Sportsnet claiming more viewership than TSN for first time

Bell counters that TSN’s top channel outpaces Sportsnet

On Tuesday morning, the battle between English Canada’s two sports networks spilled over into the email inbox, with Bell Media issuing a news release to claim TSN remained the “mostwatched specialty channel in the country,” and with Rogers Sportsnet issuing a release approximately six minutes later to declare: “Sportsnet is Now the #1 Sports Brand on TV in Canada.”

They were both correct, in their own way.

Sportsnet, though, still claimed victory.

“There’s no question that our friends at TSN will be combing the hospitals looking for spin doctors over the next couple of months,” said Keith Pelley, the outgoing president of Rogers Media.

Powered by the first season of its mammoth 12-year rights deal with the National Hockey League, Sportsnet claimed that, for the first time since its launch more than a decade ago, “more Canadians are turning to Sportsnet channels than the competition.”

That claim was based on data collected over the last 13 months. It was not a blowout win, but Sportsnet channels drew an average audience of 167,000, compared to the 158,000 on TSN’s channels.

The release from Bell Media, meanwhile, pointed out that TSN — the main channel — is still a bigger ratings draw than Sportsnet’s main channel. (TSN launched an array of new channels, TSN3, TSN4 and TSN5, last summer.)

“When you add all the networks together, our audiences are bigger than theirs,” Sportsnet president Scott Moore said. “When I said what we wanted to do, in December 2012, it was carefully worded — I wanted to be the No. 1 sports media brand in Canada.”

Rogers is spending $5.2 billion on the exclusive Canadian rights to the NHL, a deal that re-shaped the competitive landscape. The company left TSN with a few regional rights, and elbowed the CBC out of professional sports, claiming editorial control of Hockey Night in Canada through a four-year sub-licence agreement with the public broadcaster.

A handful of changes were made heading into the debut season. Longtime Hockey Night host Ron MacLean was ushered out of the main chair with George Stroumboulopoulos, a younger man, sliding in. A new studio was built, new hosts and personalities were added.

“We certainly know there are certain things that some people are not used to yet,” Moore said. “When you make a lot of changes, you’re going to have folks complaining about those changes, in some cases.”

Some of those complaints have never been hard to find on social media. Rogers opted to keep a handful of on-air personalities who can divide an audience, notably Glenn Healy, the acerbic former goaltender, and P.J. Stock, the former journeyman forward.

The network also moved away from pre-game musical montages, which had become a popular fixture on Hockey Night broadcasts under the CBC. Tim Thompson, the former hockey player behind many of the most popular montages, is no longer on the show.

“The sample of people who comment on Twitter are not necessarily the people who are your actual audience,” Moore said. “A couple of things happen on Twitter: It’s where people tend to be negative … and we do a lot of audience surveys, so we have a larger, bigger picture that we track.”

He gave the production a grade of 75% — a high “B” — for its first season.

More changes will be coming next season, he said, with plans to shift the mix of on-air talent for hockey on Wednesday night. There will be more of a focus on the game itself on Sunday nights, with the broadcast package moving to Sportsnet from CityTV.

On Saturday night, the main night, Moore said he believes Hockey Night has found the right mix of personalities for its main panel. The group, featuring Elliotte Friedman with retired NHLers Nick Kypreos and Kelly Hrudey, will likely become the show’s primary combination next season.

Pelley, who was a driving force behind the NHL deal for Rogers, announced in April he would be leaving for a new job. In a move that surprised industry watchers, he stepped down to take a job as chief executive of the European Tour, with plans to move his family across the Atlantic Ocean this summer. He declined comment on that decision on Tuesday. He talked instead about Rogers, and hockey.

“I’m absolutely thrilled with the first year,” he said. “We learned a lot, in all aspects.”