Leafs Nation Network (formerly Leafs TV) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

English language Category B regional specialty channel owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. Leafs Nation Network broadcasts programming related to the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

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 ...

club and its

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

affiliate, the

Toronto Marlies The Toronto Marlies are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the American Hockey League (AHL) as a member of the North Division of the Eastern Conference. The Marlies is owned by Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment, a c ...

. Leafs Nation Network was only available within the Maple Leafs' "home market" of

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, excluding the

Ottawa Valley The Ottawa Valley is the valley of the Ottawa River, along the boundary between Eastern Ontario and the Outaouais, Quebec, Canada. The valley is the transition between the Saint Lawrence Lowlands and the Canadian Shield. Because of the surroun ...

(which is in the home market of the

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 ...

History

In November 2000, MLSE (Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment), was granted approval by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to launch a television channel called ''Maple Leaf Channel'', described as "a regional English-language Category 2 specialty television service devoted to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Programming was to include historical events, profiles of players, panel and call-in shows, classic Maple Leaf hockey games, interviews with Maple Leaf players, coaches and management, statistics, insights and analysis of the current hockey scene from a Maple Leaf perspective, and information as to the purchase of merchandise, tickets and collectibles. There was also to be a small amount of programming related to general hockey matters, including minor hockey league hockey and hockey instruction." The channel was launched on September 7, 2001 as Leafs TV. The channel was valued at $19 million on behalf of the CRTC in 2012. From the channel's launch until the 2014–15 season, the Leafs retained a small number of regional telecasts for broadcast on Leafs TV, typically around 12 games per season. That changed going into the

2014–15 NHL season The 2014–15 NHL season was the 98th season of operation (97th season of play) of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Los Angeles Kings became the first team to miss the playoffs after winning the Stanley Cup the previous season since the C ...

when regional rights formerly held by the channel went to

Sportsnet Ontario Sportsnet Ontario (formerly known as CTV Sportsnet Ontario and Rogers Sportsnet Ontario) is a Canadian regional sports specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media serving most of all Ontario. It is one of four Sportsnet regional feeds. It ...

and

TSN4 The Sports Network (TSN) is a Canadian English language sports specialty channel established by the Labatt Brewing Company in 1984 as part of the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels. Since 2001, it has been majority-owned by commu ...

. On October 7, 2017, Leafs TV was renamed as Leafs Nation Network and re-launched as a multi-platform iteration of Leafs TV, with most of its programming shifting to the team's website and mobile apps and the television network slowly becoming an overall afterthought with the shift of content over to streaming and a lack of live games. It continued to carry pre-game and post-game coverage and other documentary programming. On August 16, 2022, ''

Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices is located at Pos ...

s Lance Hornby reported that MLSE announced that the channel would go off the air on August 31. At MLSE's request, the CRTC formally revoked Leafs Nation Network's license on September 1.

Programming

Programming on Leafs Nation Network included re-airings of recent and past games (both in entirety, and edited), pre- and post-game shows, biographies of players and other personalities and other related programming. Leafs Nation Network broadcast all

home games. The channel broadcast the 2014 Calder Cup Finals between the

Texas Stars The Texas Stars are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) based in Cedar Park, Texas, near Austin, with home games at the H-E-B Center. They are owned by the National Hockey League's (NHL) Dallas Stars and are the ...

(Dallas Stars AHL team) and the St. John's Ice Caps (Winnipeg Jets AHL team) which simulcasted in the U.S. on NHL Network.

Hosts

Bob McGill Robert Paul McGill (born April 27, 1962) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. McGill played in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1981 until 1994. Early life McGill began playing hockey when he moved to Leduc with his family ...

- Former Leafs Defenceman and current Leafs Nation Network reporter *

Joe Bowen Joe Bowen (born April 5, 1951) is a Canadian sportscaster. He is known as "The Voice of the Toronto Maple Leafs", having broadcast over 3,000 Leaf games. Early life, career, and family Bowen was born and raised in Sudbury. His father died in 19 ...

- Toronto Maple Leafs play-by-play voice * Todd Crocker - Toronto Marlies play-by-play voice

Former Analysts

* Mark Osborne - Toronto Maple Leafs analyst *

Greg Millen Gregory H. Millen (born June 25, 1957) is a Canadian hockey commentator-analyst and a former professional ice hockey goaltender who played 14 seasons for six teams in the National Hockey League (NHL). He is currently a colour commentator on ''H ...

- Toronto Maple Leafs colour analyst *

Harry Neale Harold Watson Neale (born March 9, 1937) is a Canadian retired NCAA, NHL and WHA coach and general manager, and ice hockey broadcaster. Coaching career Following his playing career, Neale got his head coaching start at Hill Park Secondary Scho ...

- Toronto Maple Leafs analyst

Leafs Nation Network HD

In November 2006 Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. launched an HD simulcast of Leafs TV. Originally, the channel was only available during live Maple Leafs' games that broadcast in HD; however, in June 2011, the channel began broadcasting on a full-time basis. Despite being a full-time feed, Leafs Nation Network pregames, post-games and live Leafs are only carried on satellite providers such as

Bell Satellite TV Bell Satellite TV (french: Bell Télé; formerly known as Bell ExpressVu, Dish Network Canada and ExpressVu Dish Network and not to be confused with Bell's IPTV Fibe TV service) is the division of BCE Inc. that provides satellite television ser ...

and

Shaw Direct Shaw Direct is a direct broadcast satellite television distributor in Canada and a subsidiary of the telecommunications company Shaw Communications. As of 2010, Shaw Direct had over 900,000 subscribers. It broadcasts on Ku band from two commu ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leafs Nation Network Sports television networks in Canada National Hockey League on television Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Television channels and stations established in 2001 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2022 Digital cable television networks in Canada English-language television stations in Canada 2001 establishments in Ontario 2022 disestablishments in Ontario Defunct Canadian television channels