Réseau des sports Réseau des sports (RDS), is a Canadian French language specialty channel oriented towards 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 20%). Its full ...

(RDS)'' is a

French Canadian French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fren ...

cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

specialty channel A specialty channel (also known in the United States as a cable channel or cable network) can be a commercial broadcasting or non-commercial television channel which consists of television programming focused on a single genre, subject or targeted ...

that broadcasts

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

games.

Background

In 2003, the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

announced a deal to license 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 The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

's ''

La Soirée du hockey ''La Soirée du hockey'' (literally translated to ''The Night of Hockey'') was a Canadian ice hockey television show. It was the French language Radio-Canada equivalent of the English Canadian CBC show ''Hockey Night in Canada''. The show used "T ...

''. 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 The 2003–04 NHL season was the 87th regular season of the National Hockey League. The Stanley Cup champions were the Tampa Bay Lightning, who won the best of seven series four games to three against the Calgary Flames. For the fourth time in ...

, and French-language Canadiens broadcasts now air only on RDS. Simulcasted coverage continued in regions that do not receive RDS on analog TV (all of Canada south/west of the

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

Region) on Radio-Canada until the 2006–07 NHL season. In addition to Canadiens games, RDS also televised a smaller package of

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...

games, which appear on either RDS or

RDS Info RDS Info is a Television in Canada, Canadian French language Category A services, Category A digital cable 24-hour sports information specialty channel. It is owned by CTV Specialty Television Inc., a division of Bell Media (80%) and ESPN (20%). ...

as well as other games. RDS also had the French-language rights to the Stanley Cup playoffs and Finals through 2014, regardless of which teams participated. The NHL game broadcasts formerly varied in name depending on the day of the week. Saturday games were known as ''Le Hockey du Samedi Soir

Coors Light Coors Light is a 4.2% (US) ABV light beer brewed in Golden, Colorado; Albany, Georgia; Elkton, Virginia; Fort Worth, Texas; Irwindale, California; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was first produced in 1978 by the Coors Brewing Company. The Canadia ...

'' (''Coors Light Saturday Night Hockey''). Tuesday games were known as ''Les Méchants Mardis Molson-Ex'' while all of the other day or night games were known as ''Le Hockey Subway des Canadiens'' (''Subway Canadiens Hockey''). NHL telecasts not involving the Canadiens were simply titled ''Le hockey Bud Light de la LNH'' (''Bud Light NHL Hockey''). Since 2014, games have been known as ''Le hockey des Canadiens (

Bell A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inter ...

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

)''. (''Bell/Coca-Cola/McDonald's Canadiens Hockey''). The sponsor affiliations change from time to time.

Contract details

At the end of July 2007, RDS and the Montreal Canadiens extended their exclusive broadcasting rights contract through 2013. The deal included all of the Canadiens' 82 regular season games and all of their playoff games, if need be (none of this precludes

CBC 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, CBCSports.ca, and CBC Radio One. (The CBC's French-languag ...

from televising games in English as part of ''

Hockey Night in Canada CBC Television has aired National Hockey League (NHL) broadcasts under the ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (often abbreviated ''Hockey Night'' or ''HNiC'') brand that is primarily associated with its Saturday night NHL broadcasts throughout its hi ...

''). Also, RDS had exclusive rights to French television broadcasting rights for the NHL All-Star Game and Skills Competition, as well as one NHL game per week that did not involve the Canadiens and a minimum of 40 playoff games for either RDS or RDS Info. The Canadiens also granted RDS exclusive rights to 'new media' coverage for the team (i.e., cell-phone TV, podcast and others). Most other broadcast contracts were acquired through TSN and ESPN. On November 26, 2013,

Rogers Communications Rogers Communications Inc. is a Telecommunications in Canada, Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of mobile phone operator, wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet access, Intern ...

, the parent company of

Sportsnet Sportsnet is a Canadian English-language sports specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media. It was established in 1998 as CTV Sportsnet, a joint venture between CTV, Liberty Media, and Rogers Media. CTV parent Bell Globemedia then ...

announced that it had reached a 12-year, $5.2 billion deal to become the exclusive national rightsholder for the National Hockey League, beginning in the 2014-15 season, and would sub-license exclusive French-language rights to

TVA The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a Federal government of the United States, federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, an ...

and

TVA Sports TVA Sports is a Canadian French-language sports specialty channel owned by the Groupe TVA, a publicly traded subsidiary of Quebecor Media. The channel is a general-interest sports network, and the first major competitor to RDS, the only other Fre ...

, replacing RDS. Previously, due to RDS's position as national French rightsholder, the Canadiens forwent a separate regional rights deal and allowed its games to be part of the national French package. Under the new contract, RDS maintained its broadcast rights to 40 Canadiens games per season under a 12-year deal, but Canadiens games are now subject to blackout outside of the Canadiens home market region. In January 2014, as part of a wider media rights deal with Bell Media, RDS also obtained regional broadcast rights to the

, with 40 regional games in French per season. The contract also includes English-language television and radio rights for TSN and

CFGO CFGO is a commercial AM radio station in Ottawa, Ontario, broadcasting on 1200 kHz. It is owned by Bell Media and broadcasts a sports radio format, using the brand name '' TSN 1200 Ottawa''. The radio studios and offices are in the Bell Me ...

Theme music

In June 2008, RDS's parent, CTV Inc., acquired the rights to "

The Hockey Theme "The Hockey Theme" is a Canadian piece of instrumental theme music composed in 1968 by Dolores Claman and orchestrated by Jerry Toth. It was widely recognized as Canada's unofficial second national anthem. The theme was associated with CBC Te ...

" 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 Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

of ''La Soirée du hockey'' and ''Hockey Night in Canada'' since 1968, will be used for hockey broadcasts on RDS and TSN beginning in the fall of 2008.

Commentators

Our starting line for the coverage of games
/ref>

Current

David Arsenault David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

- Ottawa Senators host * Andrée-Anne Barbeau - Ottawa Senators host *

Benoît Brunet Joseph Jean Luc Benoît Brunet (; born August 24, 1968) is a Canadian former 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 After playing th ...

- Montreal Canadiens studio analyst *

Guy Carbonneau Joseph Harry Guy Carbonneau (born March 18, 1960) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player, coach and executive in the National Hockey League. He was also the president of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Chicoutimi Saguenéens ...

- Montreal Canadiens studio analyst * Alain Crête - Montreal Canadiens host *

Vincent Damphousse Vincent François Damphousse (born December 17, 1967) is a Canadian former professional hockey player who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for eighteen seasons. He played centre for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Edmonton Oilers, Montreal Cana ...

- Montreal Canadiens studio analyst *

Marc Denis Joseph Marc Denis (born August 1, 1977) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender, who last played with the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL). For the 2009–10 season, he was hired as the goaltenders' coach of ...

- Montreal Canadiens colour commentator * Norman Flynn - Ottawa Senators colour commentator *

Denis Gauthier Denis Gauthier, Jr. (born October 1, 1976) 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 ...

- Ottawa / Montreal Studio analyst * Luc Gélinas - Montreal Canadiens beat reporter *

Bruno Gervais Bruno Gervais (born October 3, 1984) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman. He played with the New York Islanders, Tampa Bay Lightning and the Philadelphia Flyers in the National Hockey League (NHL). Playing career As a yout ...

- Ottawa / Montreal Studio analyst *

Pierre Houde Pierre Houde (born July 14, 1957) 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. From 2007 to 2011 ...

- Montreal Canadiens play-by-play * Michel Y. Lacroix - Ottawa Senators play-by-play *

Jocelyn Lemieux Jocelyn Jean-Marc Lemieux (born November 18, 1967) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played 597 games in the National Hockey League with six teams over thirteen seasons before finishing his career with the Long Beach Ice Dog ...

- Ottawa Senators studio Analyst * Chantal Machabée - Montreal Canadiens beat reporter *

Mario Tremblay Joseph Daniel Mario Tremblay (born September 2, 1956) is a former professional ice hockey player and former coach in the National Hockey League (NHL). As a player, he was a five-time Stanley Cup winner with the Montreal Canadiens. He was honou ...

- Montreal Canadiens studio analyst

Former

* Michel Bergeron - Montreal Canadiens analyst (2008–2010) * Jöel Bouchard - Montreal Canadiens studio analyst/rinkside reporter * Yanick Bouchard - ''Le Hockey Bud Light de la LNH'' host *

Denis Casavant Denis may refer to: People * Saint Denis of Paris, 3rd-century Christian martyr and first bishop of Paris * Denis the Areopagite, Biblical figure * Denis, son of Ampud (died 1236), baron in the Kingdom of Hungary * Denis the Carthusian (1402–1 ...

- Play-by-Play *

Jacques Demers Jacques Demers (born August 25, 1944) is a former Canadian Senator, former broadcaster and former professional ice hockey head coach. After a lengthy coaching career in the World Hockey Association and in the National Hockey League, Demers bec ...

- Montreal Canadiens analyst (2000–2010) *

Bob Hartley Robert "Bob" Hartley (born September 7, 1960) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach. He most recently served as the head coach of Avangard Omsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). He has additionally coached the Latvia men's national ...

- Ottawa Senators colour commentator/''Le Hockey Bud Light de la LNH'' analyst (2008–2010) * Renaud Lavoie - Montreal Canadiens interviewer * Patrick Lalime - ''Le Hockey Bud Light de la LNH''/Ottawa Senators Analyst *

Claude Mailhot Claude may refer to: __NOTOC__ People and fictional characters * Claude (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Claude (surname), a list of people * Claude Lorrain (c. 1600–1682), French landscape painter, draughtsman and etcher ...

- Ottawa Senators studio host * Dave Morissette - Ottawa Senators analyst * Sylvain Pedneault - Montreal Canadiens player profiler *

Yvon Pedneault Yvon Pedneault is a French Canadian sports journalist and television and radio broadcaster from Chicoutimi, Quebec who is known for his coverage of ice hockey. Pedneault is the only person to have worked full-time for all three French-language Mont ...

- Montreal Canadiens colour commentator (1998–2008) * Félix Séguin - ''Le Hockey Bud Light de la LNH'' play-by-play

References

External links

RDS - Hockey

RDS - Hockey
{{DEFAULTSORT:LNH a RDS National Hockey League on television Television shows filmed in Montreal 2003 Canadian television series debuts 2014 Canadian television series endings 2010s Canadian sports television series 2000s Canadian sports television series