Established in 2007, [1] Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium (legal name 7048467 Canada Inc., also sometimes referred to informally in branding as CTV Olympics and RDS Olympiques, additionally referred to as the National Olympic Network by BBM Canada) was a joint venture set up by Canadian media companies Bell Media (formerly CTVglobemedia) and Rogers Media to produce the Canadian broadcasts of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England, as well as the two corresponding Paralympic Games. Bell owned 80% of the joint venture, and Rogers owned 20%. [2]
The consortium encompassed many of the properties owned by both companies, including Bell Media's CTV Television Network, TSN, RDS and RDS Info, and Rogers Media's Omni Television, Sportsnet, OLN, and the Rogers radio stations group. Several other broadcasters carried consortium coverage, including Noovo (formerly V), and several channels owned by Asian Television Network. Finally, dedicated websites in English and French (ctvolympics.ca and rdsolympiques.ca) were set up to stream live coverage over the Internet to Canadian viewers. The consortium replaced CBC Sports, which had held the Canadian rights to all Olympics beginning with the 1996 games, although some cable rights had been sub-licensed to TSN / RDS beginning in 1998.
Rogers announced in September 2011 that it would withdraw from the consortium following London 2012, and therefore not participate in its bid for rights to the 2014 Winter Olympics and 2016 Summer Olympics. The company cited scheduling conflicts and financial considerations for the decision. [3] Bell Media then announced a new partnership with the CBC to bid for Canadian broadcasting rights of Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016. Broadcast details for the joint bid were never released. [4] The joint Bell/CBC bid was considered the prohibitive favourite to win the rights when the International Olympic Committee accepted bids. [5] However, the Bell/CBC bids were rejected by the IOC.
On August 1, 2012, CBC Sports announced that it had made a deal to broadcast the 2014 and 2016 Summer and Winter Olympics, replacing the Bell/Rogers group. [6] However, in February 2013, CBC announced that both Sportsnet and TSN would sub-license broadcast rights to the 2014 Winter Olympics. [7] [8]
CTV has previously broadcast the Summer Games in 1976 (along with CBC) and 1992, and the Winter Games in 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984 (along with CBC), 1988 and 1994.
The 1980 "Miracle on Ice" game was aired live on CTV in Canada, but not ABC in the United States. Thus, American viewers who resided in or near the Canada–US border and received the CTV signal could watch the game live, but the rest of the United States had to wait for a delayed rebroadcast.
In 1974, Johnny Esaw (who anchored CTV's prime time Olympic coverage from 1964–1980) became vice-president of CTV Sports, a position he would hold until his retirement in 1990. He negotiated the host broadcasting rights to the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta. As the main host broadcaster for the 1988 Winter Olympics, the CTV television network paid $4.5 million for domestic rights to the 1988 Winter Olympics. [11] Coverage for the 1988 Winter Games was panned by critics and viewers alike, [12] especially compared to the well-received ABC coverage despite significant resources mobilized and 118 hours of live coverage. [13] Esaw also brought the 1964 Winter Olympics to CTV.
Production of the broadcasting for the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, which costs NOK 462 million, [14] was the responsibility of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK), with assistance from CTV and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). [15] NRK had 1,424 people working at the Olympics, while international broadcasters sent an additional 4,050 accredited broadcasting personnel. The transmission rights for the games were held by EBU in Europe, CBS in the United States, NHK in Japan, CTV in Canada, the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, Nine Network in Australia, as well as other broadcasters in other countries. The total transmission rights price was 350 million United States dollars. [16]
For the 2010 Winter Olympics, coverage was as follows: [9]
Consortium coverage originated primarily from the Vancouver Convention Centre (the International Broadcast Centre for the 2010 games) as well as Mountain Square in Whistler.
The television broadcast was filmed with 39 new Hitachi SK-HD1000 studio/field cameras from Hitachi Kokusai Electric including on-site technical support. The cameras were also used to broadcast the 2012 Summer Olympics. [20] Following the games, portions of CTV's set were re-purposed by its Vancouver affiliate CIVT for its newscasts. [21]
English-language coverage was provided by the Sportsnet Radio Network, and included coverage of the opening and closing ceremonies, selected hockey games, special editions of Prime Time Sports , and various updates / programs on the games. French-language coverage, which was similar in scope, was carried by Corus Québec.
The consortium also held rights to the 2012 Summer Olympics. Coverage plans for those games were follows (see above).
English broadcasters
Network | Show | Host |
---|---|---|
CTV | Olympic Prime Time | Brian Williams |
Olympic Daytime | James Duthie Jennifer Hedger | |
Olympic Morning | Dave Randorf Catriona Le May Doan | |
Sportsnet | Olympic Prime Time | Brad Fay |
Olympic Daytime | Daren Millard | |
Olympic Morning | Don Taylor | |
TSN | Olympic Prime Time | Darren Dutchyshen |
Olympic Daytime | Michael Landsberg | |
Olympic Morning | Kate Beirness |
French broadcasters
Network | Show | Host |
---|---|---|
RDS | Olympic Prime Time | Chantal Machabée |
Olympic Daytime | Alain Crête | |
Olympic Morning | Claude Mailhot | |
Opening Ceremonies, Collaborator | Alexandre Bilodeau | |
Special Reporter | Nathalie Lambert | |
Noovo | Olympic Prime Time | Jean Pagé |
Olympic Daytime | Frédéric Plante | |
Olympic Morning | Yanick Bouchard |
Sport | Play-by-play announcer | Color commentator |
---|---|---|
Athletics | Pierre Houde | Richard Garneau Jean-Paul Baert Bruny Surin |
Canoe/Kayak/Rowing | David Arsenault | Maxime Boilard (Canoe/Kayak) Daniel Aucoin (Rowing) |
Diving | Félix Séguin | Annie Pelletier |
Gymnastics | Claudine Douville | Bernard Petiot |
Soccer | Jean Gounelle | Patrick Leduc |
Swimming | Denis Casavant | Yannick Lupien |
Synchronized Swimming | Claudine Douville | Marie-Pierre Gagné |
Tennis | Yvan Ponton | Hélène Pelletier |
Water Polo | Michel Y. Lacroix | Ann Dow |
Women's Soccer | Claudine Douville | Patrick Leduc |
The consortium also owned rights to the corresponding Paralympic Games, namely the 2010 Winter Paralympics and the 2012 Summer Paralympics.
Coverage for the 2010 games consisted primarily of coverage of the opening ceremonies (live on CTV British Columbia, and on tape delay on the rest of the CTV network and RIS); daily highlights packages split among CTV, TSN and Sportsnet in English (and RDS / RIS in French); and live coverage of all sledge hockey games featuring the Canadian team. [22] Although not originally scheduled, CTV and RDS later added live coverage of the closing ceremonies. [23]
Coverage for the 2012 games offered no live television coverage and consisted primarily of 10 late night highlight shows carried on TSN2, Sportsnet One, and RDS2, though rebroadcasts of the opening ceremony were carried on both CTV and Rogers-owned broadcast network Citytv. [24] [25] [26]
Originally, CTV did not plan to air the opening ceremony live. After receiving criticism on the decision, CTV changed its mind and decided to air the ceremony live in Vancouver region. [27] CTV originally continued to stick to its initial plan of not airing the closing ceremony live. This decision led to more complaints and CTV relented by airing the closing ceremony live across Canada. [28]
Despite the 2012 Summer Paralympics being a breakthrough games for international media coverage, giving a significant boost to the overall audience shares of British broadcaster Channel 4 and Australia's ABC, [29] [30] no Paralympics sports events were shown live on television in Canada or the United States. "Based on the level of overall coverage, it's clear that Canadian broadcasters do not deem disability to be important. They are not supporters of inclusion", SCI BC (BC Paraplegic Association) Executive Director Chris McBride said, contrasting Canada's coverage with Britain's. [31] More than 1,000 people signed a petition calling for Canadian broadcasters to provide full Paralympics coverage at future Games. International Paralympic Committee President Philip Craven criticised North American broadcasters for having fallen behind [32] and said in future the International Paralympic Committee would scrutinize broadcast partners more carefully. "If the values fit, we've got a chance. If they don't we'll go somewhere else", he said. [33]
Finally, the consortium owned broadcast rights to the first Youth Olympic Games, the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in Singapore. Coverage of those games was limited to a one-hour daily highlights package on Sportsnet and TSN2 (rebroadcast several weeks later on TSN).
CBC Television has aired National Hockey League (NHL) broadcasts under the Hockey Night in Canada brand that is primarily associated with its Saturday night NHL broadcasts throughout its history in various platforms. The brand is owned by the CBC and was exclusively used by CBC Sports through the end of the 2013–14 NHL season.
The 2010 Winter Paralympics, or the tenth Paralympic Winter Games, were held in Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia, Canada from March 12 to 21, 2010. The opening ceremony took place in BC Place Stadium in Vancouver and the Closing Ceremony in Whistler Medals Plaza.
The Sports Network (TSN) is a Canadian English language discretionary sports specialty channel owned by The Sports Network Inc., a subsidiary of CTV Specialty Television, which is also a joint venture of Bell Media (70%), also owned by BCE Inc. and ESPN Inc. (30%), itself a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. TSN was established by the Labatt Brewing Company in 1984 as part of the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels. In 2013, TSN was the largest specialty channel in Canada in terms of gross revenue, with a total of CA$400.4 million in revenue.
Sportsnet is a Canadian English-language discretionary sports specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media. It was established in 1998 as CTV Sportsnet, a joint venture between CTV, Liberty Media, and Rogers Media. CTV parent Bell Globemedia then was required to divest its stake in the network following its 2001 acquisition of competing network TSN. Rogers then became the sole owner of Sportsnet in 2004 after it bought the remaining minority stake that was held by Fox.
Réseau des sports (RDS) is a Canadian French language discretionary specialty channel oriented towards sports and sport-related shows. It is available in 2.5 million homes, and is owned by CTV Specialty Television Inc.. Its full name translates as "The Sports Network", the name of its Anglophone counterpart, TSN.
TSN Hockey is the blanket title used by TSN's broadcasts of the National Hockey League.
Dave Randorf is a Canadian sportscaster who serves as the play-by-play announcer for the television broadcasts of the National Hockey League's Tampa Bay Lightning. He is best known for his work at TSN hosting the network's Canadian Football League studio show as well as TSN's and CTV's coverage of figure skating. He also did play-by-play for the NHL on TSN, World Hockey Championship, and the National Lacrosse League on TSN.
CTV Sports was the division of the CTV Television Network responsible for sports broadcasting. The division existed in its own right from 1961 to 2001; between 1998 and 2001, CTV Sports also operated a cable sports network, CTV Sportsnet, now owned by Rogers Media and known simply as Sportsnet.
The Olympic Games have been broadcast on television since the 1936 Summer Olympics.
Sports broadcasting contracts in Canada include:
Réseau des sports (RDS) is a French Canadian cable specialty channel that broadcasts National Hockey League games.
The broadcasts of Summer and Winter Olympic Games produced by CBC Sports are shown on CBC Television and heard on the CBC's radio networks in Canada. The CBC was the broadcaster of the 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, and 2024 Olympics.
The following is a list of commentators to be featured in CBC Television's Olympic Games coverage.
As of the 2022 NFL season, CTV and TSN broadcast Sunday games. Monday Night Football airs exclusively on TSN. TSN and CTV 2 own rights to Sunday Night Football and Thursday Night Football. RDS carries games in the French language from all timeslots. U.S. network television feeds may also be available, often from multiple markets, on cable and satellite ; all games are subject to simultaneous substitution. Monday Night Football also airs in simultaneous substitution with the ABC feed on CTV2 beginning with the 2023 season.
TVA Sports is a Canadian French-language sports specialty channel owned by the Groupe TVA, a publicly traded subsidiary of Quebecor Media. The channel is a general-interest sports network, and the first major competitor to RDS, the only other French-language sports channel in the country.
National Hockey League broadcasts are held by Canadian media corporation Rogers Communications, showing on its television channel Sportsnet and other networks owned by or affiliated with its Rogers Sports & Media division, as well as the Sportsnet Radio chain under the NHL on Sportsnet brand which serves as a blanket title. Sportsnet previously held the national cable rights for NHL regular season and playoff games from 1998 to 2002.
On April 19, 2011, after ESPN, Turner Sports, and Fox Sports placed bids, NBC Sports announced it had reached a ten-year extension to its U.S. television contract with the NHL worth nearly $2 billion over the tenure of the contract. The contract would cover games on both NBC and sister cable channel Versus, which became part of the NBC Sports family as the result of Versus parent Comcast's controlling purchase of NBC Universal earlier in 2011.