Cue the "Toronto ignores Ottawa" vitriol in 3, 2, 1.
TSN confirmed the second semifinal on March 20 at the men's basketball Final 8, the one likely to involve the Carleton Ravens, will be shown tape-delayed at 10 p.m. (three hours after the 7 p.m. tip-off) on TSN2 on March 20.
Imagine if the Ravens' buzzer-beating win over Western or the Acadia over Carleton classic in 2008 was shown on a tape delay.
It is also the second time this year that a national semifinal in a marquee CIS sport will not be shown live on broadcast TV. It also happened with football's Uteck Bowl (in that case, the lack of adequate lighting at both stadiums prevented a doubleheader).
TSN has tennis coverage, while there's a Toronto Raptors-New Jersey Nets NBA game on TSN2. The games will be available on-demand at tsn.ca, but only after the game.
Again, not all hope is lost. At the women's Final 8, which TSN also has rights to, Streaming Sports Network Canada (ssncanada.ca) is picking up a feed for all the championship-side games, as noted yesterday. That is a step in a good direction and reason to hope a similar arrangement could be made in Ottawa.
In other words, if TSN refuses to allow a live videocast of a game it won't show live, shame on them. That's not blaming them. The powers-that-be also have to ask how it is that their football semifinal and a men's basketball semifinal didn't get aired live.
Basketball: TSN to tape-delay second semi at men's Final 8
This is nothing short of a joke. One of the networks needs to step up with not only basketball, but other CIS sports. The 3 hour tape delay is a disgrace to all the families, friends, and fans of the teams playing in that game. When choosing which channel to watch the morning highlights on, this move by tsn will be on my mind and likely make me watch another channel.
ReplyDeleteDo you think any March Madness game, even in the first round, between two not-so-good teams, would ever be delayed three hours for the viewers at home? Let alone one of the Final Four games? Not a chance.
ReplyDeleteThis is indeed a joke, and there were several people who predicted that exactly this would happen when TSN took over from The Score: bigger pond isn't always better.