Premier League New Channel in Canada

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A new soccer channel with extensive rights to live English Premier League games is set to begin operation in Canada in a matter of days.

Setanta Sports, an international content provider, will launch a Canadian channel in partnership with Rogers Communications.

Roger Hall, chief executive officer of Setanta's international operation, confirmed yesterday that the channel will start in "the very short term."

Shane O'Rourke, president of Setanta's North American operations, was even more explicit. He said it will be on the air in time for the start of the EPL season on Aug. 11.

"We'll be up and running by the 11th," he said.

Neither Hall nor O'Rourke would comment on the licensing agreement, but based on Setanta's operations in Britain, Australia and the United States, the Canadian channel will operate as a premium pay service. To subscribe, consumers will pay about $15 a month.

Score Media acquired EPL rights last year. It then flipped the package to Setanta but kept the Sunday 11 a.m. (Eastern) game, which often showcases the best matchup of the week.

The Score has built additional programming around the Sunday morning telecast, including a Friday evening show that will preview the weekend games, a Saturday evening recap of the day's games, and a Sunday morning pregame show.

As well, the Score has retained broadband highlights rights and will stream its Sunday morning telecast.

The third carrier of EPL games will be Rogers Sportsnet. It has bought a Saturday 10 a.m. game from Setanta, but probably won't get first pick from the 10 a.m. slate of matchups.

It didn't hurt Sportsnet in its bid to acquire one game a week that it is owned by Setanta's partner, Rogers.

The bulk of EPL content - a full Saturday schedule, additional telecasts on Sunday and midweek telecasts - will air on Setanta.

O'Rourke says Setanta will provide the most comprehensive EPL Canadian package ever.

Rogers Cable, Cogeco Cable and Bell ExpressVu will carry the channel immediately. Carriage on Shaw Cable, Star Choice and Videotron is expected to take longer.

Setanta Sports isn't the only channel eyeing the Canadian market. There is talk in amateur athletics about the possible launch of a new service dedicated to university and Olympic sports.

Proponents cite two examples of amateur sport being poorly served on Canadian television.

At the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, which wrapped up on the weekend, Canadian federation heads and coaches privately expressed disappointment over the absence of coverage on TV.

Canada did particularly well in track and field, matching the U.S. medal count, although the Americans didn't send their best team, but Canadian TV didn't provide coverage.

In March, the Canadian Interuniversity Sport men's basketball tournament was dropped from television because The Score was committed to airing the NCAA's March Madness.

Canadian audiences for the NCAA and CIS tournaments were comparable. In 2006, the Score drew a Saturday prime-time audience of 61,000 for one of the two CIS semi-final games. Also in 2006, the George Mason-Florida NCAA Final Four game on Sportsnet, also Saturday in prime time, had an audience of 50,000.

An amateur sports channel faces several hurdles and wouldn't be up and running until at least 2008.

There was no domestic coverage of the Canadian Open golf tournament because the PGA sold TV rights to the Golf Channel (Thursday and Friday) and CBS (Saturday and Sunday).

CanWest Global owned the right to simulcast CBS's coverage on Saturday and Sunday, but didn't carry the telecasts on the main Global Television network. Instead, CanWest's E! Entertainment channels, which reach only 70 per cent of the Canadian market, aired the simulcasts.

The golf tournament deserved coverage across the country on the main network.

The NHL has begun preliminary talks with ESPN about bringing games back to ESPN2 for the 2008-09 season, according to the SportsBusiness Journal. The league has been widely criticized for failing to continue its relationship with ESPN. The two sides split in 2005 after ESPN stated publicly that NHL rights fees were inflated. NBC could be out as an NHL broadcaster at the end of 2007-08. More on this later.

Turner Sports has bought a digital application for its NASCAR telecasts from LiveHive Systems, which is based in Waterloo, Ont. LiveHive's NanoGaming system powers an interactive trivia system. As well, NanoGaming makes available a NASCAR contest for viewers.

Source: World Media