Ottawa finally got some clarity on the future of its regional broadcasts on Monday afternoon, and it sounds like it's going to be a step up from prior years with Sportsnet.
From the release, via the team site:
Beginning this season, 53 regular season Senators games plus pre-season matchups will be offered on TSN5 – part of TSN’s new expanded lineup of five national feeds branded TSN1, TSN2, TSN3, TSN4, and TSN5 that debut on Monday, August 25.RDS’s suite of channels – including RDS, RDS2, and RDSInfo – delivers French-language coverage of 54 Ottawa Senators regular season games plus one pre-season matchup.
The networks’ regional Senators games will be available to TSN and RDS subscribers who live in the team’s designated broadcast region – which includes Eastern Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada.
TSN subscribers with participating television service providers in the Sens’ broadcast region will receive TSN5.
Continued:
“This extensive partnership marks the beginning of a new era for RDS, and we’re eager to take the regional coverage of the Ottawa Senators to the next level,… said Gerry Frappier, President of RDS. “As this agreement to broadcast more than 50 games a year demonstrates, our commitment to the team is stronger than ever.…For TSN’s live game coverage, the network’s broadcast teams feature award-winning play-by-play announcers Gord Miller and Chris Cuthbert and game analysts Ray Ferraro and Jamie McLennan.
That last section right there -- that's the money part. Miller and Cuthbert are two of the best play-by-play guys in the business, and for my money, Ferraro's one of the two best color analysts the league has right now. So, it shouldn't really matter the combination -- whatever play-by-play/color combination the team gets for one of their regional games, it'll likely be a step up from what Sportsnet offered in years past.
(And, as a result of the move from Sportsnet to TSN, it goes without saying that the intermission panels will likely see sharp improvement.)
Back with more tomorrow.