Sportsnet, as its parent companyRogers Communications is the owner of its sole Canadian franchise, theToronto Blue Jays, holds national rights to Major League Baseball in Canada, including assorted games from U.S.regional sports networks, theMLB All-Star Game, and the postseason (although coverage of the latter two are relegated to MLB's U.S. broadcast partners, andMLB International). Games air across Sportsnet and its sister national servicesSportsnet One andSportsnet 360. Select Blue Jays and other U.S. teams' games can be broadcast onTVA Sports (Sportsnet's French-language partner).
In French,postseason games are equally split betweenRDS andTVA Sports. TheWorld Series were solely aired on RDS until 2022. TVA Sports aired the World Series in 2023 and own the rights to the 2025 and 2027 editions. RDS will be the broadcaster in 2024 and 2026.
Games available on U.S. over-the-air channels available in Canada on cable or satellite, such as national games onFox, and local coverage onsuperstations such asWPIX (New York Yankees andNew York Mets, occasionally via Buffalo and/or Rochester network affiliates as well),KTLA-TV (selectedLos Angeles Dodgers games).MLB Network is also available on some providers.
TheMLB Extra Innings subscription package is available through most Canadian television providers, as well asMLB.tv.
All broadcasters air assorted non-Raptors games throughout the season (TSN promoted that it would air 148 regular-season games in total during the 2017–18 season);[3] NBA TV Canada typically airs selected games and simulcasts of games from U.S. broadcasters (most often fromits U.S. counterpart). All remaining games are available through theNBA League Passout-of-market sports package.
Coverage of games is also available from U.S. networks carried in Canada, such asBig Ten Network andCBS Sports Network, along with broadcast network coverage. An out-of-market sports package offered by some providers includes other games from U.S. outlets that are not otherwise available in Canada.
Willow owns the vast majority of Canadiancricket rights, with live coverage available through its cable TV channel and streaming apps. Willow owns the Canadian and American rights to allICC events until 2027.[5]
U.S. network coverage of the Masters and Open Championship are simulcast byCTV forsimsub purposes.
Golf Channel is available on Canadian television providers, and the majority of its programming, including early-round coverage ofPGA Tour events, theEuropean Tour, andLPGA, is carried in the country without blackouts.
Golf Channel's Canadian feed also continues to carry early-round coverage of the Open Championship despite that coverage having moved toUSA Network in the U.S.
TSN andCTV 2 carry weekend round coverage of selected PGA Tour events.[11] Its subscription companion serviceTSN+ also holds rights toPGA Tour Live coverage of events.[12]
RDS carries live coverage of PGA Tour events carried by U.S. network television (weekend rounds).
TVA Sports carries manyQSSF games. In 2016, Sportsnet's sister broadcast networkCitytv began broadcasting a four-gameU Sports Game of the Week package.[16][17] Games not covered by these contracts are often carried by local cablecommunity channels.
As of the 2017–18 season, Canada West conference rights are held byBell MTS Fibe TV,SaskTel MaxTV andTelus TV (including a regular season package and playoff coverage).[19][20] The conference also operates an over-the-top subscription service known as Canada West TV, which broadcasts events not shown on these packages.[21]
CTV – Sunday afternoon games, most playoff games, and theSuper Bowl.
TSN – Sunday afternoon games. Airs all primetime game packages, includingSunday Night Football,Monday Night Football, andThursday Night Football. Additional Sunday afternoon games, and playoff games interfering with other major events carried on CTV, may air on one or more of the TSN feeds.
DAZN –NFL Game Pass and streaming of all games,NFL Network, NFL RedZone, and additional archive content, as part of its service.[23][24] DAZN also distributes theNFL Sunday Ticket service in Canada; while DAZN initially planned to only distribute a digital out-of-market product in Canada, the company backtracked and revived Sunday Ticket following user complaints over the quality of its streams.[25][26][27]
Due to Canadian regulations that permit stations from different areas to be carried in the same market, several games may be available in each of the Sunday timeslots through a combination of domestic and American stations from different areas, without a subscription to Sunday Ticket. By contrast, outside a handful of areas where multiple neighbouring network affiliates are available, no more than three games may be aired in a given U.S. market on any Sunday afternoon (up to four games in week 17).
Anout-of-market sports package offered by some providers includes other games from U.S. outlets that are not otherwise available in Canada (such asFox Sports Networks, and ESPN games not picked up by the TSN channels)
Rogers Communications is thesole national rightsholder of the NHL in Canada through the 2025–26 season. Most national telecasts air onSportsnet properties, and include, but are not limited to:[28][29][30]
In rare circumstances, due to non-hockey programming conflicts, the Sportsnet regional channels may air different games.[31] However, all four Sportsnet regional channels are available nationwide through the digital services of most providers.
Scotiabank Wednesday Night Hockey; Exclusive national Wednesday-night game on Sportsnet.
Stanley Cup Playoffs coverage; all games carried by Sportsnet, with at least one game per-day simulcast by CBC. All games from the conference finals onward are simulcast by Sportsnet and CBC.
Canadian distribution and marketing rights to the NHL.tv (Sportsnet+) andNHL Centre Ice services, which carries out-of-market games and U.S. nationally televised games not aired by Sportsnet channels.
Hockey Night in Canada: Punjabi Edition: Coverage of selectedHockey Night in Canada games withPunjabi language commentary onOmni Television.[33]
French-language rights were sub-licensed toQuebecor Media; all coverage airs onTVA Sports.La super soirée LNH serves as the flagship broadcast on Saturday nights, typically featuring theMontreal Canadiens.[36][37]
Canadian teams also contract with local or regional broadcasters for selected pre-season and regular season games not covered by the national contracts. These deals are separate from the national rights deal, and may cover up to 60 regular-season games per season. Rights are current as of the2021–22 NHL season.
Rights to the Maple Leafs' regional telecasts are divided equally between TSN and Sportsnet (whose parent companies own a joint majority stake in the team's parent company). Of Sportsnet's 26 regional Leafs games, ten are broadcast nationally in conjunction with Rogers' national NHL rights, withMolson Canadian as presenting sponsor.
Each team's regional game broadcasts are restricted to viewers of that team's designated home broadcast region as assigned by the NHL. Outside said region, these broadcasts are made available exclusively throughNHL Centre Ice (TV) or Rogers NHL Live (streaming). If the originating channel is available outside a team's region (e.g. out-of-market Sportsnet feeds), the game broadcasts must be blacked out in these other areas. Sportsnet also operates part-time channels for the Canucks, Flames, and Oilers in case of scheduling conflicts: these channels are tied to theSportsnet One licence. During the period that it held the rights, Sportsnet used City stationCJNT as the overflow channel for Canadiens games instead.
Under previous (2002–14) rights deals with RDS, the Canadiens forwent a separate regional rights contract (at the time of its establishment, RDS was the only national French-language sports channel in Canada) and allowed all of its games to be broadcast nationally in French in conjunction with RDS's package. With the transition to TVA Sports as national rightsholder, the Canadiens chose to negotiate a 12-year regional rights deal with RDS (the team is partially owned by the channel's parentBCE Inc.) in the team's designated broadcast region.[38][39]
U.S. teams in close proximity to the Canada–US border are now also able to sell Canadian regional broadcast rights to their games. During the2013–14 season,Bell Satellite TV andBell Fibe TV acquired regional rights toBuffalo Sabres broadcasts for portions of Canada within a 50-mile radius ofFirst Niagara Center, approximately stretching fromNiagara Falls to the community ofStoney Creek inHamilton. Sabres game broadcasts were made available to Bell TV subscribers in this region at no extra cost, and were no longer available as part of the NHL Centre Ice package through other providers serving this region.[40] The Sabres' agreement with Bell eventually ended, and the team later reached a similar agreement with streaming TV providerFubo beginning in the2023–24 NHL season.[41] TheDetroit Red Wings, whose market borders onWindsor, Ontario, is presumably able to sell similar rights but has not yet done so.
As with other sports properties, game broadcasts on U.S. terrestrial stations carried in Canada, such asABC'snational rights package, are also available without blackout, though from time to time Rogers has simulcast these productions onCitytv forsimultaneous substitution purposes.
As of the 2021–22 season, the national CHL package is divided between TSN andCBC Sports.[42] Many regular-season games are aired locally bycommunity channels.
TSN and RDS hold rights to theMemorial Cup and other national CHL-organized events
TSN will broadcast 30 national games from across the CHL's leagues.[42]
RDS will broadcast 20 national games from across the CHL's leagues.[42]
TSN and RDS hold broadcast rights to national championships and most international events sanctioned byHockey Canada, including but not limited toIIHF world championships, theTelus Cup (men's U18),Centennial Cup (men's junior A),Esso Cup (women's U18) and theAllan Cup (senior). In 2020, TSN renewed its rights through the 2033–34 season.[43]
Since January 6, 2025, weekly seriesRaw,SmackDown, andNXT, as well aspremium live events such asWrestleMania, have been broadcast exclusively onNetflix in Canada as part of a global contract. This contract is nominally for 10 years (until the end of 2034) but may be shortened to five years (2029) or extended to 20 years (2044) at Netflix's option.[57]
Under separate U.S. distribution deals (2024–2029),NXT is also aired on broadcast networkThe CW, whileSaturday Night's Main Event is also available onNBC, both available to many cable and satellite subscribers.
From 2023 to 2026, Bell Media, throughTSN andRDS, will simulcast coverage of at least one MLS match per week involving a Canadian club, as well as select playoff and Leagues Cup matches. Coverage of games aired by the Fox broadcast network will also be available to most Canadian TV service subscribers.[63]
As with other sports properties, game broadcasts on U.S. terrestrial stations carried in Canada, such as selected Premier League games aired on theNBC broadcast network as part ofNBC's U.S. rights package, are not subject to blackout for Canadians receiving those stations over-the-air or through a cable/satellite package.
