What's with the tennis???

On Sunday I turned to TSN4, where the game was scheduled to be shown, and the US Open tennis was on. No big deal, I turned to TSN1 and watched the game there.

On Monday I couldn’t go to the game (I hate missing Labour Day) but watched the Ticats on TV. Just as the Alberta game was about to start, TSN4 again switched to tennis. Not as easy to find the game this time around, as two of the three stations that had the game scheduled were showing the US Open. Again, this was no big deal, but I was starting to feel slighted. Is TSN telling me that, no matter what sport I choose to watch on their network, I really SHOULD only care about this one?

And then I found out that a friend of my mother’s has a cable package that doesn’t include all five TSN stations. I thought if you got one, you got them all, but she says no. She missed the Bomber/Rider game, though she was watching the Monday games at the house of a neighbour who has the complete package.

It seems to me that if a CFL game is scheduled on one of the channels, it should be shown there. It’s not like they didn’t know the US Open was going to be played at that time, and in fact they scheduled it on a couple of their other stations. Show it where it’s scheduled.

This mostly bothers me because I feel it is a slap in the face to the CFL. Would they pull this kind of crap with an NFL broadcast?

The thing that got me is it wasn't even any important Tennis matchups.

I'm no Tennis fan, but I understand the names of Bouchard, Nadal, Djvokavic and Raonic. In both cases it was two bottom of the pack players the first time, and the second time was a pair of doubles I had never heard of, or could possibly care about living in Canada.

It's absurd that you would take Labour day classic games, some of the most watched Football in the country and replace them with mediocre, US Open tennis.

Just ensure you get the TSN 1 on your cable package. Probably takes a minute to change. They have 5 channels, why would they put the same thing on all 5 channels? :roll:

They didn’t TSN was carrying the game on three feeds .

I watched all of Mondays games on TSN 1. I don’t think it’s all that much to get all the TSN channels. If your a sports fan it’s probably worth it.

I only get 4 tsn channels. I think its tsn 2 that i am missing

Plus when they put tennis on your 'main' TSN channel - which is what TSN4 is in Southern Ontario - instead of a CFL game you lose some of the viewers who even get some of the other TSN channels who would not think to go look to see what is on the other TSN channels that for some are on a completely different range of Channel numbers on their cable.

On my Cogeco Cable here in Hamilton all the HD over the air channels like CTV, CBC, Global, CITY etc start at 701. The American networks are in the 712-716 range.

Things like the Family Channel, YTV, Comedy etc are in thr 720's

Almost all the sports channels are in the 730's and 740's but not the 3 other TSN stations.

TSN4 is 730, TSN 2 is 731, Sportsnet West, Pacific, Ontario, East, Sportsnet 1, Sportsnet World are are 732 - 736 and other sports related channels like Leafs TV, NFL Network, BIG 10, NBA, GOLF Channel and Sportsnet 360 are all in that 730-749 range.

Where are TSN1, 3 and 5? Way up at 861-865 where they also repeat TSN4 and TSN2.

I had Cogeco Cable for weeks before I even realized the other TSN channels were way up there - nowhere near the main groupng of most watched stations including most sports stations. And even knowing they are up there now I often forget to look up that high if something like tennis is on TSN2 and TSN4 down in the 700's with all the other channels and I find something on one of the other channels to watch - forgetting to scroll up to the 860 range to see what is on those other TSN stations.

So that can't be helping CFL numbers either. I would not be surprised at all if some people in Southern Ontario who are casual fans who may have watched at least a part of the CFL game did not even realize it was on the other TSN stations after they found tennis on their 'main' TSN stations - TSN4 and TSN2.

They only have 2 channels. Tsn 1,3,4 and 5 are regional channels which is why they almost always have the same programming and TSN2 is the second channel. If you only get a basic package you only get one TSN channel (1,3,4,or 5) unless you’re in eastern Ontario and we magically get the Ontario feed and the East feed (3 and 5 I believe). So when they show a CFL game on only 2 of the 4 main channels they are only hitting half the country.

Since TSN expanded to 5 channels, CFL viewership has suffered with games shuttled from station to station. Fans never know for sure which station CFL games will be on and can be bumped to another channel (which many people don't subscribe to). This has contributed to a drop in CFL viewership.

When TSN got exclusive rights to CFL games they immediately dropped the CFL's popular "pay-per-view" service. Many fans outside Canada had relied upon this service to follow their CFL team.

Then TSN blocked anyone outside North American from watching archived CFL games from their website.

TSN has also blocked most fans in western Canada from watching archived CFL games over the past two seasons. Anyone with Shaw Cable, which has about 90% of the western cable market, is blocked from viewing archived games. Western Canada is the heartland of Canadian football and this makes it harder to follow their CFL team.

Now there's the issue of TSN radio blocking CFL games from being listened to on the internet. Early this season, when I tried to listen to an Argo game, I was greeted by a "check back momentarily" box. I checked back several times over few hours but the "check back momentarily" box kept coming up. This happened again and again over the first few weeks with all online TSN radio CFL broadcasts. I assumed this was due to Pan-Am game coverage and TSN didn't bother to provide a link or message to CFL fans about where the game could be listed to? I gave up trying to stream TSN radio of CFL games until Monday...and sure enough, I got a endless "buffering" message on both the RedBlacks and Argos TSN radio broadcasts. I have no trouble streaming CFL radio games on non-TSN stations on the internet.

When you click the Argos TSN 1050 radio link on the CFL website you are greeted by a "404-Page not found" page. Click on the new Ticats TSN 1150 radio link, the old CHML 930 website pops up. The Stampeders radio link also brings up a "404-Page not found" message and has for the past 3 seasons, after the station changed their call-sign and website. Very professional CFL.

http://www.cfl.ca/page/game_broadcast#Team%20Radio

I realize Bell/CTV/TSN is totally committed to growing the NFL, but is TSN really interested in growing their CFL audience or even keeping the fans they already have? It seems TSN gives the CFL only the minimum coverage considering they have the exclusive broadcasting rights. TSN saturates CFL broadcasts with NFL promos, Sunday night, Monday night and even CTV Sunday NFL games which run head-to-head against a TSN CFL game. TSN runs very slick promos for CTV's NFL games on the CFL but will rarely mention a CFL game which can also be watched in the same Sunday timeslot. Could this shunning be a subtle message to the league about scheduling Sunday CFL games up against their vaunted NFL? (CFL ratings routinely match or exceed the NFL on Sunday). I wonder if Bell runs equally dynamic and prolific CFL ads during CTV NFL games?

What is really going on here? Does Bell believe the CFL market has topped out or is withering away while they see larger growth potential in NFL broadcasts? So far, that strategy seems to be working. NFL viewership has grown steadily and impressively since TSN got exclusive CFL broadcasting rights. So if the CFL didn't exist or was diminished to senior lacrosse level, wouldn't that draw even more viewers to the NFL in Canada? If the NFL was as popular in Canada as in the U.S. wouldn't that substantially increase Bell's profits? Which mega-corporations are really in CFL's corner...not Rogers, that I'm sure of.

Some may point to Bell/MLSE2/3 purchasing the Argos...but as one powerful figure proclaimed "keep your friends close and your enemies closer." :expressionless:

[i]What's with the tennis? THIS :rockin: :

[/i]

[i]Oh, stop crying you big baby! :roll:

Man up and grow a pair. [/i]

Out west, I had to get the additional sports package with Shaw to get all 5 TSN channels.
With basic, all you get is TSN 3 (Man/Sask) and TSN 2. I bought the sports package, because the TSN 3 feed, was actually the Winnipeg Jets regional channel, so last year I missed a few games due to Jets exhibition games and early regular season games. Try explaining to a Rider fan with Shaw basic that the Rider game isn't televised in Sask, because their is a Jets game on?

TSN not showing the games on all 4 "Regional" Channels, must have some impact on the ratings, even if it isn't major. It does cause frustration as the TSN 2 feed was supposed to be the secondary feed for other programs at the same time. I believe on Sunday the game is on 3 of 5 channels, and TSN 2 is only showing weekly rerun shows, so Tennis or Basketball could have been moved there.

Coming up this weekend, Of the 4 Channels (TSN 1,3,4,5), only one game this coming weekend will be shown on all 4 Main TSN channels. The Tor/Ham rematch is only going to be on 2 of 5 TSN channels (if counting TSN 2, the secondary national feed).