Rogers abandons French sports channel, partners with TVA

Rogers Communications Inc. says it will not pursue a French-language sports channel, calling the market “sufficiently serviced” with the upcoming launch of Quebecor Media Inc.’s TVA Sports. “Since we applied, the business environment has changed in Quebec with Quebecor and TVA launching TVA Sports,” Scott Moore, president of broadcasting at Rogers Media, said in an interview. “We had talked to TVA Sports and we are working with them to make that channel a success. They are uniquely positioned in that market to be able to be successful.” Moore said Rogers will work with TVA on program acquisition and production, calling the companies “good business partners on that licence in Quebec now.” “It’s primarily a program acquisition and content partnership, where we look at sharing our contacts, working with them to help them acquire things. They will work with us to help acquire things and we’ll make sure that, together, we are able to give rights holders national carriage in both languages,” he said. Rogers owns and has exclusive broadcast rights to the Toronto Blue Jays. The company also has the exclusive rights to coverage of the Rogers Cup tennis tournament. Rogers applied to the CRTC in March for a licence to operate Sports d’intérêt général de Rogers, a French-language channel with a focus on general interest Canadian professional sports. A month earlier, the commission had approved the CBC/Radio-Canada’s licence for another French-language sports channel, Radio-Canada Sports. The commission also approved a licence for TVA Sports in February 2010 and the channel will launch this fall. The flurry of applications followed the CRTC’s 2008 broadcasting policy, which is opening the sports genre to competition. Quebecor has so far announced that its TVA Sports channel will feature game coverage of the Montreal Impact soccer team and the Montreal Juniors hockey team. The QMI news service, owned by Quebecor, reported Thursday that TVA Sports will also air Ottawa Senators games, to which the Rogers Sportsnet specialty channel also has some broadcasting rights. Quebecor declined to comment for this story. Rogers' decision not to pursue the specialty channel comes after experts told The Wire Report in April that the French-language market is not likely to support all the new licences. “It's impossible. There's no room in the Quebec market in French for even two sports channels. We're not going to get three or four,” Richard Paradis, president of consulting firm Groupe CIC and an instructor at the Université de Montréal's communications department, said. “It's going to be a tough battle because it's one of the most expensive areas to be involved in, and you can't have too many people trying to split the market.” BCE Inc.’s Réseau des sports (RDS) is the top-rated French-language specialty channel in the country, Bell spokeswoman Jacqueline Michelis told The Wire Report in April. Shaw Communications Inc. also announced in June that it would not pursue its sports specialty channel licence, Shaw Media Sports. Shaw spokeswoman Dervla Kelly said via email that the company would continue to pursue selective sports rights for Global Television. Rogers is also rebranding its Setanta Sports Canada channel as Sportsnet World on Oct. 3. Moore said the licence is for soccer, rugby and non-traditional, non-North American professional sports. He said rebranding the channel as part of the Sportsnet family will help promote it. mburgess@thewirereport.ca

Rogers abandons French sports channel, partners with TVA

Broadcast | August 18, 2011

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