The future of Montreal Canadiens broadcast rights is generating significant discussion, encompassing both sporting and cultural considerations – specifically, the importance of French-language media – and the issue continues to be a hot topic in hockey circles. As time passes, the situation becomes increasingly complex.
Television scheduling requires long-term planning. Regardless of their programming focus, networks must project well into the future to fill their airtime.
For example, building a schedule for a general entertainment network requires acquiring rights to series that then take considerable time to write, film, edit, sell to advertising agencies, and promote to the public before they even air.
At Radio-Canada/CBC, preparing for a major event like the Olympic Games – which lasts just two weeks – mobilizes dozens of full-time employees and requires at least two years of meticulous preparation.
For sports networks, daily operations can’t be improvised either. Acquiring broadcast rights for leagues and teams is incredibly expensive, but essential for maintaining a valuable schedule and keeping subscribers engaged.
Once these agreements, totaling hundreds of millions of dollars, are finalized, the networks’ sales teams must quickly secure advertising deals. Negotiating multiple multi-million dollar advertising contracts similarly requires significant lead time.
For all these reasons, the Canadiens’ television rights are a major topic of conversation right now. It’s the primary discussion point within the industry.
The French-language rights for the Canadiens are among the most valuable in hockey. However, as the final weeks of the 2025-2026 season unfold, half of those rights remain unsold for next season and beyond – an unprecedented situation.
How did things reach this point?
On April 2, 2025, Rogers Communications and the NHL announced a new 12-year agreement worth $11 billion, making Sportsnet the national Canadian broadcaster for 12 years, starting with the 2026-2027 season and concluding after the 2037-2038 season.
This new agreement succeeds the previous 12-year contract, covering the seasons 2014-2015 through 2025-2026, which also involved Rogers Communications and the NHL. Twelve years ago, Rogers paid $5.2 billion for Canadian NHL broadcast rights. Accounting for inflation, Rogers has now agreed to pay nearly 60% more to reacquire those rights.
When Rogers initially acquired the national NHL broadcast rights 12 years ago, the contract included French-language rights. Rogers then resold that portion of its catalog to TVA Sports for an estimated $800 million. This gave TVA Sports the rights to broadcast 22 Canadiens games per season (primarily on Saturday nights) as well as playoff games.
Due to the smaller French-speaking market and the increasing trend of cord-cutting, this deal proved disastrous for TVA Sports. At the Groupe TVA shareholder meeting in May 2025, President Pierre Karl Péladeau stated that the network had accumulated losses of $230 million from the venture and had no intention of repeating the experience.
TVA Sports will not have the financial means or the economic models to pay the colossal amounts that the National Hockey League is asking for national broadcast rights for hockey games, based on what we understand from the recent agreement between Rogers/Sportsnet and NHL management
, Péladeau said at the time.
Several months later, in November 2025, Groupe TVA implemented a round of 87 layoffs, bringing the total number of positions eliminated within the company since 2023 to nearly 800. To optimize operations, Groupe TVA also relocated its headquarters from Maisonneuve Street to the former Journal de Montréal building on Frontenac Street.
Many believe that Groupe TVA would not have become unprofitable if it hadn’t emptied its coffers to fill the NHL’s.
Regardless, with the price of national rights held by Sportsnet increasing from $5.2 billion to $11 billion, it appears unrealistic that TVA Sports could retain pace with this inflationary spiral.
Regarding the Canadiens’ regional broadcast rights (60 regular-season games and pre-season games), they have been held by RDS since 2014. This 12-year agreement will expire in three weeks with the final game on the Canadiens’ schedule.
Before the emergence of TVA Sports, Bell Media’s dedicated channel enjoyed a monopoly and was one of the most profitable in Canada. However, due to fierce competition from TVA Sports, RDS has had to spend twice as much money since 2014 to broadcast fewer Canadiens games.
Also grappling with cord-cutting, RDS has seen its profits dwindle over the years. In 2024, for the first time in its history, RDS’s deficit ($20.3 million) exceeded that of TVA Sports ($15.4 million), as reported last July by Richard Dufour of La Presse.
RDS’s situation differs from TVA Sports in that Bell Media’s English-language sports channel, TSN, continues to generate significant profits.
On October 10, 2025, Bell Media (RDS and TSN) and the Canadiens announced a long-term extension of their agreement to broadcast the Canadiens’ regional games.
Starting next season, RDS will broadcast only four pre-season games and 45 regular-season games. Considering the schedule will feature 84 games next season, that leaves 39 regular-season games (in French) that have yet to be assigned! Not to mention the playoff games, which generate the largest audiences.
TSN will broadcast 50 regional Canadiens games starting next season.
Elsewhere in Canada, the question of national and regional broadcast rights for other teams is largely settled for many years to come. With one exception: the Ottawa Senators, who have not yet reached an agreement for their rights in French and English.
Some believe the Senators’ situation won’t be resolved until the impasse regarding the Canadiens’ rights is resolved. The two teams with French-language games to sell are therefore struggling to settle this important aspect of their business.
extensive investigation isn’t needed to understand that Sportsnet and the NHL have hit a wall when it comes to renewing national rights with Quebecor and Groupe TVA.
But what kind of wall?
Is Pierre Karl Péladeau planning to lock the doors of TVA Sports as he hinted last spring? Or is he trying to negotiate a better deal than the one reached 12 years ago?
Some speculate that TVA Sports could be sold to Sportsnet. This scenario, which would mirror the situation at Bell Media with RDS and TSN, was discussed in this column in 2023.
Rogers, which owns Sportsnet and all of Toronto’s professional sports teams, heads one of the largest sports empires on the planet. However, its presence is relatively limited in Quebec.
the NHL must reckon twice before letting TVA Sports falter. Gary Bettman has an interest in keeping competing networks alive to maximize the value of the rights it has to offer.
Most observers believe that RDS agreeing to acquire only 45 regular-season Canadiens games, just 75% of the games it previously held, reflects the channel’s financial situation.
There’s likely truth to that.
However, a source familiar with the matter suggests that the NHL and the Canadiens appear willing to explore a different business model than the traditional allocation (60 regional games and 22 national games plus playoffs) that has been favored for years.
After all, national games don’t hold the same value in Quebec as they do in the rest of Canada.
On a Saturday night, Sportsnet can easily fill six hours of airtime by successively presenting games from the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Edmonton Oilers. And during the playoffs, the level of interest from English-Canadian fans remains fairly high as long as a Canadian team remains alive.
In Quebec, it’s the fate of the Canadiens that interests fans. Following this logic, and given the financial resources of French-language broadcasters, it may be advantageous to redistribute the pie and bring new players into the picture.
A few weeks ago, just before the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games, Bell CEO Mirko Bibic said he remained interested, at an acceptable price
, in acquiring the national rights to Canadiens games.
Bibic then explained that Bell believed RDS wouldn’t lose subscribers if it retained 45 Canadiens games instead of 60. Since subscribers represent the largest portion of cable channel revenue, this calculation is not insignificant.
Especially since Bell owns another channel, Crave, which has experienced particularly strong growth in Quebec in recent years. If the number of RDS subscribers is secured, wouldn’t it be wise to further increase the number of Crave subscriptions by transferring games to it?
This scenario has also been circulating recently.
An old adage says that patience is a virtue in negotiations. If that’s the case, we can probably deduce that the parties involved in the Canadiens’ broadcast rights negotiations have been pushed to their limits.
Asked about this in Florida in recent days during a meeting of general managers, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told a 98.5 FM colleague that the league expects to announce the conclusion of an agreement remarkably soon.
Canadiens fans have nothing to worry about. They will have access to team games in French. That’s certain
, Daly said, adding that he didn’t seek to go into details.
The Canadiens side is echoing the same sentiment. There is no need to worry. All games will continue to be broadcast in French.
And that brings us back to the key question: who can afford the Canadiens’ rights?
it’s time for this conversation to complete. Because it’s getting late, according to those familiar with the matter.
