TSN Win Canadian Rights to Rugby World Cup Coverage

July 21, 2011

The next two editions of the Rugby World Cup, 2011 and 2015, will be broadcast live in Canada after TSN has secured the rights.

According to Rugby World Cup Limited (RWCL), the deal will deliver unprecedented coverage within Canada of the 2011 tournament in New Zealand and the 2015 competition in England.

TSN will televise all of Canada’s group matches as well as some other selected group games, in addition to the quarter-finals, semi-finals, third-place play-off final and the final itself. All matches will be shown in high definition on TSN and TSN2 channels.

This is the first time TSN have acquired the rights to Rugby World Cup coverage since the inaugural edition of the tournament in 1995. The deal will provide multi-platform extensive coverage via TSN.ca and TSN Mobile TV.

RWCL managing director Mike Miller described the deal as “a significant boost for the reach and profile of rugby in Canada”.

He said: “TSN is Canada’s leading sports broadcaster and is renowned for its high quality broadcasting of major international sports events,” said Miller. “They will bring their unique sound, style and passion for live sport to a tournament that is firmly established as one of the world’s premier sports events.”

TSN vice-president of programming Shawn Redmond added: “Rugby World Cup is a huge, internationally-celebrated event that attracts billions of viewers from across the world and continues to grow in popularity in Canada. We are looking forward to showcasing rugby’s marquee event to Canadian sports fans across all TSN platforms as the Canada team takes on some of the finest teams in the world.”