Réseau des sports
Encyclopedia
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
French language
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
Category C
Category C services
A Category C service is a Canadian specialty television channel which, as defined by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, are services that provide programming in genres that are exempted from the CRTC's format protection rules and are subject to standard conditions of...
specialty channel
Specialty channel
A specialty channel can be a commercial broadcasting or non-commercial television channel which consists of television programming focused on a single genre, subject or targeted television market at a specific demographic....
showing sports and sport-related shows. It is available in 2.5 million homes, and is owned by CTV Specialty Television Inc. (Bell Media 80% and ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
20%). Its full name (usually prefaced in speech by the French article
Article (grammar)
An article is a word that combines with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. Articles specify the grammatical definiteness of the noun, in some languages extending to volume or numerical scope. The articles in the English language are the and a/an, and some...
"le") translates literally as "(The) Network of the Sports," or simply "(The) Sports Network
The Sports Network
The Sports Network, commonly abbreviated as TSN, is a Canadian English language Category C specialty channel and is Canada's leading English language sports TV channel. TSN premiered in 1984, in the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels...
".
History
RDS was launched on September 1, 1989 as a sister network to Labatt's highly successful English-language sports network TSNThe Sports Network
The Sports Network, commonly abbreviated as TSN, is a Canadian English language Category C specialty channel and is Canada's leading English language sports TV channel. TSN premiered in 1984, in the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels...
, but the new network initially was run on a low budget and struggled to obtain rights to major professional sporting events. Despite this, RDS became infamous in its early years for its program Défi Mini-Putt
Defi mini-putt
Défi mini-putt was a weekly show in the early 1990s on the Quebec cable sports network, Réseau des sports . It was the first professional miniature golf tournament to be regularly broadcast in Quebec....
, a weekly miniature golf
Miniature golf
Miniature golf, or minigolf, is a miniature version of the sport of golf. While the international sports organization World Minigolf Sport Federation prefers to use the name "minigolf", the general public in different countries has also many other names for the game: miniature golf, mini-golf,...
program best-known for its energetic commentator Serge Vleminckx, who was renowned for his enthusiastic cries of "Birdie!" when a hole in one was scored.
1990s
By the early 1990s, the network became more established, obtaining the rights to Montreal ExposMontreal Expos
The Montreal Expos were a Major League Baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec from 1969 through 2004, holding the first MLB franchise awarded outside the United States. After the 2004 season, MLB moved the Expos to Washington, D.C. and renamed them the Nationals.Named after the Expo 67 World's...
, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League
Quebec Major Junior Hockey League
The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues which constitute the Canadian Hockey League...
and some Montreal Canadiens
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
games. Rodger Brulotte
Rodger Brulotte
Rodger Brulotte is a Major League Baseball broadcaster.His career with the Montreal Expos organization started in 1969, working in sales and marketing. He contributed to the creation of the Youppi mascot...
became the network's second broadcasting star with his enthusiastic colour commentary of Expos games. RDS also covered some of Montreal's
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
other professional sports teams, such as the Montreal Machine
Montreal Machine
The Montreal Machine was the sole Canadian team in the World League of American Football, a springtime developmental professional league set up by the National Football League that played in 1991 and 1992. There were also three European teams and six U.S.-based teams...
WLAF
World League of American Football
The World League of American Football was founded in 1990 with support from the National Football League to play professional American football in North America, Europe and later possibly Asia...
football team, the Montreal Impact
Montreal Impact
Montreal Impact was a Canadian professional soccer club based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1992, the team played in the North American Soccer League , the second tier of the American Soccer Pyramid until the 2011 season. The owner Joey Saputo now operates the MLS team Montreal ImpactThe...
soccer team, the Montreal Roadrunners roller hockey
Inline hockey
Inline hockey, often referred to as roller hockey in the United States, is a sport similar to ice hockey but played with inline skates. Like its parent sport, skaters on two teams use hockey sticks to direct a disk-shaped puck into the opponent's goal; however, various details of the game, such as...
team, the Montreal Express
Montreal Express
The Montreal Express was a member of the National Lacrosse League during the 2002 season. They played at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec. They were inactive during the 2003 and 2004 seasons. The team remained inactive and the franchise was returned to the NLL after the 2004 season...
lacrosse
Box lacrosse
Box lacrosse, also known as indoor lacrosse and sometimes shortened to boxla, LAX or simply box, is an indoor version of lacrosse played mostly in North America. The game originated in Canada, where it is the most popular version of the game played in contrast to the traditional field lacrosse game...
team, and the Montreal Alouettes
Montreal Alouettes
The Montreal Alouettes are a Canadian Football League team based in Montreal, Quebec.The current franchise named the Alouettes moved to Montreal from Baltimore, Maryland, in 1996 where they had been known as the Baltimore Stallions...
Canadian football
Canadian football
Canadian football is a form of gridiron football played exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area...
team. While the Machine, Roadrunners, and Express folded, the partnership between RDS and the Impact and Alouettes helped both the network and the teams to become popular. Much of the rise of popularity of Canadian football in Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
can be attributed to RDS coverage of Canadian Football League
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....
and university
CIS football
Twenty-six universities across Canada compete in football under the auspices of Canadian Interuniversity Sport . The teams are divided into four conferences, drawing from the four regional associations of the CIS: Canada West Universities Athletic Association, Ontario University Athletics, Quebec...
games.
Its small market (mainly limited to Quebec), however, has meant that its revenues are modest. It has had to offer proportionately modest fees for broadcast rights.
2000s
In 2000, the Montreal Expos severed their relationship with the network, complaining that they were not offering enough to broadcast games. The network resumed coverage from 2001 until the team moved to Washington, D.C. after the 2004 season, showing about 50 games a season.In 2000, TSN and RDS's parent company NetStar Communications was acquired by Bell Globemedia
Bell Globemedia
Bell Media is the mass media subsidiary of BCE . Its operations include television broadcasting and production , radio broadcasting , Digital Media, and Internet properties.Bell Media is the successor-in-interest to Baton Broadcasting...
and ESPN Inc.
ESPN Inc.
ESPN Inc. is an American sports media conglomerate based in Bristol, Connecticut. Jointly owned by The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Corporation , it owns various sports broadcasting operations, including cable channels, a sports radio network, an accompanying website, and other assets.ESPN...
.
In 2003, the Montreal Canadiens
Montreal Canadiens
The Montreal Canadiens are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is officially known as ...
announced a deal to licence its French-language broadcast rights for all of its preseason, season, and playoff games to RDS. This was controversial as it threatened the longest-running television show in Quebec, Radio-Canada
Télévision de Radio-Canada
Télévision de Radio-Canada is a Canadian French language television network. It is owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, known in French as Société Radio-Canada. Headquarters are at Maison Radio-Canada in Montreal, which is also home to the network's flagship station, CBFT-DT...
's La Soirée du hockey
La Soirée du hockey
La Soirée du hockey was a popular ice hockey show in Quebec. It was the French language SRC equivalent of the English Canadian CBC show Hockey Night in Canada...
. Days later, an agreement was reached whereby RDS and Radio-Canada would simultaneously broadcast Canadiens games on Saturday nights, saving the show. Within the province of Quebec, this arrangement stopped after the 2003–04 NHL season, and French-language Canadiens broadcasts now air exclusively on RDS. Simulcasted coverage continued in regions that do not receive RDS on analog TV (all of Canada south/west of the Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
Region) on Radio-Canada until the 2006–07 NHL season. RDS also has French-language rights to the Stanley Cup
Stanley Cup
The Stanley Cup is an ice hockey club trophy, awarded annually to the National Hockey League playoffs champion after the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Finals. It has been referred to as The Cup, Lord Stanley's Cup, The Holy Grail, or facetiously as Lord Stanley's Mug...
Finals, regardless of what teams participate. In June 2008, RDS's parent, CTV Inc., acquired the rights to The Hockey Theme
The Hockey Theme
"The Hockey Theme" is a Canadian theme song written in 1968 by Dolores Claman and orchestrated by Jerry Toth. It has been referred to as Canada's second national anthem....
after the CBC decided not to renew its rights to the theme song. A re-orchestrated version of the tune, which has been the theme song of La Soirée du hockey and Hockey Night in Canada since 1968, has been used for hockey broadcasts on RDS and TSN beginning in the fall of 2008.
Noted RDS programming
Sports 30 - Sports news show that provides news and updates regarding major sports in North America and elsewhere.Canadien Express - Condensed version of the previous Montreal Canadiens hockey game in a 60-minute format.
F1 Express - Similar concept derived from the Canadien Express broadcast.
The Montreal Canadiens hockey game broadcasts vary in name depending of the day of the week. Saturday games are known as Le Hockey du Samedi Soir. Tuesday games are known as Les Méchants Mardis Molson-Ex while all of the other day or night games are known as Le Hockey Subway des Canadiens. NHL telecasts not involving the Canadiens are simply titled LNH á RDS. The sponsor affiliations change from time to time.
"Dubbed" programming
Because very few sporting events broadcast by RDS are carried by any other French-language broadcaster, exact simulcastSimulcast
Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...
s of other broadcasters on RDS are extremely rare. Even when another French-language broadcaster is carrying the event (e.g. the French Open or soccer matches involving teams from France), RDS will usually use its own commentators. However, for most events that do not either take place in Quebec or involve Quebec-based teams, RDS will rely on the applicable English-language broadcaster (Canadian or American), or some other international broadcast, for the video feed, including any graphics or game updates in the original feed.
The visuals are then "dubbed
Dubbing (filmmaking)
Dubbing is the post-production process of recording and replacing voices on a motion picture or television soundtrack subsequent to the original shooting. The term most commonly refers to the substitution of the voices of the actors shown on the screen by those of different performers, who may be...
" live-to-air with commentators in the RDS studios, who (in most cases) call the game off monitors instead of being on-site. The commentary is not a translation of the English language audio, although the background audio typically remains intact, and relevant information from the English commentary (e.g. injury reports, or explanations of onscreen graphics) may or may not be relayed by the RDS announcers. Interviews aired during the broadcast are undubbed, though announcers will translate what is said after the interview ends.
The video is usually delayed by several seconds from the originating feed, in order to ensure that irrelevant items (such as U.S. network promos, apart from those for other events which will also air on RDS) are deleted from the RDS broadcast. These are usually replaced by still images of the venue, additional game statistics, or RDS promos.
As an exception of sorts, RDS does air Budweiser
Budweiser
Budweiser is a German adjective describing something or someone from the city of České Budějovice in Southern Bohemia, Czech Republic.Beer brewing in České Budějovice dates back to the 13th century...
advertising in English during the Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
before the Super Bowl halftime show.
Other affiliations
RDS's studios are also home to Réseau Info Sports, a 24-hour French language sports news service that was launched in 2004. RDS's sister English languageEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
sports service is The Sports Network
The Sports Network
The Sports Network, commonly abbreviated as TSN, is a Canadian English language Category C specialty channel and is Canada's leading English language sports TV channel. TSN premiered in 1984, in the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels...
(TSN). Many of the programming theme songs used on RDS are the same as on TSN, except if TSN takes from an American network.
RDS2
On June 15, 2011 Bell Media announced the launch of RDS2, a multiplex channel of RDS similar to TSN'sThe Sports Network
The Sports Network, commonly abbreviated as TSN, is a Canadian English language Category C specialty channel and is Canada's leading English language sports TV channel. TSN premiered in 1984, in the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels...
equivalent TSN2
TSN2
TSN2 is a secondary feed of the Canadian English language Category C specialty channel TSN, owned by CTV Specialty Television Inc., a joint venture of Bell Media and ESPN...
, in the fall of 2011. The channel will be available in both standard
Standard-definition television
Sorete-definition television is a television system that uses a resolution that is not considered to be either enhanced-definition television or high-definition television . The term is usually used in reference to digital television, in particular when broadcasting at the same resolution as...
and high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
. On September 19, 2011, Bell Media announced that RDS2's launch date will be October 7, 2011.
RDS HD
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
edition of the channel on October 3, 2007, in time for the 2007-2008 NHL hockey season, making it the only channel to broadcast all games of the NHL's Montreal Canadiens in HD. Since then, most major sporting events have been broadcast in HD; including Formula One, NASCAR, Montreal Alouettes CFL Football, NFL, MLB, PGA Golf and the Euro 2008 soccer tournament amongst others. RDS currently broadcasts its HD signal in 1080i format.
Personalities
- Michel BergeronMichel Bergeron (hockey coach)Michel Bergeron is a former National Hockey League head coach.Bergeron coached the Quebec Nordiques from 1980 to 1987 before being traded to the New York Rangers for a first round draft pick and $75 000, a first in the NHL history...
- Montreal Canadiens analyst - Carlo Blanchard - Golf analyst
- Yanick Bouchard - 5à7 host
- Benoit BrunetBenoit BrunetBenoît Brunet is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey player. He was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in the second round, 27th overall, of the 1986 NHL Entry Draft.-Playing career:...
- Montreal Canadiens analyst - Jean-Paul Chartrand - Boxing
- Guy CarbonneauGuy CarbonneauGuy Carbonneau is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey player in the National Hockey League. He is also the president of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League 's Chicoutimi Saguenéens. He has two daughters Anne-Marie and Kristina, with wife Line Carbonneau. Anne-Marie married his former...
- Montreal Canadiens analyst - Denis Casavant - CFL/NFL play-by-play / Baseball play-by-play and NHL play-by-play (during the Playoffs). He is also on TSN Radio 990.
- Alain Crête - Montreal Canadiens host / NHL play-by-play
- Marc DenisMarc DenisMarc Denis is a former Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender, who last played with the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League . For the 2009–10 season, he has been hired as the goaltenders' coach of the Chicoutimi Sagueneens, a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team...
- Montreal Canadiens Colour commentator - Martin Dion - Boxing / RDS.ca contributor
- Claudine Douville - Soccer play-by-play
- Norman Flynn - Hockey analyst
- François Gagnon - Hockey analyst
- Denis GauthierDenis GauthierDenis Gauthier, Jr. is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. A first round selection of the Calgary Flames at the 1995 NHL Entry Draft, Gauthier played for the Flames, Phoenix Coyotes, Philadelphia Flyers and Los Angeles Kings during his ten season National Hockey League ...
- Hockey analyst - Luc Gélinas - Sports 30 reporter / NHL beat
- Pierre HoudePierre HoudePierre Houde is a Canadian play-by-play sports announcer for RDS. He has announced broadcasts of Montreal Canadiens games since 1989. Over the years he was partnered with Pierre Bouchard and Yvon Pedneault. Since 2007, his partner has been former Canadiens player Benoit Brunet...
- Montreal Canadiens play-by-play / Formula 1 lap-by-lap - Bertrand Houle - Auto racing analyst
- Marc Labrecque - Sports 30 host
- Michel Lacroix - Golf analyst
- Michel Y. Lacroix - Soccer / NHL host
- Stéphane Langdeau - L'Antichambre host
- Renaud Lavoie - Sports 30 reporter / NHL beat
- Jocelyn LemieuxJocelyn LemieuxJocelyn Lemiux is a retired former professional ice hockey player who played for the St. Louis Blues, Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks, Hartford Whalers, New Jersey Devils, Calgary Flames and Phoenix Coyotes. He is the younger brother of fellow NHL player Claude Lemieux...
- Hockey analyst - Stéphane Leroux - Junior Hockey analyst
- Chantal Machabée - 5à7 host / saturday L'Antichambre host
- Yvon MichelYvon MichelYvon Michel is a Canadian boxing promoter. His company is called GYM and is based in Montréal.-Roster:As of April 2010 his boxers include...*Jean Pascal*Joachim Alcine*David Lemieux*Antonin Descarie*Herman Ngoudjo...
- Boxing analyst - Jean Pagé - Hunting / Fishing analyst
- Frédéric Plante - 5à7 host
- Yvan PontonYvan PontonYvan Ponton is a Quebec actor, commentator and television host. Ponton has had a lengthy acting career which included roles in major Quebec television series and movies as well as the 1977 film Slap Shot....
- Tennis play-by-play and '30 Images / Seconde' host - Hélène Pelletier - Tennis analyst
- Gaston TherrienGaston TherrienGaston Therrien is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player who played 22 games in the National Hockey League for the Quebec Nordiques. He works for RDS-External links:...
- Hockey analyst - Christian Tortora - F1 on circuit analyst
- Mario TremblayMario TremblayMario Tremblay is a former professional ice hockey player and former coach in the National Hockey League...
- Montreal Canadiens analyst - Pierre VerchevalPierre VerchevalPierre Vercheval is a former all star offensive lineman in the Canadian Football League.Vercheval played his university football at the University of Western Ontario, where he won the J.P. Metras Trophy top lineman in Canadian university football in 1987...
- CFL/NFL analyst
Former Personalities
- Joel BouchardJoel BouchardJoël Bouchard nicknamed "Mortimer" is a retired professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the National Hockey League. He is currently the president and general manager of the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.-Playing career:Bouchard last played for the...
- Montreal Canadiens analyst - Rodger BrulotteRodger BrulotteRodger Brulotte is a Major League Baseball broadcaster.His career with the Montreal Expos organization started in 1969, working in sales and marketing. He contributed to the creation of the Youppi mascot...
- Baseball analyst - Jacques Demers - Hockey analyst
Broadcasting contracts
At the end of July 2007, RDS and the Montreal Canadiens extended their exclusive broadcasting rights contract through 2013. The deal includes all of the Canadiens' 82 regular season games and all of their playoff games, if need be (none of this precludes CBC SportsCBC Sports
CBC Sports is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for English-language sports broadcasting. The CBC's sports programming primarily airs on CBC Television, with some additional broadcasts on bold, CBC.ca, and occasionally CBC Radio One...
from televising games in English as part of Hockey Night in Canada
Hockey Night in Canada
Hockey Night in Canada is the branding used for CBC Sports' presentations of the National Hockey League...
). Also, RDS has exclusive French broadcasting rights for the NHL All-Star Game and Skills Contest, as well as one NHL game per week that does not involve the Canadiens and a minimum of 40 playoff games for either RDS or RIS. The Canadiens also granted RDS exclusive rights to 'new media' coverage for the team (i.e., cell-phone TV, pod-cast and others).
Most other broadcast contracts are acquired through TSN and ESPN.
International distribution
- Saint Pierre and Miquelon - distributed on SPM Telecom systems.