Source: Vancouver Sun

Ten years ago, Doug Beeforth never imagined he would be launching a second TV sports channel in the Pacific region.

"I thought at that point things were getting saturated," the president of Rogers Sportsnet said in a phone interview from Toronto.

He admits he was wrong. "At this point, I don't see it slowing down. I thought it would, but it hasn't. It's like a bottomless well."

So at 9 a.m. Saturday, his company will dip into that well to launch its second sports channel here.

Rogers Sportsnet One will kick off with a brief introduction and then zap into programming of English Premier League soccer with Craig Forrest and Gerry Dobson offering commentary.

Don't expect any splashy ceremonial opening. Beeforth himself won't be making any grand pronouncements. "People don't want to see me," the TV exec said with a laugh. "They would turn the channel off."

At least initially, Sportsnet One will serve largely as a complement to Rogers' other local channel, Sportsnet Pacific, which launched in 1998. Sportsnet Pacific will broadcast 45 Canucks this season, while the new sister channel will televise an additional 13 Canucks games.

Sportsnet Pacific, which -- thanks largely to its Canucks broadcasting rights -- has become the No. 1 sports channel in B.C., is a victim of its own success. It couldn't satisfy the voracious appetite of sports fans who often have an interest in more than one sport. "We didn't have enough shelf space," Beeforth said.

For example, on Thursday nights in November and December, the channel showed NFL football, which meant it wasn't able to televise Thursday night Canucks games.

Other than hockey, viewers can expect to see lots of elite baseball and basketball, including 45 Toronto Blue Jays games and at least 85 other major league baseball games, Toronto Raptors basketball games as well as at least 45 other NBA games.

Premier League soccer will air on Saturday mornings, broadcasting marquee matchups from England.

The network will also show European soccer games from the UEFA champions league tournament, which runs from the late summer until next May.

In other words, Sportsnet One will feature elite programming, almost all of it in high definition.

Of all television programming, sports is among the highest in demand. Beeforth sees two reasons for that.

"Sports is always fresh. There's a new game every night. The Canucks may have played Thursday night but Saturday night, they are playing again. A sports fan always has something new to look forward to."

Secondly, "the passion for a sports fan's home team is unlike anything else."

It brings communities, both small and large, together.

In the smaller context, an entire city like Vancouver will see people gathering around the water cooler after a Canucks game discussing whether goalie Roberto Luongo played well.

In the larger context, an entire country rallied behind the Olympics.

"It's this thread that can wind its way through communities and get people talking to each other," Beeforth said. "That's one of the reasons sports is so universally popular."

© Vancouver Sun