Why does CTV show NFL games but CFL is only shown on TSN?

Other Leagues and Entertainment
#1

why is it ctv shows nfl games but cfl is only shown on tsn ?
people need a sub to a bell or rogers tv w/ contract to then plead fore tsn like fans are little children

the league needs eyeballs on games - that will help increase visibility
the 1st ‘c’ in cbc and ‘c’ in cfl both stand for canadian [for some reason i cannot find what ctv stands for - i suspect bell has scrubbed the 'net]
…
tsn worries that moving the cfl schedule earlier hurts their hockey playoff coverage
so show games on ctv - tsn and ctv are both owned by bell

i still think argos should be at skydome
50,000 for a city the size of toronto should be easy
just look at 2012 gc - skydome was packed [roof dont ya know - great field conditions]
.
argos and jays need to learn to play nice
sounds like a job for the commish !
shapiro is not a nice man in that regard

#2

Yeah, easy peasy, as evidenced repeatedly over the last 30 years.

#3

argos have a grand opportunity to really raise their profile and become much more relevant w/ the jays being in the toilet for the next 10 years thanx to the shenanigans pulled off by shapiro

#4

A pet peeve of all CFL fans. Sadly, we don’t have an answer.

#5

CTV was added to TNF and SNF broadcasts so they could sim-sub CTV’s signal onto the originating American border stations on cable. This allows CTV to add Canadians watching the football game on American channels to CTV’s ratings.

So when Bell crows that their NFL ratings “skyrocketed” on TNF and SNF (39%), that’s likely the same viewers who were watching the American channels last year but are now counted in CTV’s ratings. CTV/TSN ratings of Sunday afternoon games only went up 2-3% because they’ve always been sim-subbed. So it’s likely the SNF and TNF viewers didn’t really go up much either.

TSN and other cable networks is not allowed to sim-sub American programs, only over-the-air broadcasters. So it’s of little benefit to Bell to put CFL games on CTV, only to garner an extra 50-100k viewers. Bell also risks losing valuable TSN subscribers who might cancel their service if the games were available on CTV for free.

#6

i went to the argo town hall on 8 march and was forced to listen the commish drone on about his ‘2.0’ plan
the cfl needs to get away from tsn as a broadcaster and let cbc broadcast the game so more people can see them
after all the cbc is the peoples’ network

#7

Good point, but when Bell crows about increased NFL viewership they mean on CTV so moving viewers from US channels to CTV outlets for which Bell charges for ads is a big win.

CFL rights were bought as TSN product … as you say, co-broadcasting on TSN and CTV would bring few additional viewers (I think your numbers are even optimistic) and not putting CFL on CTV when NFL not on allows them to capture an entirely different audience, that undoubtedly far out umbers the few thousand the CFL broadcast would bring.

#8

I’d love to see the CFL back on OTA tv, but I will say that if it made more business sense for BELL to air the CFL on CTV instead of TSN, they would already be doing so.

#9

This was asked specifically at the town hall by a gent and i wanted to tie into it, but the commissioner left as i was two persons away.

I wanted to tie in an OTA partnership with a channel like omni, which already has multiple language broadcasts, and a great way to include new canadians into Canadiana is to broadcast in their respective languages. In the major cities especially, chinese languages, east indian languages, Middle eastern languages (arabic namely) and italian are growing or established.
It would be an excellent way to include new canadians into Canadiana without making them feel like they are giving up a part of their identity

#10

Well, those NFL viewers are still watching the American channel but now see the CTV signal and ads instead. CTV ratings go up but it’s not increased NFL viewership, before CTV sim-subbing they just weren’t counted in the ratings.

WithSNF/TNF ratings rising only 100-150k on CTV/TSN, that’s a very poor ratings result for Bell on prime-time Sun/Thurs nights. CTV2 could instead simulcast another popular American show and draw 2 million ratings. So Bell is sacrificing millions in potential revenue to promote the NFL, which draws only 150k extra viewers over the previous TSN-only broadcasts.

I wouldn’t underestimate the importance of the CFL to TSN’s bottom-line. There are very, very many fans who only subscribe to TSN or cable service because that’s the only way they can watch CFL games. NFL has no such exclusivity.

#11

But, the CBC doesn’t want to broadcast CFL games. Despite sports broadcasts being pretty much the only thing that actually is profitable for the network, with government cutbacks some 20 years ago, it was decided that the CBC would step away from sports broadcasting, aside from major international competitions such as the Olympics. The CBC hasn’t even bothered to submit even a halfhearted bid for the CFL broadcast rights whenever they’ve come up since.

Given that part of the CBC’s mandate is to promote and preserve Canadian culture, and an argument can certainly be made that Canadian rules football is a unique aspect of our sporting culture, the CBC’s policy of not broadcasting uniquely Canadian sport is a giant fail.

#12

So glad CBC does no more CFL games.

Very happy with TSN only.

#13

I agree. CTV & TSN are under the the Bell corp.
So why wuldnt TSN broadcast show at least one game a week in june & July before the NFL season starts pre season starting in june at least.
As well as the GC.
Cimpicated as it is TSN & ESPN are conneted wit ESPN being a 20% owner of TSN

#14

CBC i beleive is under the Rogers and MLSE corp. & they want nada to do with broadcasting CFL games

#15

CBC is not part of Rogers or MLSE.

And as I recall, they wanted to bid on CFL rights the last time around but the league refused to give them a chance to tender that bid.

#16

Yes, some of us have been talking about this issue now for years.
How it appears for whatever reason CTV has made a conscious decision to keep the CFL “down a notch” on TSN only.
It’s something the new commish has to rectify during the next TV contract.

#17

Now that the sim sub problem is done and lack of CFL games on Sunday there is no reason they don’t put the NFL games on TSN with the regional set up with 5 TSN channels .

There is no practical reason for the NFL to be on CTV now . If you try watching a game on CBS you will be directed to the TSN advertisers . With 5 games or 4 on at once it’s pretty difficult why they would let this content go to a NON sports entity for a foreign league .

They cleared the table for TSN and they need the content for the sports only network so it’s time .

If they continue with CTV and CTV 2 then you have to wonder if there is a secondary reason . Which competes directly with your CFL content on a much higher platform with advertising .

#18

Yes I agree with you.
These types of decisions by the marketing or presumed VP in charge of programming at CTV are head scratching.
Keeping alive the conspiracy theorists concept?

#19

Which Conspiracy Theorists do you speak of ?

#20

A concerted effort to keep the CFL “down a notch” on TSN instead of competing with the NFL on CTV not to mention now less and less games on Sunday too?
Doesn’t that seem suspicious for our brand and especially when you consider our TV numbers for years were higher to include when comparing the SB.
After all, a so called Canadian network that is treating our one of a kind tradition like crap.