Sportsnet World is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

discretionary digital cable and

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioi ...

specialty channel owned by

Rogers Sports & Media Rogers Media Inc., operating as Rogers Sports & Media, is a Canadian subsidiary of Rogers Communications that owns the company's mass media and sports properties, such as the Citytv and Omni Television terrestrial television stations, Sportsnet, ...

, a subsidiary of

Rogers Communications Rogers Communications Inc. is a Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet, with significant additional telecommunications and mass media ass ...

operating as a national sports channel complementing the Sportsnet group of

regional sports network In the United States and Canada, a regional sports network (RSN) is a cable television channel (many of which are also distributed on direct broadcast satellite services) that presents sports programming to a local market or geographical region. ...

s. The channel was launched in August 10, 2007 as a Canadian version of

Setanta Sports Setanta Sports is a sports television company based in Dublin, Ireland broadcasting throughout select Eurasian. The company was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events to international audiences. The company previo ...

as a joint venture between UK-based Setanta Sports and Rogers Media. In 2011, Rogers acquired the stake of Setanta relaunching the channel to its current name. Sportsnet World primarily airs

Rugby Union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

Rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

and

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

History

The channel was launched as Setanta Sports, in partnership with Ireland-based

, on August 10, 2007, in time for the

2007–08 Premier League The 2007–08 Premier League (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) season was the 16th since its establishment. The first matches of the season were played on 11 August 2007, and the season ended on 11 May 2008. Manche ...

season, as a dedicated channel within Rogers' sports pay-per-view service

Sportsnet PPV Sportsnet PPV is a Canadian pay-per-view (PPV) service owned by Rogers Communications. It is the PPV service used by Rogers Cable, Cogeco Cable and Source Cable for offering out-of-market sports packages and occasionally other special events. Sinc ...

. Although operating under a pay-per-view licence, Setanta acted as a

pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...

service, with a 24-hour commercial-free schedule, rather than a pay-per-view service where customers are prompted to pay a price for each individual event.

Rogers later applied to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for a category 2 digital licence which was approved on July 15, 2008, under the name ''Sportsnet 2''. In mid-2009, Rogers swapped licences for Setanta Sports, from using the pay-per-view licence to the category 2 digital licence, without interrupting service; at which point, the Irish-based Setanta Sports company gained a 33.33% interest in the Rogers subsidiary that owns 80% of the channel, as well as a 20% interest in the channel itself.
In July 2011, Rogers announced that Setanta Sports would be rebranded as part of the Sportsnet family of networks on October 3, 2011, becoming Sportsnet World. The change was intended to allow the channel to be cross-promoted through other Sportsnet properties; the change came alongside a larger, overall rebranding of the Rogers Sportsnet group of channels launched the same day. In preparation for the relaunch, Setanta Sports' minority stake in the channel was sold to another company, MLM Management, and the rights to Setanta programming were maintained by the channel. Despite being branded as a Sportsnet service, it remained a premium channel separate from the Sportsnet regional networks and

Sportsnet One Sportsnet One (SN1 or SN One) is a Canadian English-language discretionary digital cable and satellite specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media; it operates as a national sports channel complementing the Sportsnet group of regional sp ...

. MLM Management's interest in the channel was sold to Rogers in early 2012, giving Rogers 100% interest in the service.

Programming

Sportsnet World features live and recorded events from the following leagues and competitions:

Rugby League

* Australia:

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

* United Kingdom: Super League

Rugby Union

* England:

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

Soccer

* England:

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

, FA Community Shield (until 2021) * Germany:

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

, DFL-Supercup (2015–present)

Sportsnet World HD

Sportsnet World HD is a high definition simulcast of Sportsnet World's

standard definition Standard-definition television (SDTV, SD, often shortened to standard definition) is a television system which uses a resolution that is not considered to be either high or enhanced definition. "Standard" refers to it being the prevailing sp ...

feed. It was launched on August 1, 2010, as Setanta Sports HD. It was renamed Sportsnet World HD on October 3, 2011, to coincide with the rebranding of Setanta Sports to Sportsnet World. It is currently available on

Bell Satellite TV Bell Satellite TV (french: Bell Télé; formerly known as Bell ExpressVu, Dish Network Canada and ExpressVu Dish Network and not to be confused with Bell's IPTV Fibe TV service) is the division of BCE Inc. that provides satellite television ser ...

, Bell Fibe TV,

Shaw Cable Shaw Communications Inc. is a Canadian telecommunications company which provides telephone, Internet, television, and mobile services. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Shaw provides home telecommunications services primarily in Alberta and Br ...

,, Rogers Cable, Eastlink,

Bell MTS Bell MTS Inc. (formerly Manitoba Telecom Services) is a subsidiary of BCE Inc. that operates telecommunications services in Manitoba. Originally established as Manitoba Government Telephones after the Government of Manitoba purchased the Manitob ...

Optik TV Telus Optik TV is a product of Telus Communications, a subsidiary of Telus Corporation, that provides IPTV service in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, and Quebec. The service offers over 630 digital channels, including more t ...

SaskTel Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corporation, operating as SaskTel, is a Canadian crown-owned telecommunications firm based in the province of Saskatchewan. Owned by the provincial government, it provides wireline and wireless communicat ...

Vmedia VMedia Inc. is a Canadian telecommunications company and broadcast distribution provider. It offers VoIP telephone and home security services across Canada; DSL and cable Internet in Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Br ...

Vidéotron Vidéotron is a Canadian integrated telecommunications company active in cable television, interactive multimedia development, video on demand, cable telephony, wireless communication and Internet access services. Owned by Quebecor, it primarily ...

and

Telus Telus Communications Inc. (TCI) is the wholly owned principal subsidiary of Telus Corporation, a Telecommunications in Canada, Canadian national telecommunications company that provides a wide range of telecommunications products and services ...

References

External links

* {{Association football on television Digital cable television networks in Canada Sports television networks in Canada Soccer on Canadian television Television channels and stations established in 2007 English-language television stations in Canada

World In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...