Canada's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium (legal name 7048467 Canada Inc., also sometimes referred to informally in branding as CTV Olympics and RDS Olympiques, additionally referred to as the National Olympic Network by BBM Canada) was a joint venture set up by Canadian media companies Bell Media (formerly CTVglobemedia) and Rogers Media to produce the Canadian broadcasts of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England, as well as the two corresponding Paralympic Games. Bell owned 80% of the joint venture, and Rogers owns 20%.
The consortium encompassed many of the properties owned by both companies, including Bell Media's CTV Television Network, TSN, RDS and RDS Info, and Rogers Media's Omni Television, Sportsnet, OLN, and the Rogers radio stations group. Several other broadcasters carried consortium coverage, including Noovo (formerly V), and several channels owned by Asian Television Network. Finally, dedicated websites in English and French (ctvolympics.ca and rdsolympiques.ca) were set up to stream live coverage over the Internet to Canadian viewers. The consortium replaced CBC Sports, which had held the Canadian rights to all Olympics beginning with the 1996 games, although some cable rights had been sub-licensed to TSN / RDS beginning in 1998.
Rogers announced in September 2011 that it would withdraw from the consortium following London 2012, and therefore not participate in its bid for rights to the 2014 Winter Olympics and 2016 Summer Olympics. The company cited scheduling conflicts and financial considerations for the decision. Bell Media then announced a new partnership with the CBC to bid for Canadian broadcasting rights of Sochi 2014 and Rio 2016. Broadcast details for the joint bid were never released. The joint Bell/CBC bid was considered the prohibitive favourite to win the rights when the International Olympic Committee accepted bids. However, the Bell/CBC bids were rejected by the IOC.
On August 1, 2012, CBC Sports announced that it had made a deal to broadcast the 2014 and 2016 Summer and Winter Olympics, replacing the Bell/Rogers group. However, in February 2013, CBC announced that both Sportsnet and TSN would sub-license broadcast rights to the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Participant media outlets[]
English[]
Company | Channel(s) | Notes |
---|---|---|
Bell Media | CTV | Primary coverage |
CTV Two Atlantic | Primary coverage for Atlantic Canada, especially for Newfoundland and Labrador as there is no full-time CTV affiliate in the province. In other areas, CTV Two carried normal programming. | |
TSN, TSN2 | Secondary coverage; including full events and some highlights between events. TSN2 rebroadcast select events. | |
CTV News Channel, Discovery Channel | Ancillary (non-event) coverage related to the games. | |
MuchMusic | Broadcasts live programming live from Vancouver during the 2010 Winter Olympics, including special editions of MuchOnDemand broadcast from Whistler. | |
The Globe and Mail | The then-CTVglobemedia-owned newspaper was listed as part of the consortium and supplied content for its websites, however its sponsorship/coverage of the games is independent of the broadcast rights. | |
Rogers Media | Sportsnet | Secondary coverage |
OLN | Full-event coverage of select outdoor events. | |
Sportsnet Radio Rogers Media radio stations |
Radio coverage |
French[]
Company | Channel(s) | Notes |
---|---|---|
Bell Media | Noovo | Primary coverage |
RDS, RDS Info | Secondary coverage | |
CPAC | Simulcast of Noovo's coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics as Noovo has limited coverage outside Quebec. | |
Cogeco radio stations | Radio coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics |
Other languages[]
Company | Channel(s) | Language(s) | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Bell Media | Omni Television (Omni.1 Ontario) |
Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Ukrainian | |
Omni Television (Omni.2 Ontatio, Omni Edmonton, Omni Calgary, Omni British Columbia) |
Cantonese, Mandarin | ||
Omni Television (Omni British Columbia) |
Punjabi | ||
Asian Television Network | ATN Alpha ETC Punjabi, ATN MH1 | ||
ATN Bangla | Bengali | ||
ATN Gujarati | Gujarati | ||
ATN Channel | Hindi | ||
ATN Jaya TV | Tamil | ||
ATN ARY Digital | Urdu | ||
APTN | Cree Dene Inuktitut Mechif Mi'kmaq Mohawk Ojibway Oji-Cree |
Provided coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Canada's native languages. In some cases the network was split, with commentary in two or three different languages on the East, West, and North feeds. It also aired some English and French coverage as an overflow channel. APTN did not participate in coverage for the 2012 Summer Olympics. |
Broadcast teams[]
2010 Winter Olympics[]
Programmes[]
Programme | Host(s) | Channel |
---|---|---|
Olympic Morning | Beverly Thomson, Jay Onrait, Seamus O'Regan, and Melissa Grelo | CTV |
Olympic Daytime | James Duthie, Lisa LaFlamme, and Michael Landsberg | |
Olympic Prime Time | Brian Williams and Jennifer Hedger | |
Olympic Late Night | no host |
Event coverage[]
Sport | Play-by-play announcer(s) | Color commentator(s) | Reporter(s) |
---|---|---|---|
Alpine skiing | Gerry Dobson | Brian Stemmle, Cary Mullen and Karen Percy | Perry Solkowski |
Biathlon | RJ Broadhead | Daniel Lefebvre | Paul Hollingsworth |
Bobsleigh | Rob Faulds | Chris Lori and Christina Smith | Farhan Lalji |
Luge | Chris Wightman | ||
Skeleton | Duff Gibson | ||
Cross country skiing | RJ Broadhead | Beckie Scott and Jack Sasseville | Paul Hollingsworth |
Curling | Vic Rauter and Bryan Mudryk | Linda Moore, Ray Turnbull, Russ Howard and Cathy Gauthier | Dan Murphy |
Figure skating | Rod Black | David Pelletier and Jamie Sale (pairs) David Pelletier (men's singles) Elizabeth Manley and Jennifer Robinson (ice dance & ladies' singles) |
Sara Orlesky |
Freestyle skiing | Jamie Campbell | Veronica Brenner and Jeff Bean (aerials) Veronica Brenner (moguls) |
Katherine Dolan |
Ice hockey (men's) | Chris Cuthbert, Gord Miller and Peter Loubardias | Pierre McGuire, Ray Ferraro and John Garrett | Ryan Rishaug, Darren Dreger and Gene Principe |
Ice hockey (women's) | Kevin Quinn | Cassie Campbell | Lisa Bowes |
Short track speed skating | Rod Black | Susan Auch | Louis Jean |
Ski jumping | RJ Broadhead | Rob Keith | Craig MacEwen |
Snowboarding | Jamie Campbell | Tara Teigen | Mark Torlay |
Speed skating | Rod Smith | Catriona Le May Doan | James Cybulski |
2012 Summer Olympics[]
Programmes[]
Programme | Host(s) | Channel |
---|---|---|
Olympic Morning | Dave Randorf and Catriona Le May Doan | CTV |
Don Taylor | Sportsnet | |
Kate Beirness | TSN | |
Olympic Daytime | James Duthie and Jennifer Hedger | CTV |
Daren Millard | Sportsnet | |
Michael Landsberg | TSN | |
Olympic Prime Time | Brian Williams | CTV |
Brad Fay | Sportsnet | |
Dareen Dutchyshen | TSN |
Event coverage[]
Sport | Play-by-play announcer(s) | Color commentator(s) | Reporter(s) |
---|---|---|---|
Athletics | Gord Miller Vic Rauter (marathon & race walk) |
Dave Moorcroft, Michael Smith and Donovan Bailey Roger Burrows (race walk) Lisa Bentley (marathon) |
Farhan Lalji |
Badminton | Jim Van Horne | ||
Basketball | Paul Jones | Chantal Valee | |
Beach volleyball | RJ Broadhead | Mark Heese | |
Boxing | Eric Smith and Jim Van Horne | Russ Anber and Kara Ro | James Brydon |
Canoeing/Rowing | Rob Faulds (flat-water) Vic Rauter (whitewater) |
Larry Cain and Barney Williams (flat-water) Marnie McBean (rowing) David Ford (whitewater) |
Geneviève Beauchemin |
Cycling | Jamie Campbell | Curt Harnett (track) Brendan Arnold (BMX) Lesley Tomlinson (road & mountain bike) |
Gene Principe |
Equestrian | Bryan Mudryk | Nancy Wetmore | |
Field hockey | David Christison | Rechelle Hawkes | |
Gymnastics | Rod Black | Kyle Shewfelt (artistic) Erika Leigh-Howard (rhythmic) |
Katherine Dolan |
Judo | Bryan Mudryk | Will Frazer | James Brydon |
Soccer | Gerry Dobson and Luke Wileman | Jason de Vos, Craig Forrest and Kara Lang | Sheri Forde |
Swimming/Diving | Rod Smith | Joanne Malar and Lisa Bentley Blythe Hartley (diving) |
Perry Solkowski |
Synchronized swimming | Carolyn Waldo | ||
Taekwondo | Bryan Mudryk | James Brydon | |
Tennis | Jim Van Horne | Stephen Warboys | |
Triathlon | Paul Romanuk | Barrie Shepley | Dave Naylor |
Volleyball | Kevin Quinn | Emily Cordonier | |
Water polo | Gerry Dobson | George Gross Jr. | |
Weightlifting | Paul Romanuk | ||
Wrestling | Vic Rauter | Christine Nordhagen | James Brydon |