In the wake of seeing national NHL media rights go to rival Rogers Communications, Bell Media’s sports specialty services TSN and RDS announced Tuesday that they have extended their multi-year programming agreement with ESPN.
The new deal gives the two services Canadian broadcast rights to ESPN’s college football programming, including the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) and the new College Football Playoff commencing in January 2015. It also includes NCAA basketball, the Australian Open and ESPN’s football news programming.
The deal includes sport-specific studio shows for NFL Countdown, NFL Films, ESPN and Game Day SportsCenter Insider Reports and news features, as well as documentary series including 30 for 30 and 9 for IX.
Bell Media Radio also holds radio broadcast rights and the Canadian rights for ESPN digital content including video, fantasy games and ESPN.com’s columnists and insider analysis.
ESPN holds an equity interest in CTV Specialty Inc., which includes both TSN and RDS. The relationship between the two companies dates back to 2001.
