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I didn't have a lot of time to look up links today and there doesn't seem to be much going on anyway, so I figured I'd focus on this Toronto Star piece on the Raptors/TSN2 situation.
It looks like Sunday's Raptors-Heat game — barring a last-minute deal — will not be shown on any other channel besides TSN2 and over two million Rogers Cable customers won't be able to watch the game. I've been watching from the sidelines with interest to see who will blink first. Will Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment find a way to move the games to another channel? Will TSN move the games to their main channel? Will Rogers finally cave in and add TSN2? Or will thousands of Raptors fans in Southern Ontario be unable to watch the 25 games scheduled on TSN2 this season?
Obviously, part of the reason I haven't gotten riled up about this is that I'm a Cogeco Cable subscriber so I have TSN2. There's also the fact that there's enough blame to go around here that it's hard to figure out who deserves the most scorn here. Is it TSN for their obvious power play with Rogers as they show the final of the ATP Masters Shanghai tennis tournament on their main channel during Sunday's game? Is it Rogers for refusing to pony up and add the channel? It seems like Rogers is taking the brunt of the criticism and I'm reading a lot of blog comments and message board posts from people claiming they're switching TV services because of this.
I've decided that MLSE is the party that you should really be angry at if you're unable to watch Sunday's game. I don't know if TSN exploited a loophole in their agreement with MLSE to move 25 games to their secondary channel or if MLSE knew that there was a possibility that this situation could occur and they signed the deal anyway. If it's the first situation, they screwed up royally. If it's the second situation, they're just greedy and short-sighted — and don't appear to care all that much about the fans.
The quote from MLSE's executive vice-president and chief operating officer Tom Anselmi at the end of the Star article was what clinched it for me: "If we missed one game I suppose that wouldn't be the end of the world but for a long period of time it's not the place where any of us want to be, TSN, Rogers or us."
I suppose he's technically right that it's not "the end of the world", but that quote doesn't make me feel like MLSE feels all that bad about the situation. It seems to me that if they really cared, they would say to TSN, "Until you get TSN2 on Rogers Cable, move our games to your main channel or we won't deal with you at all next season." Of course, they probably won't do that because they don't want to lose that sweet CTVGlobeMedia cash.
It sucks to constantly be reminded that professional sports is a business first and foremost and most team owners don't seem to really care all that much about their fans — except as revenue generators. I just think it's a shame that this game of Corporate Chicken between TSN and Rogers had to happen at all.
Come off the bench and hit a buzzer beater for the fans, MLSE — either simulcast Sunday's game on Raptors NBA TV, move it to another channel (The Score would certainly be happy to have it) or convince TSN to show the game on their primary channel. Show Raptors fans in Southern Ontario that you give a crap about them. After all, don't you think some of these fans buy tickets and merchandise? Think about it. 
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