Canadian media group Bell Media has secured a long-term extension to continue as the regional broadcaster for the Montreal Canadiens ice hockey franchise beyond the current NHL season.
Bell Media announced the renewal of its rights deal would see it continue to air Canadiens games in both English and French “for years to come” across the province of Quebec, with its current contract set to expire at the end of the 2025-26 season.
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Bell Media’s owner, BCE, owns 18% of the Canadiens’ parent company.
Canadien games will continue to be aired across Bell’s sports networks: TSN, the pay-TV platform, and RDS, the French-language cable sports network. TSN will air 50 out of the 84 regular-season games available per year, while RDS’s coverage will drop from its current share of 60 to 45 games per year.
NHL franchises will play an extra two games per season from the 2026-27 campaign, for a total 84-game season. The change comes as part of a new collective bargaining agreement that will also see a shorter preseason and more games against divisional rivals.
The deal comes after Canadian telecoms giant Rogers announced a 12-year, $7.7 billion national rights extension with the NHL starting with the current season, meaning the remaining 34 Canadiens games in English will be aired on Sportsnet or other Rogers-owned channels.
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By GlobalDataRogers sold its French-language national rights to TVA Sports for the 2014-26 cycle, but a new deal covering those rights has not been announced yet.
As part of the rights renewal, Bell Media will also provide exclusive coverage of Crave’s The Rebuild: Inside the Montreal Canadiens, a six-part documentary covering the franchise’s 2024-25 season.
Shawn Redmond, vice-president of Bell Media Sports, said: “The Montreal Canadiens are an iconic franchise with a dynamic roster of exciting young stars, and one of the most passionate fanbases in all of sports. With this new long-term agreement in place, we look forward to continuing to bring Canadiens games to TSN and RDS subscribers.
“We have built a strong and successful partnership with the Canadiens, and these regional broadcasts are a key element of TSN and RDS’s hockey programming.”
TSN and RDS also provide coverage of games involving other Canadian-based NHL teams, including the Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Winnipeg Jets.
The NHL’s 2025-26 regular season started last week (October 7) and will pause mid-season to allow the NHL’s participation in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.
