Sportsnet has raised the price of its streaming app again, and TSN quietly did the same earlier this year.
Sportsnet announced this week that its annual premium subscription plan is going up by $20. For fans, the hit lands where it always hurts most: the cost of keeping up with NHL hockey. The service carries the games Canadians still care about most, but getting access to all of them comes at a steep premium.
TSN made its own move earlier this year, lifting the annual price of TSN+ by $50 to about $250. Unlike Sportsnet, TSN does not have hockey-broadcast rights outside the home regions of Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Winnipeg, so the package is different. Even so, the increase is worth noting, especially since it took effect before the World Cup.
There is still a strange bargain in hanging onto cable. A renewed Telus deal with loyalty credits, for example, comes in at $46 per month and includes the standard TSN and Sportsnet channels along with other specialty networks. Put another way, the combined annual streaming subscriptions for TSN and Sportsnet work out to about $48.50 a month.
The message from the big networks is clear: they want viewers to believe they need everything. Streaming options such as DAZN and Fubo offer strong lineups, and last year they even teamed up to bundle each other’s rights packages.
For fans chasing English, German or Italian soccer, those services are the destination - but they come with a hefty price tag, too. They are priced much like TSN and Sportsnet because they can be.
That is the bet Bell and Rogers are making: that fans will pay to avoid feeling shut out. The idea is that missing a random Thursday night game next March - Mammoth against the Predators - will feel like a loss.
It’s a tough future to swallow. Cable was never perfect, but at least the choices were visible, and the price, in relative terms, made more sense.
In Other News...
Steve Simmons Just Reopened The Ugliest Part Of The Marner Saga
Mitch Marners exit from Toronto was never going to fade quietly, and a fresh round of comments from his agent has only dragged the conversation back into the open. Darren Ferris recently blasted the Maple Leafs for how Marner was handled during his time with the club, pointing to concerns like missing bonuses and the fact that Marner was never seriously considered for the captaincy, which set off another familiar debate about how the organization managed one of its biggest stars.
Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun then stepped in to push back, arguing that Marner did pretty well in Toronto by any reasonable measure and questioning why these complaints are surfacing now. Simmons also revisited long-discussed friction between Marner and Auston Matthews, while weaving in anecdotes about Marners family life, keeping the focus on just how messy the old relationship still looks whenever someone decides to reopen it. [Read more 🡒]
Maple Leafs Stir Trade Buzz As Veterans Tip Balance
The Maple Leafs have spent plenty of time trying to thread the needle between youth and experience, and that theme has come into sharper focus with Sergei Bobrovsky drawing attention as the sort of veteran presence that can steady a team when the games matter most. Around the league, the rise of younger players has changed how clubs build, but the playoff picture still tends to reward teams that can lean on seasoned hands and the habits that come with them.
Toronto is watching that balance closely because the same logic is driving trade chatter elsewhere, too. If the Winnipeg Jets ever decide to reset, Edmonton could be in the market for Mark Scheifele, and the kind of package that would make sense in that scenario would only underscore how much value contenders still place on established talent. For the Leafs, it is another reminder that the path to spring success often runs through veteran depth, even as the league keeps getting younger. [Read more 🡒]
Maple Leafs First McKenna Look Suddenly Feels Less Straightforward
The first real glimpse of Gavin McKenna in Maple Leafs colors may not come as neatly as expected. As he works through the transition from Penn State to a full-time role with Toronto, his participation in the Prospect Showcase is still uncertain, and he has made it clear that a few basic details around his next step remain unsettled. Even something as simple as where he will be living in Toronto has not been finalized yet.
For a fan base eager to see how he fits into the organization, the timing matters. If McKenna misses the showcase, his first game action with the Leafs could shift to the preseason, where the pace and competition are a little less forgiving and the spotlight tends to sharpen quickly. It is not exactly the clean introduction Toronto had in mind, but it is the sort of early wrinkle that can shape the first impression of a highly watched prospect. [Read more 🡒]