In 1983 an all-sports channel to be known as Action Canada Sports Network (ACSN) was licensed as a pay speciality channel by the CRTC to the John Labatt brewery company, part owners of the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team. By the time it launched on September 1st 1984, the name had been shortened to simply TSN – The Sports Network.
By 1987 TSN had been given approval for carriage on basic cable, and was owned by Labatt Communications Inc (LCI). When the Belgian Interbrew company bought Labatt’s in 1995, LCI’s broadcasting assets had to be sold to avoid foreign ownership conflicts, and LCI was acquired in 1996 by a consortium led by LCI President Gordon Craig. The LCI name was later changed to Netstar. In March 2000, CTV received CRTC approval to acquire Netstar, and with it ownership of TSN. A condition of the approval was that CTV would have to divest itself of its ownership of Sportsnet.
On Friday August 29th 2008, TSN launched its new 24-hour sports digital network, TSN2, which was also available in High Definition. On September 1st 2009, TSN celebrated its 25th Anniversary.
On May 6th 2014, Bell Media announced that in the fall it would be adding three new sports channels to its lineup, TSN 3, TSN 4 and TSN 5.
Some of the personalities who have passed through TSN’s doors over the years: Russ Howard, Bob McKenzie, Jeff O’Neill, Bob Weeks, Scott Ferguson, James Duthie, Brian Williams, Rod Black, Vic Rauter, Buck Martinez, Roger Neilson, Bob O’Billovich, Dan Shulman, Dave Hodge, Jim Van Horne, Don Chevrier, Chris Cuthbert, Fergie Olver, Paul Romanuk, Chuck Swirsky, Lisa Bowes, Mark Bunting, and Susan Rogers.
In March of 2021, TSN and RDS announced the launch of TSN 5G View / Vision 5G RDS, an iOS and Android in-app feature that leveraged Bell 5G to offer fans interactive viewing options.
Ownership: Bell Media
Start Year: 1983