If its not about the Maple Leafs, Raptors or Blue Jays, or has a Toronto angle, Sportsnet does not give two shits about it. They are the worst, with TSN a close second.

Kodi is open source (legal) software, it is the addons which can circumvent copyright. The Kodi developer site itself will not allow illegal addons, they want to distance themselves from that. All Kodi is, is a media player/conglomerator.

All the addons I use are totally legal (CBC for example). Kodi has nothing to do with so called "Kodi boxes" and tries to discourage the use of their name.

As for the illegal addons, in Canada they are still a grey area (the stream is just passing through and not recorded for other use) but in Europe I believe they are now illegal.

Anyone telling you that you can get all the channels forever is lying, illegal addons come and go and are fairly unreliable and getting fewer all the time. Legal streaming is the way to go.

It's just a different way of consuming content but if you have to have a certain show at a certain time, ya better stick with cable or a dedicated pay service.

My mission is to not pay anything at all, I know people who pay as much for the extra providers like Netflix, Disney etc as they would if they still had cable. That's not cord cutting to me.

That's the impression I had as well.

Unfortunately due to a number of factors (broadcast regulations, corporate concentration, etc.) the Prairies don't have their own sports network.

Don't get me started on Craig Button - TSN's "Director of Pro Scouting" - what does that even mean? He's not affiliated to a team - so how can a random entity like TSN have their own Scouting dude? He's a Buffoon for sure..the biggest out of all of them. The only one less likeable is Dreger on SN.

Yeah, if I wanted to be American centric I'd watch the intersectional ESPN and avoid the middleman.

I would love that. And I have the perfect guy to do the daytime sports talk.

Basically the closest thing to our own Jim Rome kind of personality is Rod Pedersen out of Regina, former WHL/CFL play by play guy who had a show on CKRM for a few years. He now does a sports talk show every day that streams online (available via Google Podcasts), but starting April 8 it will be live on Game+ TV, which is probably somewhere in the far reaches of your cable TV lineup. I give him credit for attempting to build something regional and not just city-specific as most sports shows are out here.

A prairie sports network would probably go heavy on the hockey, football, curling, lacrosse... it would be pretty cool. Too bad it's unlikely to happen.

Even though Ottawa has hosted well-attended Briers fairly recently and is home to one of the country's best female curlers (Rachel Homan), the Ottawa media devote very little coverage to the Brier or even the Scotties when they're out of town. And this Brier was in Kingston, only 2 hours away.

At best there is a quick mention of Homan (BTW Rachel Homan of Ottawa won) at the end of the sports segment on the local CBC station.

I don't think I've ever heard Ottawa's sports radio station TSN 1200 talk about curling (though I have to applaud their coverage of the Redblacks who are treated like a true big league team), and of course clearly any other Ottawa radio station than the CBC would rather swallow a live snake than talk about curling on their sports segments.

Ok thanks for the clarification. So not so different from my Roku or Amazon Fire stick I guess. I have Netflix and recently decided to keep Amzon Prime after a free trial. The amount of original content on Prime surprised me, and if something is not available on Netflix you will likely find it there. Keeping both costs around 20 bucks/month, a reasonable price imo. But yes, there are no simply too many alternatives with HBO, ABC, Disney+, Apple TV+... If you want to get everything you will be upwards of 50$ per month, which at this point is similar to subscribing to a basic TV package with one of the major companies. When it comes to sports, I rely on my IPTV subscription but I can cancel and renew anytime since I am not bound by a contract.

Yeah, if I were interested in that stuff why would I want to watch some dude sitting in a Toronto studio talk about American sports when I can listen to ESPN guys who actually spend their Friday nights or Sunday afternoon having drinks with Roger Goodell or LeBron James in a Manhattan bar or by the pool?

Remember, you can legally share Netflix and Amazon. Depending on what you purchased with Netflix the content is the same for all options, the only thing that differs is how many devices and the resolution. Amazon I believe you can share between two computers but I haven't checked for a while. But with Netflix depending on your package you could split the cost with someone.

I have to laugh, scam artists offer old time OTA (over the air TV) as some sort of "free TV" And of course you need a "digital antenna" All BS of course (the sales hype), but if you live in a big, near the border, market like Toronto you can get all those channels plus US channels for free. There's lots of people who have no idea this still exists. And the quality is better because the signals aren't compressed like cable.

I believe you were the inspiration for that stroke of genius thought (which I have oft stolen) :)

Please feel free!

For context, even in a curling friendly city like Winnipeg, local sports radio doesn't spend much time on it. They have the odd analyst heading into major tournament finals, but that's about it. TSN 1290 is heavily weighted towards hockey (Jets, NHL, Moose, as well as the amateurs), with the Bombers/CFL, NFL and Blue Jays coverage kind of rounding it out. The other talk stations like CJOB and CBC cover the results but don't spend tons of time on curling unless someone local makes a big splash which is not uncommon.

I guess curling isn't really something one listens to on radio, so it doesn't exist much in that space.

Facebook Live is the easiest platform accessible. I can even stream the show on the Defence Wide Area Network at work.:runaway:

The Ottawa Valley and even Ontario in general (including the GTA) has a pretty strong curling culture. As evidenced by the number of recent Brier and Scotties champions from that province.

But you'd never know it from the media coverage. It's treated as if it was your grandparents playing shuffleboard.

Never really understood why it was less prestigious or cool than, say, golf? (Not a huge curling fan but I'd much rather watch curling than golf personally.)

Perhaps it's the tropical locations (vs. the winter that is synonymous with curling) that gives golf more cred?

Though skiing is a posh sport and it's associated with winter and snow.

That said in spite of the "eeww" label on curling I've seen way more people pay attention to televised curling in bars than I have to skiing.

I guess most people do it that way but I don't touch anything facebook. I listen via Google Podcasts.

CJOB used to broadcast the finals of the MCA bonspiel live. I believe it was with Bob Irving doing the play by play.

Fair enough.

FYI Bomber DC Ritchie Hall is on the show right now.

Sportscasters want tape of themselves gushing over US sports since their dream job is to get hired by ESPN or some other American network. Covering curling makes them look like weird foreigners.

That is mind blowing. I wonder if it wasn't CJOB's curling expert Bob Picken, though?

Speaking of the late great Picken, until recently he was a regular at the well known Ukrainian Sportsmen's Dinner in Winnipeg. He would always have the room full of men howling with his perfectly delivered off-colour jokes that always sounded funnier coming from his recognizable and authoritative voice. That guy was a legend.

Curling changed once it became an Olympic sport. Younger, fitter (read sexier) players entered the picture. I've quoted here where curling is one of the most viewed Olympic sports, believe it or not Kevin Martin commenting for NBC asked how much curling coverage they were providing. I think it was 50% of their total airtime.

Just under 75000 people took in World Rugby 7s in Vancouver this past weekend with Canada winning a bronze!
Vancouver has become one of the most anticipated stops for the players in this interational tournament.

I know but it seems like lots of Canadians (and their media overlords) still haven't got the memo yet.

Perhaps if the Americans continue to take a greater interest in curling, 21st century Canadians will start taking it more seriously as well?

Perhaps we could open up the Brier to teams from U.S. states?

I think we can all look forward to the 2030 Brier pitting Alabama against New Mexico, held in Branson, Missouri?

You may be interested to know that the Grand Slam of Curling (i.e. Sportsnet's pro curling circuit) holds a big event in Las Vegas each year. Although I suspect the fact that it's a fun, warm place that you can get to cheaply from just about any Canadian city has a lot to do with it ;)

Never though of that. Really good point.

Oh yeah, now that you mention it I saw that once!

Oooohhh... that would be sacrilege. Seriously! The Brier is a Canadian tradition that started in 1927 and has traditionally included all Canadian provinces and territories. There was a bit of a shakeup a few years ago when they wanted to let the previous years' champions return as Team Canada (as had been done with the Scotties), which necessitated lower-ranked teams to play games before the start to qualify to compete. This resulted in some provinces/territories not being able to compete in the round robin and was not well accepted.

So they revised it a couple of years ago to let all teams play in an initial round robin tournament, split up into two groups with a wild card game the Friday night before for competitive teams who didn't win their provincial playdowns. They also split up the territories to add teams to make the format work. Then, after the initial round robin, the top teams play in a playoff round robin, and the top teams from this enter into playoff matches, which this year also included tiebreaker games from the playoff round robin added on to the schedule.

Confused yet? :haha:

Anyhow... there are tournaments throughout the year that allow teams from other countries to compete, but the Brier and Scotties must be only Canadian... for tradition, but also the winners of these tournaments represent Canada in the World Championships as well. Having a US state represent Canada in the WC would not be a good thing... :D

I feel the sport has a fairly strong fan base, but is not widely accepted among all sports fans as being an option (usually by those who want their sports to be fast and action packed). As far as golf vs curling goes... curling all the way as I find golf kind of a snooze fest. :cheers:

Great showing by the 10th ranked Canadian team. They beat the number 2, 3, 4, 14 and 15th ranked teams and missed making the final (vs #6) by one inch.

That good showing moved them up to #8 in the point total seedings. The Canadian women are tied with Australia (#2) for points but somehow are seeded third.

beIN Sports Xtra is Now Available on XUMO in Canada
Tmera Hepburn cordcuttersnews.com March 9, 2020

Today beIN Sports announced its ad-supported Live Sports streaming channel beIN Sports Xtra is now available in Canada. With this new access to the channel, Canadian viewers will be able to watch sports like soccer via The Roku Channel and Comcast-owned XUMO (free through Kodi with Xumo addon - elly).

“It’s easier than ever to catch [soccer] action in real-time,” Antonio Briceño, deputy managing director for beIN Sports in North America, said in a statement.

beIN Sports will feature commentary and analysis from Kaylyn Kyle, an Olympic medalist and five-time recipient of Saskatchewan Soccer Association’s Player of the Year. beIN features more than just soccer, other sports include wrestling, MMA, skiing and handball.

Here is how the new beIN Sports Xtra Channel is described:

beIN SPORTS XTRA – A free, 24/7 English language LIVE sports, news, analysis and highlights network that brings everyone closer to the game. XTRA will provide LIVE and exclusive access to XTRA soccer matches, XTRA combat sports, XTRA adventure sports, XTRA original studio productions, and a robust library of classic sporting events… all at no XTRA cost!

beIN Sports Xtra is alr4eady available in Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas – Fort Worth, Houston, San Jose – San Francisco – Oakland, Atlanta, Miami – Fort Lauderdale, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Hartford, Columbus, Las Vegas, and Austin, among others. HC2 Broadcasting has 195 operational stations in over 130 U.S. markets, including 34 of the top 35 markets across the United States.

^ Nice touch.

I wonder if the current situation has the potential to unleash carnage on the North American sports world? No matter what I'd expect the big 4 leagues to remain intact along with a handful of the other top tier organizations with big fanbases like the PGA, ATP, F1 etc. But I think a lot of teams and potentially entire leagues could be wiped out as many of them won't be able to absorb the kinds of losses that this is going to lead to if it wipes out entire seasons.

Looking at the CPL, numerous minor pro/junior hockey franchises, even the CFL.

More on this at link above starting at 1:48

CFL will be fine if they don't have to pay players if the season gets cancelled. If by July the situation is resolved I could see the CFL even having a bump in ratings and attendance due to pent up demand for sports with no NHL or NBA

Yeah, it's possible that the NFL season could be unscathed and even the CFL could get by with minimal disruption. But even still the economic hit will be severe. For instance, the 2008 global economic crisis basically killed Arena Football... it lived on for a while in a different format but it was never the same again as it was before.

CFL could probably move their season back 1 month start mid or late july and still have a grey cup

I was wondering about that as well. Given the timing of if things get better or worse, it could be a feast or famine season. The CFL might be the only league to get a full or reasonably full season in depending on what goes down. Edit: Oops, forgot the NFL.

Realistically I think sports are off the table until June at the earliest. Maybe July. It will be so deep into baseball and soccer seasons that it's hard to imagine how MLB/MLS/CPL could manage to fit a season in, but maybe they could do the kind of abridged season we've seen in the past when there have been labour disruptions.

For the CFL, it doesn't help that this season was going to be one of the earlier starting ones, but I think they can run a season nonetheless even though it could mean cutting training camp and the preseason short, and maybe cutting out bye weeks. Might even lose a couple of regular season games depending on how it goes.

The NFL is better off since they really don't get going with training camps until late July IIRC, at which point the crisis should have blown over. They will probably barely feel it with regard to scheduling.

And then of course the NBA and NHL should be able to resume in the fall after having this season cancelled.

Don't we already devote an absurd amount of airtime to curling?

Yes but as we have discussed before it's stand-alone coverage that conveniently fills in airtime with CanCon for the networks and often it also almost feels like an "old time's sake" type of thing. Out of loyalty and duty as opposed to true enthusiasm.

Hence even the networks who broadcast it afford it very little coverage in their newscasts and even less (zilch) in their magazine/talk shows.

TV ratings and Brier attendance seem to be on a slow but steady decline so it's unclear to me whether fairly extensive TV coverage of curling will still be the case in the years to come.

I mean, is it any wonder when NCAA March Madness gets infinitely more peripheral sports media coverage and talk show coverage in Canada than curling does.

^ I never thought of curling as a charity case or anything like that... it's a relatively low cost source of programming that seems to draw respectable numbers.

Total guess here, but I'd wager that the lack of SC coverage probably has more to do with the fact that curling demographics probably don't overlap much with Sportscentre demographics.

Perhaps "charity" is not the right term, but it just seems like curling on TSN is like Baby Duck and Mateus in the wine section of your liquor store. The staff aren't really into it, but they still carry it because there is a market for it.

I thought it was funny last Friday night that both Sportsnet and TSN were showing curling reruns.

Well with the crisis and being the Winnipeg sports fan that I am I will watch the 1984 Grey Cup Cal Murphy's first Grey Cup win as boss of the Bombers with Tommy Clements at QB, Chris Walby, James Murphy, Willard Reaves, Tyrone Jones, Bob Cameron, Joe Poplawski man what a stacked team they were!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKbicb21xaQ

and I will watch the 1987 smythe division semis where the Jets beat the Calgary Flames in 6 games

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuyKNAYqyU8

English Premier League in serious financial trouble due to covid-19 and could lose out on their 3 billion pounds a year tv deal.

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sp...569542852.html

The 2020 @CFL Draft on TSN attracted an average audience of 73,000 viewers, more than doubling last year’s audience (+116%). This is the highest audience for a CFL Draft broadcast on TSN since 2014. A total of 428,000 unique Canadian viewers watched some or all of TSN’s coverage.

https://twitter.com/TSN_PR/status/1256323876419596288

Round 1 of the 2020 NFL Draft on @TSN_Sports attracted an average audience of 188,000 viewers, an increase of +125% compared to last year. This is the highest audience for an NFL Draft broadcast on TSN since 2012.

https://twitter.com/TSN_PR/status/1253793061940924416

You're not getting the coveted job in the U.S. based on tapes of your curling highlights reporting on Canadian cable.

Damn impressive numbers.
I watched most of the first round and some of the later rounds - and the whole virtual production turned out better than I thought it would. I was expecting some major problems.

I'm sure the NHL draft will break records too... not much else going on in the sports world these days. Is there any way to watch the baseball going on in Asia?

Not with any of our national sports providers.

One of the Taiwanese teams streams their home games on Twitter in English.

https://time.com/5822240/watch-taiwa...all-live-free/

^ Cool... thank you for that. Not just a pandemic thing, but I wish there was a little more sport from abroad shown on domestic television... but Twitter streams will do.