Goodbye TSN. Hello ESPN Canada.
After 15 years on the air, one of Canada’s best-known specialty channel brands appears destined to vanish. If all goes according to plan, The Sports Network will soon be shedding its skin and adopting the identity of its U.S. counterpart, ESPN.
The proposed makeover is a byproduct of CTV’s recent acquisition of NetStar Communications, the parent of TSN.
In the advertising community, feelings are decidedly mixed. While there’s disappointment at the demise of a successful Canadian brand, media professionals are confident that audience numbers will be unaffected. Sports addicts, they say, will come for their fix no matter what acronym appears on the station logo.
‘I think global branding is good and inevitable,’ says Sunni Boot, president of Toronto-based Optimedia. ‘I think it’s sad that TSN will go the way of the dodo bird. But I don’t see viewers leaving the network. From an advertising perspective, the transition will be a very easy one.’
For ESPN, a subsidiary of Walt Disney/ABC, the deal makes obvious sense. Rebranding TSN would allow ESPN to further entrench its reputation as a global provider of sports programming.
Still, the TSN brand boasts such high awareness in Canada – even among non-viewers – that some media people are wondering: If it ain’t broke, why fix it?
‘I think it’s a shame,’ says Lisa White, media group head with TBWA/Chiat Day in Toronto. ‘TSN has done extremely well and built a successful brand. Part of the decision to expand into the specialty tier [in this country] was to increase Canadian viewing and decrease U.S. exposure. Why don’t we just rename MuchMusic as MTV Canada?’
TSN, the prize property of NetStar Communications, has been in the midst a tug-of-war for several months.
Originally, CanWest Global Communications had planned to acquire a 68% share of NetStar – whose holdings also include RDS, Discovery Channel and Viewers Choice Canada – for the princely sum of $370 million. Global coveted TSN as a means of competing with rival broadcaster CTV, which had launched its own specialty sports channel, CTV Sportsnet, last fall.
In February, however, CTV snatched the deal from Global’s grasp by stepping in with a bid of $394 million. ESPN, which holds the remaining 32% interest in NetStar, welcomed the deal, provided that CTV agree to meet a few conditions – chief among them being to rebrand TSN as ESPN Canada within 18 months of the deal’s approval.
Currently, the acquisition is under the scrutiny of the federal Competition Bureau, after which it will go to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). CTV expects to have a decision by the end of 1999.
By the time the dust settles, CTV’s stable of specialty services could well boast two sports channels: TSN and Sportsnet. Some industry watchers have speculated that Sportsnet may have to be sold or dropped in order to ease competition concerns, but Tom Curzon, vice-president of communications for CTV, says the network has every intention of hanging onto the fledgling sports channel.
‘Sportsnet is a regional network, so it is complementary to TSN,’ he says. ‘That’s been our position, and that will be [stated] in our case to the competition board and to the CRTC.’
Advertisers may in fact welcome this scenario – especially if it means an end to the bidding wars for top sports properties that erupted when Sportsnet launched.
Such battles inevitably drive up the cost of broadcast rights – and broadcasters inevitably attempt to pass those costs along to advertisers, says Terry Sheehy, senior vice-president, media services with Leo Burnett in Toronto. ‘If having one owner [for both sports channels] will blunt bidding wars, then that’s a good thing.’
Owners of Canadian sports properties, however, may not be so enthusiastic. With CTV holding the cards for both Sportsnet and TSN, it’s unlikely that these properties can count on the kind of lucrative deals that resulted from competition between the two channels.
‘[CTV] can decide which channel is going to bid, and which one is not,’ explains Bruce Baumann, vice-president, media director with Ammirati Puris Lintas in Toronto. ‘That’s an issue for some of the hockey franchises in smaller markets, because those teams do need the revenue that might be derived from a competitive bidding situation.’
Also in this report:
– Beyond billboards: With advertisers seeking new ways to stand out, and broadcasters looking for new sources of revenue, program sponsorships have grown in number – and sophistication p.B2
– More choice, fewer quality programs: While specialty channels are great in theory, they’ve fragmented the audience to the point that there isn’t enough ad revenue to deliver exceptional shows p.B7
– Brand an anchor in a changing TV universe: As content choices multiply, a channel’s brand image may well be the strongest link between broadcaster and viewer p.B8
– Woo-hoo! Labatt Blue’s infamous ‘shopping cart’ spot, along with the rest of the Out of the Blue series, ranks high on the list of TV ads that made an impression on marketers in the last year. p.B10
