Rogers Media is asking the federal broadcast regulator for changes to how The Score TV channel breaks into live sports programming with highlight packages.
Rogers bought Score Media Inc. last August for $167 million, but the deal needs approval by the CRTC. The channel is known for its sports headline news and information.
But Rogers says when The Score is broadcasting live sports, that event should not have to be interrupted more than once an hour for video highlights and sports results and information.
Currently, Score’s licence requires it to interrupt live sports every 15 minutes with highlights and sports updates.
Rogers says breaking into live programming every 15 minutes can be disruptive during some live sporting events with continuous play, such as soccer.
Rogers also says in documents to the CRTC that the change will give The Score the flexibility it needs to provide its signature headline news programming in a way that’s suited to what live sports event it’s broadcasting.
“It is very disruptive to viewers of The Score to have the soccer match that they are watching interrupted unnecessarily by the current requirement for mandatory fifteen-minute news breaks,” Rogers said in a letter to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.
Rogers also noted that The Score is not a mainstream sports service and operates as a headline sports news service with video and audio highlights.
Rogers is competing with heavyweight rival TSN, owned by Bell, for sports fans. Rogers has said The Score’s niche programming will complement mainstream sports coverage by Rogers’ Sportsnet and Sportsnet 1.
If the deal to buy The Score is approved, Rogers has proposed a tangible benefits package representing 10 per cent of the value of the transaction.
Rogers said the funds would be used for such things as the Sportsnet Winter Games, digital media production scholarships and amateur sports production.
