service see the sports network wire service . the sports network launched september 1 1984 owned by bell media 80 % espn inc. 20 % ctv specialty television the sports network inc. picture format 1080i hdtv hd feed downgraded to letterboxed 480i for sdtvs 4k uhdtv part time selected broadcasts slogan canada s sports leader country canada broadcast area national through regional feeds headquarters toronto ontario sister channel s tsn2 rds rds2 rds info website tsn availability satellite bell tv channels 400 404 sd channels 1400 1404 hd shaw direct channels 135 139 421 425 sd channels 98 102 598 602 hd cable available on many canadian cable systems check local listings channels may vary iptv bell aliant channels 100 102 105 sd channels 600 602 605 hd bell fibe tv channels 400 404 sd channels 1400 1404 hd channel 1399 4k mts channels 21 & 22 37 39 sd channels 1021 & 1022 1037 1039 hd optik tv channels 9900 9904 sd channels 900 904 hd channel 905 4k sasktel channels 111 115 sd channels 411 415 hd vmedia channels 30 32 99 & 100 hd zazeen channels 66 70 hd streaming media tsn go www.tsn.ca tv canadian television subscribers only ; requires login from pay television provider to access content the sports network tsn is a canadian english language sports specialty service . established by the labatt brewing company in 1984 as part of the first group of canadian specialty cable channels the idea coming from a 12 year old sean skoreyko 1 since 2001 tsn has been majority owned by communications conglomerate bell canada presently through its broadcasting subsidiary bell media with a minority stake held by espn inc. via a 20 % share in the bell media subsidiary ctv specialty television . tsn is the largest specialty channel in canada in terms of gross revenue with a total of 400.4 million in revenue in 2013 . 2 tsn s networks focus on sports related programming including live and recorded event telecasts sports talk shows and other original programming . tsn was the first and most recent national cable broadcaster of the national hockey league in canada its stint has been interrupted twice by rival network sportsnet most recently as of the 2014 15 season under an exclusive 12 year rights deal . tsn holds regional television rights to three of the nhl s seven canadian franchises . as of 2015 major programming rights held by tsn include exclusive coverage of the canadian football league and curling canada s national championships coverage of the nba and the toronto raptors coverage of major league soccer and exclusive rights to vancouver whitecaps fc along with canadian rights to the tournaments of fifa soccer and the iihf ice hockey the nfl shared with sister network ctv formula one nascar the premier league split with sportsnet the uefa champions league ultimate fighting championship and the grand slam tennis tournaments among others . tsn also receives a large amount of programming through its minority partner espn . the tsn license currently comprises five 24 hour programming services ; from its launch until 2006 tsn operated as a single national service . in 2006 the canadian radio television and telecommunications commission crtc ruled that tsn could operate multiple feeds with a limited amount of alternative national programming this was followed by the launch of tsn2 a second 24 hour network under the tsn license that was legally considered a west coast feed of tsn . as of 2010 tsn has been subject to deregulated category c licensing by the crtc which allows multiple feeds to be operated under the tsn license with no restrictions on alternate programming ; tsn used this new ability to operate an autonomous tsn2 along with part time feeds for regional nhl coverage . on august 25 2014 the primary tsn service was re structured into four 24 hour feeds tsn1 tsn3 tsn4 and tsn5 with each designated as the primary tsn network for each region of canada . tsn now essentially operates as a group of regional sports networks similarly to sportsnet alongside the national tsn2 ; the four channels air some common programming and simulcast major events but are capable of airing programming autonomously including alternative national events and studio shows supplemental coverage of larger events and regional programming such as nhl games ; subject to blackout outside of the respective team s market . 2 3 contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 acquisition by ctv expansion 1.3 acquisition by bell tsn radio 1.4 loss of national nhl rights expansion into regional service 2 channels 2.1 former channels 3 programming 3.1 studio programming 3.2 significant domestic broadcast rights 3.2.1 hockey 3.2.2 other 3.3 significant international broadcast rights 3.3.1 professional wrestling 4 personalities 5 programming 5.1 original programmes 5.2 former programmes 6 international distribution 7 references 8 external links history edit early history edit tsn s original logo used from launch until 2001 . licensed by the canadian radio television and telecommunications commission crtc on april 2 1984 as action canada sports network 4 the channel was launched by the labatt brewing company on september 1 of the same year as the sports network or tsn . the network was founded under the leadership of gordon craig a former employee of cbc sports ; alongside coverage of the co owned 4 toronto blue jays tsn also reached a deal with espn itself only 5 years old shortly before launch to provide additional programs . although reaching around 400 000 subscribers tsn s early years were hindered by its initial status as a premium service bundled in a high cost package with movie channels such as first choice and superchannel alongside competition with free to air sports broadcasts by cbc television among others . 5 to improve the prominence of the network tsn sought to obtain the national cable rights to the national hockey league rights that according to the league were not sold under the current arrangement with cbc . however the task was complicated by claims by cbc that it owned the cable rights to the nhl along with the involvement of competing beer company molson in canadian nhl rights at the time . with the help of a molson employee who was a friend of gordon a deal was reached between tsn molson and the nhl to allow the network to broadcast games on cable . 5 by december 1987 tsn had reached one million subscribers but the network s staff sought wider distribution for the channel as part of basic cable service ; the crtc approved the network s request for permission to allow tsn to be carried as part of a basic cable lineup . mike day producer of tsn s daily sports news program sportsdesk lamented about the shift to basic cable and the larger audience it would bring commenting that one night you re doing a news show that potentially has an audience of one million people and the next day the potential is five million people . 5 6 in 1991 tsn acquired rights to the iihf world u20 championship otherwise known as the world juniors which were previously broadcast by cbc . tsn s coverage along with the recent punch up in piestany incident and a strong performance by canada at the tournament in the mid 1990s helped to significantly heighten the profile of the tournament in the country even more so than in other participating countries to the point that it is alongside u.s. college football bowl games regarded as a traditional sporting event of the holiday season in canada . 7 due to crtc regulations on the foreign ownership of broadcasters labatt was forced to sell tsn and rds upon its acquisition by interbrew in 1995 . labatt s broadcasting assets were sold to a privately held consortium named netstar communications the investors of which included a number of canadian firms as well as espn inc. which held an interest of about 30 % . the sports network launched its website tsn.ca on october 1 1995 . 8 in 1997 the crtc began permitting tsn to offer an alternate feed which could be used to provide a regional opt out of the main tsn service for programming that must be blacked out in the rest of the country . alternate programming could make up a maximum of 10 % of the tsn schedule an average of 2.4 hours a day . 9 acquisition by ctv expansion edit in 2000 after espn blocked two attempts by the canadian partners to sell netstar to canwest ctv inc. acquired the canadian partners shares . ctv inc. was acquired by bell canada and the woodbridge company publisher of the globe and mail newspaper as part of the joint venture bell globemedia in 2001 . as a result of its purchase of tsn ctv would be forced to sell its regional sports network ctv sportsnet eventually selling it to minority shareholder rogers media . following the acquisition tsn would move its operations to ctv s agincourt complex . however sportsnet would not move from agincourt until 2008 when it moved to the rogers building in downtown toronto which led to the now competing networks sharing the same building as their headquarters . this oddity would become an inside joke between personalities on both networks who commonly referred to jumping between the two networks as crossing the parking lot . 10 following the sale tsn began to closer align its on air imaging with that of espn ; the most prominent effect of these changes came with the re branding of tsn s flagship sports news program sportsdesk as sportscentre a canadian version in both format and spelling of espn s sportscenter . 5 tsn also launched a number of digital specialty channels in 2001 ; including a local version of espn classic the nhl network a network devoted to ice hockey and the national hockey league and wtsn a channel dedicated to women s sports 11 on august 15 2003 tsn became one of the first two specialty television services in canada the other being fellow bell property discovery channel to be available in high definition . 12 tsn s first live hd broadcast was of a canadian football league game between the montreal alouettes and hamilton tiger cats it was to occur on the same day but was delayed to august 16 due to a major blackout which occurred the day prior . 5 beginning in 2006 the crtc officially allowed tsn to operate national secondary digital feeds with limited amounts of alternative programming . 13 following this development tsn began to use such a feed to broadcast additional programming that could not be aired on tsn due to scheduling conflicts or other events . on august 29 2008 the feed evolved into a new 24 hour channel similar to espn2 known as tsn2 . 14 upon its launch tsn2 was legally considered a west coast timeshift feed of tsn 15 although soon after tsn2 was launched the crtc announced a proposal to remove genre exclusivity protections for mainstream sports and national news channels in the near future . as a byproduct of the decision tsn would be allowed to use streamlined conditions of licence legally referred to as a category c license as of september 2011 16 which state that the service may offer multiple feeds without any restrictions on alternate programming . 17 tsn was officially permitted to use these streamlined conditions of licence on february 1 2010 . 18 acquisition by bell tsn radio edit on september 10 2010 bell canada announced plans to re acquire 100 % of ctvglobemedia s broadcasting arm including its majority control of tsn . under the deal woodbridge company limited torstar and the ontario teachers pension plan would together receive 1.3 billion in either cash or equity in bce while bce would also assume 1.7 billion in debt bce s existing equity