What’s the point of TSN2?
There is no better country to live in than Canada if you are only a hockey fan.
You get full day trade deadline shows, extensive NHL draft coverage, and hours a day of experts and insiders dissecting every rumour and transaction. Canada truly is hockey heaven.
For fans of other sports, it’s a little like purgatory.
The one thing that Canada has always had is a dearth of complete sports coverage.
You get three hours of the NFL draft, then they cut you off. You get the two or three designated college football games on the major networks, but no games from ESPN. You get some college basketball games during the season, but struggle to find any highlights. Most of the time the Internet is the only thing that can fulfill a Canadian sports fans needs.TSN has the slogan, “Hockey Lives Here”. Too bad that’s pretty much the only sport that has a chance to breathe on that station.Then here comes TSN2.
Finally, they have an answer for the true sports fan!
Now with two stations, TSN can cater to everyone in Canada. They don’t have to compromise any of their hockey coverage on TSN by adding other content to appease fans of other sports. They can now start showing ESPN programs like College Football Live and Baseball Tonight on TSN2.
Canadians don’t have to live with the frustration of knowing a certain NBA game is on TNT or ESPN and is therefore unavailable to us. TSN2 can now be the solution to all of the frustrated Canadians sports fans’ problems!
I guess the decision makers at TSN don’t feel the same way becauseTSN2’s current schedule only adds to the dissatisfaction of everyone in Canada. In it’s present state, TSN2 acts as the place for all replays of previously viewed content on TSN. The odd live event will sneak its way on but for the most part it’s everything you just watched three hours after the fact.
I know there will be some who say that TSN2 is in its infancy and to give it some time before I criticize what they are doing. But if you’re going to start a new network, wouldn’t it be wise to have enough content to support it?
There are more than enough live sporting events that could air on TSN2 that would gain the interest of a lot of people in this country. It should be the alternative to TSN, not the Tivo version of it.
TSN2 could be everything that I and people like me have always wanted in Canada. It should be the other option when you don’t feel like watching hockey. Hopefully one day it will be.
As it stands right now, it is just an extra channel to bypass on your way to searching for what else is on.
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I’ve never found myself agreeing with an article written on this site more. Probably because everybody else has a hard-on for shafts, pucks and Roberto Luongo. So if anything exemplifies TSN’s Canadian slant more than the station itself, it’s TSC.
ESPN and ABC are one and the same insofar as college football goes, so technically we get ESPN games, but I know what you’re getting at there. Unfortunately the Canadian content restrictions placed on Canadian stations makes it nearly impossible to provide us with things like full-day coverage of the NFL Draft, TNT basketball games, or College Football games. It’s a problem I’ve learned to cope with over time.
Because let’s face it, The Score isn’t going to send their own crew to Bryant-Denny for the Alabama-Miss State game. Since it’s being re-broadcast from ESPN, that makes it imported programming and puts The Score three hours closer to their maximum of non-Canadian programming. While I’m not 100% on those content rules where TV is concerned, that has to play a huge role in Canadian sports television.
It’s not like these things aren’t available to Canadian sports fans though. The NFL Network provides full-day coverage of the draft and time-shifted channels on Shaw Digital Cable give you enough different college games every Saturday that I usually feel satisfied with the amount of games I’m getting. Even though, every week, there is that one game, that one really big fucking game, that I’ll either have to go to the bar and watch or miss out on altogether. This week… Alabama-Miss State, Ohio State-Illinois, Oklahoma State-Colorado… I better stop now or I might cry.
As far as TSN2 goes, I’ve looked through the schedule for the upcoming week and have actually been somewhat impressed. I saw a few NBA games not including everyone’s beloved Raptors on the schedule and while for the most part right now it’s being used as a vehicle for re-playing games, I can see some good coming out of this. During tonight’s Favre vs. Patriots game I switched over to TSN2 and saw some of Nuggets vs. Cavs… not too shabby.
It is “in its infancy” so “give it some time”. I’m all for anything that increases the amount of sports on TV. I’m sure once December rolls around I’ll be spewing anti-TSN2 propaganda left and right because of their sure-fire lack of Bowl games and again in March when they aren’t televising the conference tournaments. However, I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt for the time being, or just being nice so I don’t blow a gasket and have a heart attack.
Thank you for reigniting my passion for sports, I might actually start writing again.