Hockey Canada and CTV Specialty Sign Seven-Year Extension Through 2014 -- Exclusive partnership includes broadcast and multimedia rights for
TSN and RDS --
VANCOUVER, Jan. 3 2006 -- In the midst of the most successful IIHF World
Junior Championship broadcast ever, Hockey Canada and CTV Specialty Television
Enterprises Inc. (CTV Specialty) today announced an extension of its long-
standing partnership. Under the new seven-year pact, TSN and RDS retain the
exclusive broadcast rights to Hockey Canada events, as well as the addition of
multimedia rights, strengthening the networks' position as the home for
hockey. The deal begins in 2007 and runs through the 2014 season, representing
a 24-year ongoing relationship dating back to 1991.
The announcement was made on TSN and RDS today during the first
intermission of the Canada/Finland semifinal game at the 2006 IIHF World
Junior Championship in Vancouver.
The deal provides CTV Specialty with exclusive Canadian broadcast rights
in English and French for TSN and RDS, plus rights in all languages, to 11 key
Hockey Canada events including National Championships and International
events. In addition, the agreement gives CTV Specialty the ability to
distribute programming and content to networks within the CTV Inc. family,
including CTV, NHL Network, ESPN Classic and RIS. The seven-year deal also
provides the opportunity to broadcast on radio and broadband, plus emerging
technologies such as video on mobile devices, video-on-demand, podcasting and
interactive TV.
"This partnership delivers on two key objectives: First, it ensures that
TSN and RDS will continue to be the home of international hockey and national
hockey championships for the long-term. Secondly, the increase in the number
of games and tournaments within the package clearly demonstrates our
commitment to hockey at all levels," said Rick Brace, President, CTV Inc.
"TSN and RDS have played a great role for Hockey Canada in promoting our
development programs and initiatives and growing all of our broadcasts and
events, whether National Championships or our men's and women's teams on the
international stage. Our strong partnership also benefits hockey in Canada
with the promotion on the hockey development side within all of our
broadcasts," said Bob Nicholson, President, Hockey Canada.
As part of the agreement, TSN and RDS will televise a minimum of 26 games
from key Hockey Canada tournaments each year, up from the minimum of 22 the
networks currently televise. TSN and RDS will add to its broadcast schedules
the following events:
- Allan Cup - Canada's national Senior Men's AAA Championship, featuring
six teams competing for the title; one of the country's oldest hockey
tournaments
- National Women's Under-18 Championship - teams from Alberta, Manitoba,
Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and Quebec, along with a
representative from the Atlantic Provinces, join two teams from
Ontario to compete for the national title
- World Junior A Challenge - inaugural event takes place November 2006
in Yorkton, Sask., featuring two Canadian (East and West) all-star
Junior A teams against four European teams
TSN and RDS will continue to televise the following popular Hockey Canada
National Championships and International events in which Canada participates:
World Junior Championship, Women's World Championship, World Under-17 Hockey
Challenge, Telus Cup, RBC Royal Bank Cup, Esso Women's National Hockey
Championship, World Men's Under-18 Championship, and the women's national Team
Canada games.
"International hockey and Hockey Canada's National Championships have a
strong and loyal following, as seen by the constant growth in viewership over
the years for both the men's and women's game. TSN is committed to all facets
of hockey and has enjoyed a wonderful partnership with Hockey Canada over the
years," said Phil King, President, TSN.
"We are pleased to further strengthen our commitment to Canadian amateur
hockey and bring a level and variety of hockey coverage like never before,"
said Gerry Frappier, President, RDS. "Our viewers' passion for the sport will
be well-served by this enhanced partnership."
TSN's and RDS's partnership with Hockey Canada dates back to 1991, and
the networks are currently in the fourth year of a five-year agreement. TSN is
enjoying its most successful IIHF World Junior Championship this year, with an
average of 1.24 million viewers(*) for Canada's four round robin games. The
recent Canada/USA round-robin match-up on New Year's Eve attracted 1.4 million
viewers, making it the most watched round robin game in World Junior history.
The popularity of international hockey on TSN is evident as 10 of the Top 20
programs of all-time are international hockey broadcasts, while six of the Top
10 programs on TSN are World Juniors games. The most-watched program ever in
TSN's 21-year history is the Gold Medal Game from the 2003 World Junior
Championship in Halifax, which attracted 3.45 million viewers, followed by
last year's Gold Medal Game from the World Juniors in North Dakota with
3.2 million viewers.
TSN and RDS have been committed to amateur sports and amateur hockey at
all levels since the networks' inception in 1984 and 1989, respectively.
Hockey Canada, a not-for-profit organization, is the governing body for
hockey in Canada. Hockey Canada oversees the management of hockey programming
in Canada from the entry level of the game for coaches, volunteers, players
and officials to hosting National Championships in men's and women's hockey.
Hockey Canada oversees Canada's participation in international competition,
including World Championships, the World Cup of Hockey and Olympic Games.
CTV Specialty Television Inc. is a leader in Canadian specialty
television. Committed to providing Canadian viewers with the highest quality
programming available, it operates world-class specialty services and
production facilities. CTV Specialty has ownership interests in and operates
three of Canada's premier specialty television services - TSN, the top-rated
Canadian specialty channel; RDS, the world's first French-language all-sports
channel; and Discovery Channel, an award-winning specialty channel. CTV
Specialty also manages OLN, featuring adventure-based programming. CTV owns
interests in and operates six digital specialty channels, including; Animal
Planet, a specialty channel focusing on the animal kingdom; Discovery
Civilization, a specialty channel devoted to studying past and present
civilizations; ESPN Classic, which airs encore broadcasts of the most
cherished classic games and moments from the world of sports; CTV Travel, an
English-language travel channel; NHL Network, which delivers 'round-the-clock
hockey programming that offers viewers the most complete and in-depth hockey
coverage; and Le Réseau Info Sports, a French-language sports news channel.
CTV Specialty also owns interests in Dome Productions Inc., Canada's leading
provider of mobile television production facilities, as well as Exploration
Production Inc. and Exploration Distribution Inc. CTV Specialty Television
Inc. is owned by CTV Inc. and ESPN, Inc.
(*)Source: Nielsen Media Research; All audience figures 2+ and exclude
pre- and post-game
For further information: Contacts: Andrea Goldstein, TSN, C - (647)
224-8800, agoldstein@tsn.ca; Nathalie Moreau, RDS,
W - (514) 529-2132, nmoreau@rds.ca; Brad Pascall, Hockey Canada,
C - (403)
703-8561, bpascall@hockeycanada.ca;
Archived images on this organization are searchable through CNW Photo Archive
website at http://photos.newswire.ca. Images are free to
accredited members of
the media. |
|
| Go to Press Releases Index |