WTSN was 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 ...

category 1

television channel A television channel is a terrestrial frequency or virtual number over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the terrestrial or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with ...

owned by CTV Specialty Television Inc. (CTV Specialty), a joint venture between

Bell Globemedia Bell Media Inc. (French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies. Establishment (2011–13) On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...

(80%) and

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

(20%). The channel broadcast sports programming featuring female athletes. Marketed as ''"the world's first 24-hour sports network dedicated to celebrating the achievements of women in sports,"'' the channel was a spin-off of its

sister channel In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

, TSN, Canada's first and at the time, largest national sports channel.

Programming

Programming on the network included a variety of programs ranging from live and tape-delayed sports events, documentaries, talk shows, news, and more. Sports events coverage on the network included

LPGA The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of wee ...

golf, WNBA basketball, women's tennis, WUSA soccer, women's curling,

CWHL The Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL; french: Ligue canadienne de hockey féminin ‒ LCHF) was a women's ice hockey league. Established in 2007 as a Canadian women's senior league in the Greater Toronto Area, Montreal, and Ottawa, the league ...

and WWHL ice hockey and coverage of various women's teams in

Canadian Interuniversity Sport U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body of university sport in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country. Its equivalent body for organized sports at colleges in Canada is the Ca ...

, among others. The network also aired special coverage of

Hayley Wickenheiser Hayley Wickenheiser (born August 12, 1978) is a Canadian former ice hockey player, resident physician and assistant general manager for the Toronto Maple Leafs. She was the first woman to play full-time professional men’s hockey in a positio ...

's debut in the Finnish men's hockey league."CTV Specialty to Close WTSN on September 30, 2003"
August 29, 2003.

History

In November 2000, NetStar Communications Inc. (later renamed CTV Specialty Television Inc.) was granted approval for a television broadcasting licence by the

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcast ...

(CRTC) for a national English-language Category 1 specialty television service called ''Women's Sports Network'', described as a service to be ''"dedicated entirely to sports that feature female athletes and participants, including coverage of professional and amateur sporting events, magazine shows, documentaries and instructional programs."'' Prior to the channel's launch, NetStar announced that prominent sports broadcaster

Sue Prestedge Sue Prestedge is a Canadian sports broadcaster who was one of Canada's first and most influential female sports journalists."Hamilton's Prestedge to lead Women's Sports Network". '' Hamilton Spectator'', March 2, 2001. After working as a sports re ...

was named the senior vice-president of the channel. The channel launched on September 7, 2001, as WTSN. On August 29, 2003, CTV Specialty announced that they would be ceasing the network's operations on September 30, 2003, due to lack of expected growth, limited ad revenue, and the high cost of running a sports service. TSN did not immediately surrender the channel's licence, and filed an intervention in January 2005 with the CRTC against a proposed licence amendment for

Fox Sports World Canada Fox Sports World Canada was a Canadian subscription television channel. The channel's programming primarily featured soccer and covered other world sports such as rugby. Although its original Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commis ...

that may have impacted on WTSN's mandate. Media analysts speculated that it may be possible that the channel might have relaunched at a later date if economic conditions were found to be more favourable. The licence was eventually revoked at the company's request on December 19, 2006.CRTC Decision 2006-680
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wtsn (Tv Channel) Sports television networks in Canada Defunct Canadian television channels Television channels and stations established in 2001 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2003 2001 establishments in Canada 2003 disestablishments in Canada Women's sports in Canada The Sports Network