Canadian Football Network


The Canadian Football Network was the official television syndication service of the Canadian Football League from 1987 to 1990.

History

Background

CFN broadcasts mainly aired on stations via the Atlantic Satellite Network and future Global Television Network affiliates, in addition to at least one station in the United States. As CFN was formed by the CFL itself, the league provided much of the network's funding. It was created directly in response to CTV completely dropping their CFL coverage following the 1986 season. CFN was conceptualized by then CFL Commissioner Douglas Mitchell.

Hamilton and Toronto

In its first year on the air, the CFL experimented with the TV blackout policy as four games were televised in the Hamilton-Toronto market.

CFN in the United States

In addition to being shown on the above-mentioned Burlington, Vermont station, from 1987-1989, a weekly CFN game telecast, including playoffs and the Grey Cup championship, aired in the United States nationally on a tape-delay basis on ESPN.

Grey Cup coverage

CFN's Grey Cup coverage was completely separate from CBC's coverage.
During its broadcast of the 1988 Grey Cup game, CFN reported that its telecasts that season were seen in 14 countries, including the U.S., Great Britain, France, Italy, Spain, West Germany, Norway, Sweden and Finland.
The 1988 Grey Cup was the last game for veteran Winnipeg Blue Bombers offensive lineman Nick Bastaja. The next season, he joined the CFN crew as a colour commentator. Former Edmonton Eskimos fullback Neil Lumsden was CFN's primary colour man, while Dave Hodge and Bob Irving, a long-time voice of the Blue Bombers, provided play-by-play.

The end of CFN

CFN was critically acclaimed, credited for raising the production quality of CFL telecasts to near-NFL caliber levels. However, it did not do well financially, and the league discontinued the network after the 1990 season. CFN was also supposed to work like a normal television network in that it was meant to get its money solely from sponsors. After the CFN shut down, all playoff and Grey Cup games would be exclusively broadcast on CBC Television from 1991 to 2007.

Commentators

Play-by-play/pregame hosts
Colour commentators/Pregame analysts
The theme music package for CFN was provided by Donald Quan.