Sportsnet 360

History

Sportscope, Headline Sports

The channel has its origins in Sportscope, a sports news service for cable television providers launched in 1994. Its programming consisted solely of an alphanumeric text rotation of sports scores, news, and sports betting information. As it did not include any video content, it did not require a license from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to operate.

On September 4, 1996, Sportscope was granted a licence from the CRTC for "Sportscope Plus", an expansion of the service into a specialty channel capable of carrying video programming. The channel planned to carry anchored blocks of sports news and highlights, accompanied by a ticker with updated sports scores and headlines. Sportscope disclosed plans for localized tickers and additional streams of alphanumeric data. The expanded service launched in May 1997 as Headline Sports.

The Score

In March 2000, the CRTC approved an amendment to Headline Sports' license allowing it to carry limited live programming, provided that it operate in a manner that still prioritizes its licensed format as a sports news and information service. This included continuing to display the ticker during all programming, and breaking away from live programming at least once every 15 minutes to present video highlights.

To promote the expansion, and due to trademark issues with Turner Broadcasting over the "Headline Sports" name (as CNN Headline News aired sports segments carrying the name), the channel was rebranded as The Score Television Network (or simply The Score) that year.

On June 6, 2006, The Score launched a high definition simulcast, available through all major television providers in Canada. On September 3, 2008, the channel began broadcasting from a new studio on the corner of King and Peter in Downtown Toronto. In the 2007–08 season, The Score acquired the Canadian television rights to the Premier League. The network sub-licensed the majority of the package to long-time rightsholder Rogers Sportsnet, which carried a weekly match on Saturdays, and all other matches on its newly launched premium service Setanta Sports Canada. The Score would broadcast a weekly match on Sundays, and launched the bi-weekly studio program The Footy Show.

On September 20, 2011, Score Media announced that it would put The Score Television Network up for sale.

Purchase by Rogers, relaunch as Sportsnet 360

Reports surfaced on August 24, 2012, that Rogers Media, owners of the competing network Sportsnet, would acquire The Score's parent company. The following day, Rogers Media announced that it acquired Score Media in a transaction valued at $167 million. Pending CRTC approval, Rogers acquired Score Media's television business which included the closed captioning service Voice to Visual Inc., mixed martial arts promotion The Score Fighting Series, and The Score Television Network.

The acquisition closed on October 19, 2012, at which point Score Media's digital assets (the website theScore.com and associated mobile apps) were spun off into another company primarily owned by Score Media's previous shareholders, theScore Inc., in which Rogers Media retained a 10% interest. Score Media's television properties were immediately placed into a blind trust, pending final CRTC approval. As part of CRTC requirements to spend 10% of the value of an acquisition on initiatives to strengthen the broadcasting industry, Rogers planned to fund the organization and broadcast of the "Sportsnet Winter Games" (which would have been an annual winter sports competition) and provide funding for the production of amateur sports programming.

On April 30, 2013, the CRTC approved the acquisition of The Score by Rogers, as well as an amendment to its license to reduce the required number of sports updates during live programs to once per-hour. The CRTC rejected its proposal to spend its tangible benefits on the Sportsnet Winter Games. Immediately following the approval, it was announced that The Score would begin airing Hockey Central Playoff Extra (a spin-off of Sportsnet's NHL news program) nightly during the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs, and the network replaced its afternoon programming with a telecast of Tim & Sid, a radio show on Rogers-owned CJCL hosted by former The Score personalities Tim Micallef and Sid Seixeiro.

On June 4, 2013, Rogers announced that it would relaunch The Score under the Sportsnet brand as Sportsnet 360 on July 1, 2013; it was launched with a simulcast of a Toronto Blue Jays baseball game, followed by the premiere of the new post-game show, Blue Jays Xpress.

Programming

Sportsnet 360 currently serves as a secondary outlet for Sportsnet's national programming alongside Sportsnet One, carrying a mix of full-length programs, and overflow and simulcasted sports programming from other Sportsnet channels. Its weekday daytime lineup currently features television simulcasts of sports radio programs (including By the Books from VSiN, and The Raptors Show, The Fan Hockey Show, Blair & Barker, Real Kyper & Bourne, and The Fan Pregame from co-owned CJCL) and highlights compilation shows.

The channel has primarily served as the main home for combat sports and professional wrestling programming within the Sportsnet family of networks, currently airing Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). Sportsnet 360 had historically served as the Canadian home of WWE programming, in a relationship dating back to its time as The Score. After the Rogers acquisition, Sportsnet renewed the contract in 2014 under a ten-year deal, which also included Canadian distribution rights to WWE Network. This contract concluded at the end of 2024, with all WWE content moving to Netflix in Canada starting in January 2025, as part of its acquisition of exclusive international rights to WWE Raw. On December 22, 2024, Rogers announced a multi-year deal with TNA—owned by Canadian broadcaster Anthem Sports & Entertainment—to air its programming (including flagship weekly series TNA Impact!) on Sportsnet 360 beginning on January 2, 2025.

UFC mixed-martial arts, including UFC on Fox events, preliminary fights, and the reality series The Ultimate Fighter, largely moved from the Sportsnet regional networks and Sportsnet One to Sportsnet 360 following its launch. On December 22, 2014, it was announced that TSN and Fight Network would take over Canadian rights to UFC programming beginning in 2015. Sportsnet regained the UFC rights starting in January 2024, with programming once again primarily airing on Sportsnet 360.

Sportsnet 360 aired a simulcast of CJCL's Tim & Sid from the acquisition of The Score by Rogers in 2013 until 2015, when the show relaunched on Sportsnet with a television-oriented format. The channel then began simulcasting their replacement Brady & Walker (which had moved from mornings) until February 2016, after Greg Brady was fired from the station. Prime Time Sports also aired on Sportsnet 360 until the show's end in October 2019; the station then joined the main Sportsnet channels in simulcasting Tim & Sid once again, after the show was given an audio simulcast on CJCL as a replacement for Prime Time Sports.

Sportsnet 360 formerly broadcast regular season events in U Sports football and basketball. In August 2014, Sportsnet announced that it would not renew its Ontario University Athletics conference television contracts for the 2014 season because of low viewership and the resulting high cost-per-viewer of producing the game broadcasts.

Personalities

Main article: Sportsnet#On-air staff

References

References

1. (2013-10-01). "CRTC Ownership Chart: Rogers Specialty Services". [[Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission]].
2. "Rogers Sportsnet draws fewer viewers to NHL opening night than CBC, still sets network record". [[National Post]].
3. (1996-09-04). "Decision CRTC 96-610". CRTC.
4. "CANADIAN HEADLINE SPORTS DEBUTS, BUT NEEDS LARGE MARKETS".
5. Government of Canada, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). (2000-03-24). "ARCHIVED - Summary - Sportscope Television Network Ltd. - Approved".
6. [http://www.ic.gc.ca/app/opic-cipo/trdmrks/srch/vwTrdmrk.do?lang=eng&fileNumber=0832430&extension=0&startingDocumentIndexOnPage=1 Canadian Trade-mark Database] record for application no. 0832430, "Headline Sports", filed by Sportscope Television Network Ltd. and opposed by Cable News Network Inc.
7. [http://wx.toronto.ca/inter/city/events.nsf/7c36a9972431586885256c8d0047f71e/e730d4dad4b297818525748f0044e787?OpenDocument Grand Opening of The Score's new head office] {{Webarchive. link. (March 4, 2016 , City of Toronto, September 20, 2008.)
8. (1 August 2007). "Premiership getting booted around TV dial". [[National Post]].
9. [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/specialty-sports-channel-the-score-for-sale/article2173733/ Specialty sports channel The Score for sale], ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'', September 20, 2011.
10. Ladurantaye, Steve. "Rogers Communications to acquire Score Media". The Globe and Mail.
11. [http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1025895/rogers-media-to-acquire-thescore-television-network Rogers Media to Acquire theScore Television Network] CNW press release 2012-08-25
12. Score Media. (2012-10-19). "Score Media Inc. completes plan of arrangement".
13. Rogers Media. (2012-10-19). "Rogers Media Completes Acquisition of Score Media".
14. "Rogers wants CRTC to ease Score licence rules". The Globe and Mail.
15. "CRTC clears way for Rogers to buy Score". The Globe and Mail.
16. "CRTC Gives Final Approval to Rogers' Acquisition of Score Media". Broadcaster Magazine.
17. "Sportsnet 360 Goes to Air July 1". Broadcaster.
18. "Rogers rebrands The Score as Sportsnet 360". Marketing Magazine.
19. Nowak, Peter. (2014-08-01). "Working from NHL playbook, Rogers locks down 10-year cable deal with WWE wrestling". [[Canadian Business]].
20. Rogers Media. "Are WWE pay-per-views included in Sportsnet+?". Sportsnet+ Support.
21. Weprin, Alex. (January 23, 2024). "Netflix Nabs WWE 'Raw' Rights in Major $5B Deal". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
22. Adamson, Dave. (2024-12-17). "January 3 WWE SmackDown Broadcast Important Update".
23. (2024-12-23). "Sportsnet, TNA Wrestling announce multi-year agreement".
24. "Canadian UFC programming headed to new Sportsnet 360 channel". Gannett.
25. "UFC reaches Canadian broadcast deal with TSN, RDS".
26. "TSN, RDS, and Fight Network become new Canadian home for UFC".
27. (November 8, 2023). "UFC returning to Sportsnet with multi-year deal starting in 2024". Sportsnet.ca.
28. Thiessen, Connie. (2019-09-25). "Tim & Sid return to radio as part of new Sportsnet 590 The Fan lineup".
29. "Rogers drops OUA football, but says don't blame NHL deal".