hockey Championships, in addition to their NHL regional coverage
• More tennis: Additional court feeds for all majors, starting today with the US Open
• More football: Expansion of NCAA football coverage this season, in addition to every CFL game and Sunday and Monday NFL games
• More soccer: Expanded EPL coverage with more games on Saturdays and expansion of MLS coverage, in addition to upcoming international tournaments
• More golf: Expanded coverage of majors, including featured hole feeds and increased studio programming and highlight shows
• More baseball: More coverage of MLB from ESPN’s Sunday, Monday and Wednesday Night Baseball as well as Baseball Tonight
• More basketball: In addition to nearly 50 Raptors, expect more coverage during the NCAA regular season as well as more March Madness games on your screen
• More curling: More feeds of more games during TSN’s curling coverage
• More auto racing: Expanded Formula 1 and NASCAR (Sprint Cup, Nationwide, Canadian Tire Series) programming

Below are some are some fancy images outlining schedule with the new feeds:

US Open Coverage on TSN Begins Monday With More Tennis Than Ever

The 2014 US Open from the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York begins on Monday and coincides with TSN expanding from two national channels to five, and with the additional channels comes more grand slam coverage than Canada has ever seen with nearly 300 hours of tennis action over the next two weeks.

During the first week, TSN will offer up to four different feeds across the network enabling viewers to potentially watch four matches at once. Before action begins on Monday, Rod Smith will host a 30-minute special at 10:30am ET on TSN 1, 3, 4 & 5 previewing the US Open as well as giving a rundown of the new feeds and what choices will be available.

Fans will be told what games are currently on what channel via onscreen graphics as well from studio host Kara Wagland. Mark Masters will be onsite to follow Canadians Milos Raonic, Genie Bouchard and Vasek Pospisil as they look to continue their form from Wimbledon, providing live reports during the broadcast as well as online at TSN.ca.

As per the schedule below, TSN will have two channels dedicated to specific courts and two channels floating between matches, interviews and press conferences. One floating feed will definitely be ESPN, with the second either being Tennis Channel or CBS Sports Network (who are in their final year of broadcasting the US Open after 47 years. ESPN takes over full rights in 2015).

CBS will cover the women’s and men’s finals (Sun. Sept. 7 at 4:30pm ET and Mon. Sept. 8 at 5pm ET) and have a special ‘CBS Salutes the US Open’ on Sunday at 1:30pm ET looking back at the past 46 years of coverage featuring long-time play-by-play announcer Dick Enberg, who will also call a match on Sunday alongside former partners John McEnroe and Mary Carillo.

While TSN has stepped up its coverage dramatically, it still lags behind what ESPN offers online, and this year, ESPN will have a new feature called “ESPN 3 Surround” during prime-time matches on Arthur Ashe Stadium. Matches will be able to be viewed online with four windows — the traditional end court view, the view from above via Spidercam, and two smaller boxes showing each player exclusively. ESPN3 also offers 400 hours of live compeition online with up to seven courts available to choose from. TSN will only feature streams of the four feeds at TSN.ca and via the TSN GO app.

RDS will provide around 115 hours of coverage with Yvan Ponton and Hélène Pelletier providing commentary throughout the tournament. Anouk Grignon-L’Anglais will be onsite. The full RDS schedule can be found at RDS.ca.

TSN’s schedule for the first week is below with the second week coming out later during the tournament. All times are Eastern.

More Tennis, More EPL, More NCAA Football: TSN’s New Channels Go Live Monday Morning

Circle your calendars, people!! Monday morning at 10:30am ET, TSN will go from having two national channels to five in a bid to remain the number one sports network in Canada in light of losing the national NHL rights to Rogers. Announced back in May, TSN and TSN2 will become TSN 1 through 5 as three additional channels come online just in time to broadcast the final tennis major of the year, the US Open from Flushing Meadows in New York. All channels will be available on TSN.ca and the TSN GO app.

Four of the five TSN’s will be used as regional feeds for NHL games this season, doing away with alternate channels such as TSN-Jets and TSN-Sens which were only available in that particular market. Similar to how Sportsnet’s channels are broken down by region, TSN will be similar, as follows:

TSN 1 — BC, Yukon, (Update: Alberta) (Pacific)
TSN 2 — National
TSN 3 — Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories, Nunavut (West)
TSN 4 — Leafs viewing area (Most of Ontario)
TSN 5 — Eastern Ontario, Quebec, Atlantic (East)

TSN haven’t stated outright this is how it structured, but based on the release of their regional games for the Senators, Leafs and Jets, as well as other information, it should follow this pattern. I don’t know at all the way most cable/satellite TV packages work across the country, but if regular/current TSN is part of the basic package, that will switch to the TSN associated with your region. For example, regular TSN in Montreal will become TSN 5 as the basic/default TSN channel. At times, TSN 1, 3, 4, 5 will be showing the same programming for big events in order to reach the maximum number of viewers possibly (those with only basic cable).

The following providers have signed on to have all five networks available to customers (Videotron seems to be the biggest name that is missing):

• Bell Fibe / Satellite
• Cogeco Cable
• Eastlink
• FibreOP TV (Bell Aliant)
• MTS
• Rogers
• SaskTel
• Shaw
• Shaw Direct
• Source Cable
• TELUS Optik TV

UPDATE: Channels listings for each provider can be found here.

The TSN presser about the new channels touts “more live game coverage, more choice of games/events taking place at the same time, expanded coverage of marquee live events, and effective scheduling of TSN studio programming”. This is noticeable from day one. TSN will dedicate four channels (TSN 1, 3, 4, 5) to showing four different feeds from the US Open (a more detailed US Open post to come later this weekend). Two feeds will feature dedicated court coverage, another will be ESPN’s feed featuring interviews and court-to-court coverage (jumping around to certain matches) and the fourth will also be court-to-court coverage (possibly the feed from the Tennis Channel).

Here is what the first week looks like as per my Bell guide:

Monday

• Four different feeds for US Open coverage on TSN 1, 3, 4, 5 all day and night.
• EPL game on TSN 2 at 3pm ET.
• Off The Record, Pardon the Interruption, Sportscentre from 5pm to 7pm ET on TSN 2.
• Monday Night Baseball on TSN 2 at 7pm ET.
• Sportscentre at 11pm ET on TSN 1, 3, 4, 5 and loops overnight. Random/replay programming on TSN 2.

Tuesday and Wednesday

• US Open coverage on TSN 1, 3, 4, 5 all day and night.
• TSN 2 canned programming during day. OTR, PTI, SC and studio programming run during afternoon and evening.

Thursday

• Same as above but instead we get something new: Two NCAA football games on Thursday night. College football fans rejoice! Wake vs. Louisiana-Monroe at 7pm on TSN 2 (from ESPN U). Boise State vs. Mississippi at 8pm ET on TSN 3 (from ESPN).

Friday

• Sportscentre loops in the morning on 1, 3-5, TSN 2 has Aussie Rules football live.
• US Open coverage as above but with something new: 2:30pm ET on TSN 2 is NASCAR Sprint Cup practice. Speed Channel (RIP) fans rejoice!
• Friday night US Open coverage goes to only TSN 2 while the other channels show SC at 6pm followed by CFL.
• NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying shown on delay at 11:30pm ET on TSN 4.

Saturday

• Three different EPL games on TSN 1, 3, 4 in the morning. No more online-only game and all five 10am EPL games will be on Canadian TV. Soccer fans rejoice!
• ESPN College Gameday on TSN 2. Sportscentre loop on TSN 5.
• Into the afternoon, US Open on TSN 2, 4, 5. NCAA football double-header on TSN 2 and 3. That’s four games. NCAA fans are foaming at the mouth at this stage.
• Saturday night: US Open on TSN 1, 4 & 5, NCAA on TSN 3, NASCAR on TSN 2 and MLS late on TSN 1 (Vancouver in action, hence the game on the “Pacific” feed).

Sunday

• Both early EPL games: Tottenham vs. Liverpool on TSN 1 & 4, Aston Villa vs. Hull on TSN 3 & 5. SC loop on TSN 2.
• US Open features on all five channels at 11am, with TSN 5 breaking away in the afternoon for NASCAR Canadian Truck series.
• CFL matchup Winnipeg vs. Saskatchewan at 4pm ET on TSN 1, 3, 4, 5; US Open coverage continues only on TSN2.
• Sunday night has NASCAR on TSN 1 & 5, US Open on TSN 2 & 4, and Sunday Night Baseball on TSN 3.

So there we have it. More US Open than ever before, more EPL than before, more college football and more NASCAR, and that’s just week one. Seems safe to say this will be nothing like the way Sportsnet uses their four regional channels, showing the same programming 95% of the time. If you only have one TSN channel on your cable package, prepare to miss out a lot of sporting action in the future (then again, that’s the point right? To get more people to subscribe to a higher-tiered package to get all five channels).

For those on Bell, the new channels will be on channels 1400 through 1404.

2014 NCAA March Madness on TSN

A little late in posting this (that said, who really watches the (stupidly-named) first round anyway?), but here are all the details you need for the 2014 edition of March Madness on TSN, TSN2 and RDS.

TSN platforms deliver exclusive, live, and complete coverage of NCAA March Madness, the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. TSN’s exclusive coverage showcases the numerous top Canadian players competing in NCAA March Madness, including Andrew Wiggins, Tyler Ennis, Melvin Ejim, Kevin Pangos, and more.

TSN platforms give Canadians access to every single game from the tournament, with all rounds available on TSN and TSN2 (see complete broadcast schedule below). New this year, TSN subscribers can live stream the network’s NCAA March Madness coverage on their smartphones, tablets, and computers at no additional charge through TSN GO.

TSN GO will deliver live coverage from all four First Round games as well bonus live streams from all four venues during the Second Round – giving subscribers live streaming access to every game in its entirety.

Multi-platform Coverage

From March 20-21, TSN platforms combine to deliver every game from the Second Round for TSN subscribers:

TSN’s coverage begins at 4:30 p.m. ET on March 20 and at 12 noon ET on March 21
TSN2’s coverage begins at 11 a.m. ET on both days
TSN GO offers TSN subscribers bonus online coverage, with live streams of all four venues delivering all 32 Second Round games in their entirety. Coverage begins at 12 noon ET on both days.
From March 22 to April 5, fans can follow all the action from the Third Round to the Final Four on TSN, TSN2, and TSN GO. The madness culminates with the championship game on Monday, April 7 at 9 p.m. ET live on TSN and TSN GO.

French-language coverage of the tournament is available on RDS from the Second Round to the championship game.

Broadcast Team

New this year, Gurdeep Ahluwalia hosts TSN’s NCAA March Madness coverage from the TSN Studio alongside analysts Jack Armstrong, Sam Mitchell, and Leo Rautins. The original studio show features pre- and post-game analysis of the day’s action and live look-ins to various games.

SPORTSCENTRE

Canada’s most-watched sports news and information show covers all angles of the tournament with daily features and reports from NCAA March Madness starting today. Reporters on location for the opening weekend of the tournament include Jermain Franklin in St. Louis to follow Andrew Wiggins of Vaughan, Ont., and Matthew Scianitti in Buffalo to follow Tyler Ennis of Brampton, Ont. As well, SPORTSCENTRE features breaking news, daily highlights, technical breakdowns, bracket updates, and more, all-tournament long.

TSN Original Features

TSN showcases some of the top Canadian players competing in NCAA March Madness with TSN Original features on:

Thornhill, Ont.’s Andrew Wiggins (Kansas), a projected top pick in this year’s NBA Draft
Toronto’s Melvin Ejim (Iowa State), who was just named the Big 12 Conference player of the year
Tyler Ennis (Syracuse), who hails from Brampton, Ont. and is considered the most clutch freshman in NCAA basketball
Kevin Pangos (Gonzaga) of Newmarket, Ont., who led the Bulldogs to another West Coast Conference title
These TSN Original features air throughout the tournament, and will also be available on demand on TSN.ca and TSN GO.

TSN Radio

Live coverage of NCAA March Madness will be available throughout the tournament on TSN Radio stations across the country: TSN Radio 1050 in Toronto, TSN Radio 690 in Montreal, TSN Radio 1290 in Winnipeg, TSN Radio 1200 in Ottawa,TSN Radio 1260 in Edmonton, and TEAM 1040 in Vancouver. Fans can tune in for select live game action and expert analysis from the Second Round through to the championship game (please visit each station’s dedicated website for broadcast details).