Watching Senators games on TV is about to hit fans in the wallet a little harder.
Between TSN, Sportsnet+ and Amazon Prime, the bill for following Ottawa is climbing fast, and the old idea that cord-cutting is the cheaper route is looking a lot less convincing.
CBC’s free Saturday-night Hockey Night in Canada run is already gone from the picture. The network announced in June that, for the first time since 1952, it would no longer carry those games on the public broadcaster. That leaves fans looking elsewhere, and the price tags are starting to stack up.
For Senators fans in Ottawa and across the team’s regional broadcast territory, TSN remains the key service. The Senators announced in April that they had reached a new long-term agreement with Bell Media to keep the club’s regional English-language broadcasts on TSN. But TSN’s streaming service also went up this spring, jumping from $24.99 to $29.99 per month.
That still doesn’t cover everything. TSN won’t include the Senators’ nationally televised games, which continue to fall under Sportsnet+.
And Sportsnet+ is more expensive too. Starting September 22, its standard package rises from $29.99 to $34.99 per month.
Put those two together, and a Senators fan paying for TSN and Sportsnet+ standard is looking at $64.98 per month before tax.
Amazon Prime Video adds another wrinkle. It delivered six Sens games last season on Monday nights, and it’s set to move to Wednesday nights beginning in 2026-27.
Prime will carry at least 26 exclusive national regular-season games per year, plus two first-round Stanley Cup playoff series and one second-round series. The Senators have eight Wednesday games this season, though that doesn’t mean all of them will land on Prime.
A Prime membership currently costs $9.99 per month.
If a fan wants every Senators game through TSN, Sportsnet+ standard and Amazon Prime, the monthly total comes to $74.97 before tax. Over 12 months, that works out to almost $899.64 before tax.
Of course, no one has to keep all three services for the entire year, and each one comes with extras beyond hockey. TSN includes football.
Sportsnet has the Jays. Amazon includes free shipping when you order that orange mug with the kitty on it.
Still, the bigger picture is hard to miss: paying for three separate services at these prices is a long way from the promise of cord-cutting.
In Other News...
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Ottawas next chapter is already taking shape after the departure of Brady Tkachuk, a move that sent a jolt through a franchise that had long treated him as the face of the room. In short order, the Senators added William Eklund, and the focus now shifts to whether the organization can stay competitive while building around Tim Stutzle and Jake Sanderson, two players expected to anchor whatever comes next.
The pressure point is not just surviving the transition, but proving the lineup can still move forward in a meaningful way without its former captain. The Senators will be judged on more than standings alone, with the bigger test coming in the seasons ahead as they try to show real progress and turn that into playoff success by 2026-27. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Still Have One Obvious Fit If Vancouver Changes Course
Brock Boesers long-term future in Vancouver has started to feel less settled than it did when he signed his seven-year extension last summer. With the Canucks now being discussed in the context of payroll reduction and broader organizational changes, the winger has been pushed into the trade rumor mix despite his no-movement clause, and that is exactly the kind of situation that tends to draw attention from teams looking for scoring help.
If Vancouver does decide to change course, Ottawa would be among the clubs worth watching. The Senators have been linked to the idea of adding a player with Boesers offensive profile, and his situation figures to stay on the radar as long as the Canucks keep weighing their options. For now, though, the real question is whether Vancouver actually opens the door wide enough for those interested teams to make a serious push. [Read more 🡒]
Senators Face Another Free Agency Hurdle Fans Wont Like
The NHLs economics are about to get a little trickier for Ottawa, and not in a way that helps the Senators in free agency. Along with Toronto, the Senators sit at the top of the leagues tax ladder at 53.09%, a reality that has long made it harder to compete for high-end talent against lower-tax destinations such as Florida and Tampa Bay.
Now there is another wrinkle coming with the next Collective Bargaining Agreement, which is expected to cut back on how much of a contract can be loaded into signing bonuses. That change would trim one of the advantages Canadian clubs have used to help offset the tax hit, leaving Ottawa to find new ways to make signing here appealing while managing cap space more carefully than ever. [Read more 🡒]