Radio and television Toronto Blue Jays

canadian regions subject mlb blackout




note: toronto blue jays territory covers of canada


radio

the blue jays former radio play-by-play announcer, tom cheek, called every toronto blue jays game team s inaugural contest on april 7, 1977 until june 3, 2004, when took 2 games off following death of father—a streak of 4,306 consecutive regular season games , 41 postseason games. cheek later died on october 9, 2005 , team commemorated him during 2006 season wearing circular patch on left sleeve of home , road game jerseys. patch adorned letters tc , cheek s initials, stylized microphone. cheek honoured place in blue jays level of excellence in upper level of rogers centre; number 4,306 depicted beside name. in 2008, cheek received third votes fans nominated ford c. frick award broadcasting excellence. cheek received frick award, posthumously, in 2013 after 9 years on ballot.

radio broadcasts of blue jays games originated sportsnet 590 cjcl in toronto which, blue jays, owned rogers communications. jerry howarth, cheek s longtime broadcasting partner, lead play-by-play announcer, mike wilner secondary play-by-play announcer. during 2007 2012 seasons, former blue jays catcher alan ashby colour commentator. former blue jays pitcher jack morris served colour commentator during 2013 season, after replaced former montreal expos catcher joe siddall since 2014 season.

former blue jays pitcher dirk hayhurst filled in morris games during 2013 season.

another former catcher blue jays, gregg zaun, has served occasional colour commentator since 2011 season.

the toronto blue jays have largest geographical home market in of baseball, encompassing of canada. despite this, number of radio stations broadcast games quite small. twenty radio stations across country aired @ least blue jays games during 2011 season, fewer affiliates teams.

television

all blue jays games carried nationally on sportsnet (which, blue jays, owned rogers communications), buck martinez play-by-play announcer, , pat tabler primary colour analyst. on select games, play-by-play handled dan shulman, martinez , tabler on commentary. toronto raptors play-by-play announcer matt devlin has filled in martinez in select number of games. in previous years, colour analyst role rotated between pat tabler, rance mulliniks, darrin fletcher, , since 2011 season, gregg zaun. sportsnet became team s primary carrier after launched in late 1990s, , became team s exclusive broadcaster in 2010. of august 2010, sportsnet 1 broadcasts blue jays games (often in case of scheduling conflicts main sportsnet channels). rogers was, however, criticized fans , critics due sportsnet 1 being carried rogers cable systems on launch.

in september 2012, ami-tv simulcast 3 blue jays games described video provided cjcl correspondent sam cosentino, included explanations of on-screen graphics. paul beeston praised ami s involvement, stating our knowledge, first sports organization have our games provided through revolutionary approach accommodating needs of blind , low-vision community. on june 27, 2013, rogers over-the-air toronto multicultural station omni.2 simulcast blue jays game (in taiwanese player chien-ming wang scheduled start) commentary in mandarin, marking first ever canadian mlb broadcast in language. tva sports has aired games in french since 2011, jacques doucet on play-by-play , rodger brulotte on colour.

sportsnet s broadcasts of 2015 american league division series involving blue jays among highest-rated telecasts in network history, game 4 drawing audience of 4.38 million viewers.

the sports network (tsn), (like jays) owned labatt 1984 1995, served primary cable television outlet blue jays prior launch of sportsnet. tsn (and later, sister channel tsn2) continued carry approximately ten jays games through 2009 season until may 2010; recently, rod black handled play-by-play while tabler served colour commentator on these telecasts. cbc has carried blue jays games intermittently throughout team s history, in 2007 , 2008; broadcasts featured jim hughson play-by-play announcer, , former blue jays rance mulliniks , jesse barfield on colour commentary. games aired on ctv (except in montreal) team s inception until late 1990s. blue jays have not appeared over-the-air in canada in english since 2008.

in 2008, rogers communications, owner of jays, granted license canadian radio-television commission (crtc) launch specialty channel, named baseball tv . channel have been dedicated coverage of baseball, combining content united states-based mlb network original canadian content. however, channel never launched, , instead rogers sponsored application version of mlb network made available canadian distributors, approved crtc.