Fan miffed Sportsnet channel unavailable
By Kristen Odland, Calgary Herald August 20, 2010
Calgarian Don Glover, a Toronto Blue Jays fan, subscribes to every sports channel on the planet -- except for Sportsnet One.
He's furious his cable provider, Shaw Cable, is not picking up the 24/7 sports channel which launched Aug. 14 -- only on Rogers systems.
"I'm a sports nut," Glover said. "I've done what I can. I've phoned Shaw. If you call in to get service, they say something to the effect that, 'We are considering this potential channel.' It's so offensive. I've e-mailed Sportsnet, I've phoned and e-mailed the Blue Jays, saying, 'Why are you letting the cable companies screw around with your fan base?' "
The Rogers Sportsnet web-site describes the new channel as featuring "more than 800 hours of live sports programming" in digital and high definition, including the Jays, Toronto Raptors and Barclays Premier League soccer.
As of Thursday night, the official flagship television station for Canada's Major League Baseball team had transferred 21 of the remaining Jays games to Sportsnet One. Yet, most Canadians -- and Calgarians like Glover -- don't get the channel.
"It'd be safe to say if our fans aren't happy, that's a concern of ours," said Jays vice-president of communications Jay Stenhouse. "I hope people don't think we don't care about Calgary because yes we do and we have passionate fans across the country."