The status of NBA broadcasts in Canada
The 2005 NHL lockout was a good time to be a sports fan in Canada, and especially a basketball fan. With the only hockey half a world away and a limited demand for games from 1985, it seemed like a NBA game on every evening; sometimes it was closer to two or three.
The playoffs were especially nice: not only was it finally possible to watch as many NBA games as one wanted, but the series themselves were worth every minute of it, even when a team could score under 90 points in a win.
It continued the next season, too. All three Canadian sports networks got in on the action and there was usually a game on at least one of the three. On any given night, one could flip between Sportsnet and The Score to follow both ends of a TNT doubleheader. Hell, there was even a night where TSN and The Score showed the same game, thanks to it running late.
Considering that it was a heck of a playoff year, it was a great time to be a fan.
But as Heraclitus said, all things move and nothing stays the same. Since 2006, the Canadiansports media landscape has bloated outward. Shortly after the CRTC allowed TSN to launch a digital-only second channel, Rogers followed with Sportsnet One. Both have since been filled by what their respective networks could get their hands on, often competing with smaller networks, like The Score, for content. TSN2 has become a home for NCAA basketball,Sportsnet One a home for out-of-market baseball and both have landed NBA playoff broadcast rights.
And suddenly the analog hinterland is nearly without any basketball.
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Most all of the first round of the NBA playoffs was exclusively broadcast on those two channels. Some 27 games aired between them and the digital NBA-TV Canada, compared to just one on The Score, four on TSN and four on CHCH. One more or less expects this trend to continue through the postseason, as three second-round games were assigned to TSN2‘s schedule and one on the main network.
It’s a change from last spring. According to Canadian Sports Media Blog, the first round of the 2010 NBA playoffs was mostly split between The Score and TSN. To be more specific, TSNbroadcast nine first-round games, TSN2 had 13 and The Score broadcast 10, with an additional 10 on other networks.
That year, the NHL playoffs were a ratings powerhouse for CBC and TSN. Every week, they were among the top 30 highest rated programming, according to BBM. For the week ending on June 13, the NHL Finals were the most-watched program in Canada.
But only once through the spring did the NBA playoffs even crack the top 30: the week after the NHL playoffs ended, and even then it ranked below Young and the Restless, two different showings of NCIS and Hell’s Kitchen.
Looking at the two halves of what TSN can do, it’s not hard to come to this conclusion: as convenient as it would be for TSN to broadcast a mix of NHL and NBA playoffs, it’s not really in their best interests; more people get their main network, so it’s in their best interest to put their most in-demand programming there, leaving the lesser stuff to fill the second network.
One report has TSN2‘s reach at 5.5 million, or about half the number of TSN‘s main network. Coupled with the NBA’s popularity in Canada, it’s not too hard to imagine why the broadcasts are held on the second of the TSN twins – and the status they get there.
It is unfortunate for the smaller guys, though. One could argue that the NBA is the flagship property of The Score‘s broadcasting (it’s certainly what I identify the network with the most), and for years, the NBA playoffs have been the center of their spring broadcast schedule. Now, they’re a distant fifth in the NBA playoff hierarchy; the only reason they aired a lone playoff game was thanks to massive conflicts on April 20: TSN was airing three NHL games – including one that went to double overtime – CBC was airing two and neither Sportsnet norNBA-TV were able to take the game TSN had rights to. Thus, in a perfect storm, it wound up onThe Score.
It’s worth noting that on the same evening, thanks to the double-overtime game, TSN2 ended up joining a late Lakers/Hornets playoff game in progress, airing a hockey game instead: not only could they not make room for one game, they preempted another. It’s reflective of a network which often struggles to include the NBA on it’s flagship show SportsCentre.
It’s interesting to compare what happens in Canada with the NBA to what happens in the US with the NHL. In the states, hockey is only nationally broadcast on two networks: cable channel Versus and NBC. While Versus is more available than ever in the US – a recent NBC Sports media release says it’s available in over 79 million homes – it still lags behind the NBA’s broadcasts on TNT and ESPN.
According to figures published by The Nielsen Company, the NBA Playoffs were four of the top six highest watched cable TV programs for the week of April 18 in the US; the NHL didn’t crack the list. Viewership is going up, too, with TNT’s first-round coverage getting it’s highest ratings ever.
Still, that doesn’t help those without digital cable. As teams continue to be eliminated from the NHL playoffs, it’s unlikely there could be a scheduling conflict that could land another game onThe Score. And with the NHL playoffs continuing to pull in viewers, it’s unlikely that TSN would promote the NBA over hockey. It’s a worrying trend for basketball fans in Canada: the NBA has been largely relegated to the lesser-seen of the channels. For instance, Sportsnet One, for instance, isn’t available on Videotron, which serves over 1 million people in Quebec.
C’est la vie. Basketball has never been much of a priority on television in Canada and unless demand changes – not likely with a lockout looming on the horizon – it’s unlikely to become one.
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