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Réseau des sports (RDS) is a
Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...
French language French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...
discretionary
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 targete ...
oriented towards
sport Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...
s and sport-related shows. It is available in 2.5 million homes, and is owned by
CTV Specialty Television CTV Specialty Television Inc. is a Canadian media company that is a joint venture between Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc. (also known as Bell Canada Enterprises, the owner of telecommunications company Bell Canada) and ESPN Inc. that operates ...
Inc. (
Bell Media Bell Media Inc. (Canadian French, French: ) is a Canadian media conglomerate that is the mass media subsidiary of BCE Inc. (also known as Bell Canada Enterprises, the owner of telecommunications company Bell Canada). Its operations include nati ...
80% and
ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
20%). Its full name (usually prefaced in speech by the French article "le") translates as "
The Sports Network The Sports Network (TSN) is a Canadian English language discretionary sports specialty channel owned by the Sports Network Inc., a subsidiary of CTV Specialty Television, which is also a joint venture of Bell Media (70%), also owned by BCE ...
", the name of its
Anglophone The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories in which English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In the early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, making it the largest language ...
counterpart, TSN.


History


September 1, 1989–1990s

RDS was launched on September 1, 1989, as a sister network to
Labatt Labatt Brewing Company Limited () is a Anheuser-Busch InBev-owned brewery headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1847, Labatt is the largest brewer in Canada. In 1995, it was purchased by Belgian brewer Interbrew. In 2004, Interb ...
's highly successful English-language sports network TSN, but the new network initially was run on a low budget and struggled to obtain rights to major professional sporting events. Despite this, RDS became infamous in its early years for its program ''
Défi Mini-Putt ''Défi mini-putt'' (''Mini-putt Challenge'') was a weekly show in the early 1990s on the Quebec cable television, cable sports network, ''Réseau des sports''. It was the first professional miniature golf tournament to be regularly broadcast i ...
'', a weekly
miniature golf Miniature golf (also known as minigolf, putt-putt, crazy golf, and by #Nomenclature, several other names) is an offshoot of the sport of golf focusing solely on the putting aspect of its parent game. The aim of the game is to score the lowest ...
program best known for its energetic commentator Serge Vleminckx, and his enthusiastic cries of " Birdie!" when a hole in one was scored. By the early 1990s, the network became more established, obtaining the rights to
Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos () were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in the National League (baseball), National League ...
, the
Quebec Major Junior Hockey League The Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL; , LHJMQ), formerly the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). The league includes teams in Quebec ...
and some
Montreal Canadiens The Montreal Canadiens (), officially ' ( Canadian Hockey Club) and colloquially known as the Habs, are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal. The Canadiens compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic D ...
games. Rodger Brulotte became the network's second broadcasting star with his enthusiastic colour commentary of Expos games. RDS also covered some of
Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
's other professional sports teams, such as the
Montreal Machine The Montreal Machine were the sole Canadian (and non-U.S.-based North American) team in the World League of American Football (WLAF), a springtime developmental professional league set up by the National Football League (NFL) that played in 1991 ...
WLAF football team, the Montreal Impact
soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
team, the Montreal Roadrunners
roller hockey Roller hockey is a form of hockey played on a dry surface using wheeled skates. It can be played with traditional roller skates (quad skates) or with inline skates and use either a ball or puck. Combined, roller hockey is played in nearly 60 cou ...
team, the Montreal Express
lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...
team, and the
Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: ''Les Alouettes de Montréal'') are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has disbanded twice and been re-established thrice. The Alouettes compe ...
Canadian football Canadian football, or simply football, is a Sports in Canada, sport in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete on a field long and wide, attempting to advance a Ball (gridiron football), pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposi ...
team. While the Machine, Roadrunners, and Express folded, the partnership between RDS and the Impact and Alouettes helped both the network and the teams to become popular. Much of the rise of popularity of Canadian football in
Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
can be attributed to RDS coverage of
Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...
and
university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
games. Its small market (mainly limited to Quebec), however, has meant that its revenues are modest. It has had to offer proportionately modest fees for broadcast rights. Due to
CRTC The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; ) is a public organization in Canada tasked with the mandate as a regulatory agency tribunal for various electronic communications, covering broadcasting and telecommunic ...
regulations on the foreign ownership of broadcasters, Labatt was forced to sell both RDS and TSN upon its acquisition by
Interbrew Interbrew is subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV is based in Breda, Netherlands. It has one subsidiary, Ambev S.A. of São Paulo, Brazil. Brands Interbrew brands have historically included Budweiser, Stella Artois, Boddingtons Brewery, Boddi ...
in 1995. Labatt's broadcasting assets were sold to a privately held consortium named
NetStar Communications This is a list of assets currently owned by Bell Media, a subsidiary of BCE Inc. This list does not enumerate the various telecommunications or retail assets owned by BCE. For further information on those properties, refer to the article on B ...
, the investors of which included a number of Canadian firms as well as
ESPN Inc. ESPN Inc. is an American multinational sports media conglomerate majority-owned by the Walt Disney Company, with Hearst Communications as an equity stakeholder. Founded by Bill Rasmussen in 1979, it owns and operates local and global cable and ...
, which held an interest of about 30 percent. The same CRTC regulations had prevented ESPN from establishing its own separate Canadian sports networks outright, so acquiring a minority stake in RDS and TSN became ESPN's alternative plan to get into the Canadian market.


2000s

In 2000, majority ownership of RDS and TSN's parent company NetStar was acquired by Bell Globemedia. ESPN still kept minority ownership, and one year later both RDS and TSN adopted ESPN-style logos. Also in 2000, the Montreal Expos severed their relationship with the network, complaining that they were not offering enough to broadcast games. The network resumed coverage from 2001 until the team moved to
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
after the 2004 season, showing about 50 games a season. In 2002, the
Montreal Canadiens The Montreal Canadiens (), officially ' ( Canadian Hockey Club) and colloquially known as the Habs, are a professional ice hockey team based in Montreal. The Canadiens compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic D ...
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 Radio-Canada may refer to: * CBC/Radio-Canada, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation *Ici Radio-Canada Télé, the CBC's main French-language television network *Ici Radio-Canada Première Ici Radio-Canada Première (formerly Première Chaîne) i ...
's ''
La Soirée du hockey ''La Soirée du hockey'' (literally translated to ''The Night of Hockey'') was the French language equivalent of the English Canadian CBC's NHL broadcasts ''Hockey Night in Canada'' produced by Radio-Canada, which targets on National Hockey League ...
''. 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 exclusively on RDS. Simulcasted coverage continued in regions that do not receive RDS on analog TV (all of Canada south/west of the
Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...
region) on Radio-Canada until the
2006–07 NHL season The 2006–07 NHL season was the 90th season of operation (89th season of play) of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim officially shortened their name to the Anaheim Ducks prior to the season. The 2007 Stanley Cup pla ...
. 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 T ...
'' after the CBC failed 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 which 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 ...
of ''La Soirée du hockey'' and ''Hockey Night in Canada'' since 1968, has been used for hockey broadcasts on RDS and TSN beginning in the fall of 2008.


2010s

On September 10, 2010,
Bell Canada Bell Canada (commonly referred to as Bell) is a Canadian telecommunications company headquartered at 1 Carrefour Alexander-Graham-Bell in the borough of Verdun, Quebec, in Canada. It is an ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) in the province ...
announced plans to re-acquire 100% of CTVglobemedia's broadcasting arm, including its majority control of TSN. Under the deal, Woodbridge Company Limited,
Torstar Torstar Corporation is a Canadian mass media company which primarily publishes news. It is known for publishing the ''Toronto Star'', its flagship and namesake. Torstar was purchased by NordStar Capital LP, which is currently owned by Jordan Bi ...
, and
Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board () is an independent organization responsible for administering defined benefit pension plan, defined-benefit pensions for school teachers of the provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of ...
would together receive $1.3 billion in either cash or equity in BCE, while BCE will also assume $1.7 billion in debt (BCE's existing equity interest is $200 million, for a total transaction value of $3.2 billion). Woodbridge has since simultaneously regained majority control of ''The Globe and Mail'', with Bell retaining a 15% interest in December 2010. The deal closed on April 1, 2011, after the CRTC approved the sale on March 7, 2011—the new company became known as
Bell Media Bell Media Inc. (Canadian French, French: ) is a Canadian media conglomerate that is the mass media subsidiary of BCE Inc. (also known as Bell Canada Enterprises, the owner of telecommunications company Bell Canada). Its operations include nati ...
. In July 2012, Bell submitted a proposal to the CRTC, requesting permission to convert Montreal's
TSN Radio TSN Radio is a semi-national sports radio brand and part-time network in Canada carried on AM radio stations owned by Bell Media.CKGM CKGM (''TSN Radio, TSN 690 Montreal'') is an English language, English-language AM broadcasting, AM radio station in Montreal, Quebec, owned by Bell Media Radio. Formerly an network affiliate, affiliate of sports radio network "The Team (radio n ...
to a French-language station with an RDS-branded sports talk format, known as RDS Radio. The planned language and format change was intended to take advantage of
CKAC CKAC is a Canadian French, French-language radio station located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Owned by Cogeco, the station operates as a commercial travelers' information station, traffic information service branded as ''Radio Circulation 730''. ...
's recent switch from French sports talk to traffic information, and to satisfy the CRTC's ownership caps for Bell's planned acquisition of
Astral Media Astral Media Inc. was a Canadian media conglomerate. It was Canada's largest radio broadcaster, with 84 radio stations in eight provinces. Astral was also a major player in premium and specialty television in Canada, with 23 specialty channel ...
—since Astral already owned the maximum number of English-language stations that one company can own in the market. Bell's original proposal to acquire Astral, and in turn the CKGM proposal, were rejected by the CRTC; under a revised structure (which saw the company divest itself of certain Astral Media properties), Bell would be granted a waiver to maintain ownership of CKGM as an English-language station. On November 26, 2013, Rogers 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 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 F ...
(which Rogers has previously partnered with to hold French-language rights to
Sportsnet Sportsnet is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language Discretionary service, discretionary sports broadcasting, sports specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media. It was established in 1998 as CTV Sportsnet, a joint venture betw ...
properties), 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 60 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 (which included English-language regional television and radio rights for TSN and CFGO), RDS obtained regional broadcast rights to the
Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. The Senators compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Di ...
, with 50 regional games in French per season. In December 2014, as part of deals with Bell, RDS acquired French-language rights to the
UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...
and
UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. The larg ...
mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...
, both beginning in 2015.


2020s

On May 1, 2022, minor television provider Hay Communications is expected to remove the channel from its channel line-up, due to a sharp increase in cost to deliver the channel.


Noted RDS programming

''Sports 30'' – Sports news show that provides news and updates regarding major sports in North America and elsewhere. ''Canadien Express'' – Condensed version of the previous Montreal Canadiens hockey game in a 60-minute format. ''F1 Express'' – Similar concept derived from the ''Canadien Express'' broadcast. The Montreal Canadiens hockey game broadcasts formerly varied in name according to the day of the week. Saturday games were known as ''Le Hockey du Samedi Soir
Coors Light Coors Light is a 4.2% ABV light American lager beer sold by Coors (currently Molson Coors) of Chicago, Illinois. It was first produced in 1978 by the Coors Brewing Company. They had briefly produced a different low-alcohol beer by the same n ...
''. 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''. NHL telecasts not involving the Canadiens were simply titled ''
LNH à RDS ''Réseau des sports (RDS)'' is a French Canadian cable specialty channel that broadcasts National Hockey League games. Background In 2003, the Montreal Canadiens announced a deal to license its French-language broadcast rights for all of its pr ...
''. Since 2014, games have been known as "Le hockey des Canadiens (
Bell A bell /ˈbɛl/ () 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 m ...
/
Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...
/
McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...
)." The sponsor affiliations change from time to time. In January 2013, RDS and TSN announced a documentary series, ''24CH'', following the team.


Dubbed programming

Because very few sporting events broadcast by RDS are carried by any other French-language broadcaster, exact
simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of "simultaneous broadcast") is the broadcasting of programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultaneously) ...
s of other broadcasters on RDS are extremely rare. Even when another French-language broadcaster is carrying the event (e.g., the
French Open The French Open (), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a tennis tournament organized by the French Tennis Federation annually at Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France. It is chronologically the second of the four Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam ...
or soccer matches involving teams from France), RDS will usually use its own commentators. However, for most events that do not either take place in Quebec or involve Quebec-based teams, RDS will rely on the applicable English-language broadcaster (Canadian or American), or some other international broadcast, for the video feed, including any graphics or game updates in the original feed. The visuals are then dubbed live-to-air with commentators in the RDS studios, who (in most cases) call the game off monitors instead of being on-site. The commentary is not a translation of the English language audio, although the background audio typically remains intact, and relevant information from the English commentary (e.g. injury reports, or explanations of onscreen graphics) may or may not be relayed by the RDS announcers. Interviews aired during the broadcast are undubbed, though RDS announcers will translate and summarize it after completion. The video is usually delayed by several seconds from the originating feed, in order to ensure that irrelevant items (such as U.S. network promos, apart from those for other events which will also air on RDS) are removed from the RDS broadcast. These are usually replaced by other images of the venue, additional game statistics, or RDS promos.


RDS2

On June 15, 2011, Bell Media announced the launch of RDS2, a multiplex channel of RDS similar to TSN's equivalent
TSN2 TSN2 is a Canadian English-language discretionary sports specialty channel that acts as the secondary feed of sports-centred channel The Sports Network (TSN) and owned by CTV Specialty Television Inc. It was launched in its current form on A ...
, in the fall of 2011. The channel will be available in both
standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object ...
and high definition. On September 19, 2011, Bell Media announced that RDS2's launch date will be October 7, 2011.


High-definition feed

RDS launched an HD edition of the channel on October 3, 2007, in time for the
2007–08 NHL season The 2007–08 NHL season was the 91st season of operation (90th season of play) of the National Hockey League (NHL). It began on September 29, 2007, and the regular season ended April 6, 2008. The Stanley Cup playoffs ended on June 4, with the ...
, making it the only channel to broadcast all games of the NHL's Montreal Canadiens in HD. Since then, most major sporting events have been broadcast in HD; including Formula One, NASCAR, Montreal Alouettes CFL Football, NFL, MLB, PGA Golf and the Euro 2008 soccer tournament amongst others. RDS currently broadcasts its HD signal in 1080i format.


Notable personalities


Current

*David Arsenault – CFL and NFL play-by-play / Ottawa Senators studio host *Alain Crête – Montreal Canadiens studio host *Yanick Bouchard – Host of ''Le 5à7'' / Hockey studio host * Guy Boucher – Hockey analyst * Benoit Brunet – Montreal Canadiens 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's Chicoutimi Saguenéen ...
– Montreal Canadiens analyst *
Patrick Carpentier Patrick Carpentier (born August 13, 1971) is a Canadian former professional auto racing driver. In the Champ Car World Series and the IndyCar Series, he achieved five wins and 24 podiums, as well as two third place championship finishes in 2002 C ...
– NASCAR analyst * Patrick Coté – UFC analyst *
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 Ca ...
– Hockey analyst * Mathieu Darche – Hockey analyst * Gilbert Delorme – Hockey 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 * Claudine Douville – Soccer/rugby/women's hockey play-by-play
Norman Flynn
– Ottawa Senators colour commentator / Hockey analyst * Denis Gauthier – Hockey analyst * Bruno Gervais – Hockey analyst *Jean Gounelle – Soccer analyst * Guy Hemmings – Curling colour commentator * Bruno Heppell – CFL/NFL analyst *
Pierre Houde Pierre Houde (born 14 July 1957) is a Canadian play-by-play sports announcer for Réseau des sports (RDS). He has announced broadcasts of Montreal Canadiens games since 1989, and received the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award in 2024, in recognit ...
– Montreal Canadiens play-by-play / Formula 1 lap-by-lap *Michel Y. Lacroix – Ottawa Senators play-by-play / Curling 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 seven teams over thirteen seasons before finishing his career with the Long Beach Ice D ...
– Hockey analyst * Yvon Michel – Boxing analyst * Yvan Ponton – Tennis play-by-play and ''30 Images / Seconde'' host * Matthieu Proulx – CFL/NFL host and analyst * Maxime Talbot – Hockey analyst * Gaston Therrien – Hockey analyst *Alexandre Tourigny – NBA analyst * Mario Tremblay – Montreal Canadiens analyst * PJ Stock – Hockey analyst *Alain Usereau – MLB Baseball play-by-play / Curling play-by-play * Pierre Vercheval – CFL/NFL colour commentator and analyst


Former

* Michel Bergeron – Montreal Canadiens analyst *
Joel Bouchard Joel or Yoel is a name meaning "Yahweh Is God" in Hebrew and may refer to: * Joel (given name), including a list of people named Joel or Yoel * Joel (surname), a surname * Joel (footballer, born 1904), Joel de Oliveira Monteiro, Brazilian football ...
– Montreal Canadiens analyst * Rodger Brulotte – Baseball analyst *
Jacques Demers Jacques Demers (born 25 August 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 becam ...
– Hockey analyst * Robert Dawson – First President of RDS *
Guillaume Latendresse Guillaume Latendresse (born May 24, 1987) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He was selected in the second round, 45th overall, by the Montreal Canadiens in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. Lantendresse also played for the Minnesota Wil ...
– Montreal Canadiens analyst * Patrick Leduc – Soccer analyst * Dominique Perras – Cycling analyst * Chantal Machabé – Hockey commentator


Broadcasting contracts

At the end of July 2007, RDS and the Montreal Canadiens extended their exclusive broadcasting rights contract through 2013. The deal includes 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 ''Hockey Night in Canada'' (often abbreviated ''Hockey Night'' or ''HNiC'') is a long-running program of broadcast ice hockey play-by-play coverage in Canada. With roots in pioneering hockey coverage on private radio stations as early as 1923, ...
''). Also, RDS has exclusive French broadcasting rights for the NHL All-Star Game and Skills Contest, as well as one NHL game per week that does not involve the Canadiens and a minimum of 40 playoff games for either RDS or RIS. 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 are acquired through TSN and ESPN. In 2013, RDS lost exclusive broadcasting rights over Montreal Canadiens Saturday night games, the playoffs, the NHL All-Star Game and Skills Contest as the NHL dealt those to Rogers Communications with TVA Sports providing French coverage. However, RDS managed secure the broadcasting rights for 60 regional games as those are still dealt by the Montreal Canadiens.


International distribution

*
Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Pierre and Miquelon ( ), officially the Territorial Collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon (), is a self-governing territorial overseas collectivity of France in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean, located near the Canada, Canadian prov ...
(France) – distributed on SPM Telecom (
Orange S.A. Orange S.A. (; formerly , stylised as france telecom) is a French multinational telecommunications corporation founded in 1988 and headquartered in Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris. ''Orange'' has been the corporation's main brand for mobile, ...
) systems.


See also

*
RDS Cup The Sidney Crosby Trophy is awarded annually by the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) to the overall Rookie of the Year. The Cup was known as the Molson Cup from 1991 to 1994, and the New Face Cup from 1994 to 1996. From 1996 to 2025 th ...
– Quebec Major Junior Hockey League "Rookie of the Year" award


Notes and references


External links

*
RDS 2 (info about the station)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reseau Des Sports Bell Media networks CTV Sports French-language television networks in Canada Sports television networks in Canada Television channels and stations established in 1989 The Sports Network Specialty television channels in Canada