Sportsnet One

I neglected to mention this a few weeks ago, but on July 29th, Rogers and the Ottawa Senators announced a 4-year contract that allows them to broadcast up to 15 regular-season games, starting with the 2010-2011 season on their new sports channel, Sportsnet One. These 15 games would be in addition to the 40 Ottawa games that are already broadcast on  Sportsnet‘s regional broadcast channel.

“We are excited about the launch of Sportsnet One. The new channel will result in more games being available for Senators fans. We want to make it as easy as possible for our fans to watch our games on television and Sportsnet One will help us do just that. We have been televising Senators games with Rogers Sportsnet since their inception and have built a strong working partnership with their organization in the process.” ~ Cyril Leeder

I’m not one to complain about additional content but it’s not like Sportsnet One is widely available. Even though the channel officially launched on August 14th, like its brethren, TSN2, it could take some time before Rogers‘ competitors carry the channel. In other words, a significant portion of the Senators fanbase who subscribe to Bell TV, Shaw Cable, Shaw Direct, Eastlink or Cogeco will be left in the dark. Stuck in limbo until a deal is negotiated.

Business is business though. Both the Senators and Rogers will line their pockets through this mutally beneficial partnership. However, wouldn’t it be something else if the Senators organization would reward all of the fans who actually pay to watch their product in person and reinvest this influx of new capital into a new scoreboard?

I suppose things could be worse though. It’s not like Rogers promised to broadcast all of the Senators games on their regional broadcast territory before pulling a swerve and moving a significant portion of their remaining games to this new channel. Now that’d be something…