(excerpt courtesy William Houston, Globe & Mail Media Business)

Rumblings at The Score
Feb. 5

Is the 'for sale' sign back on Score Media?

Rumoured to be on the block for years, recent developments have TV watchers wondering if ownership of the all-sports cable channel is slashing costs in preparation for a sale.

Last week, anchor Greg Sansone, promoted to management before Christmas after several senior producers left the company, called reporters at the Score's Canadian bureaus country from Phoenix, where he was covering the Super Bowl.

The message, which seemed to be urgent, was: Be prepared to lose your jobs. Toronto-based Score is eliminating bureau reporters. In Vancouver, Sara Orlesky is already gone. She joined TSN several weeks ago, and has not been replaced.

Additional cost-cutting measures have included the replacement of programming with simulcasts of content on the Score's Hardcore channel on Sirius Satellite Radio.

The Score will continue to use video from contracted camera technicians in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa and Montreal, but there isn't likely to be any reporting.

CanWest Global has a 26.5-per-cent stake in Score Media. Yesterday, the Score began filing sports reports to Global News Ontario, which no longer has a sports department. Rogers Sportsnet had been providing sports content to Global.

This just goes to show that Canada's sports market has become cluttered with too many 'very ordinary' reporters & anchors who just do not catch on with our nation's limited sized audience, an audience likely tired of seeing repeated broadcasts of sportscasts and very little original in-depth Canadian reporting that distinguishes it from the constant diet of scores, scores and more scores already offered by TSN and Sportsnet, I'm still trying to fathom what type of audience is actually attracted to watching talk sports radio on TV where the hosts never look at the camera and their co-hosts seem preoccupied with doodling. Not exactly riveting television, but then neither is the radio version.

And while I have the mic, since when did playing poker become a sport. Entertainment for some perhaps, but do we now consider those who sit at tables lifting poker chips as athletes?

It's too bad really.  Although it seemed as the Score was the weakest link of the three sports networks.  Makes you wonder though about how much of a say the "26.5% stake" CanWest Global has seeing as though they are slashing jobs all over the place.  And if the Score is filing reports to Global News Ontario, where are they going to get the reports after all these cuts?  Go back to Sportsnet?

And how's this for media consolodation?  If Global goes back to Sportsnet, then you've Rogers giving reports to Global, Rogers is in bed in a few markets with CTV, CTV BellGlobeMedia owns TSN (I think).  So in essense you've got TSN and Sportsnet working virtually together.  Well done CRTC.

It seems Orlesky got out just in time.  This shouldn't come as any surprise that's for sure.  Once they announced their latest "cutting edge" format, you had to know they were grasping at straws.  The market is just far too cluttered, and the Score finally realized they just can't be relevant or compete with two giant networks.

Remember, just 10 years ago we had ONE sports network, not three...it was just too much too fast.

Wasn't the WWE a huge shareholder in The Score?

Interesting - as this comes on the heels of Canwest announcing that Global Ontario sports will be provided by The Score rather than Sportsnet coming very soon...

Maybe it means the sports departments from the other Global stations will be reporting to The Score...

Strange though, that no matter what source of sports reporting I scan through - the Leafs are losing on all of them!

Quoted from NBeaconIsBack

Wasn't the WWE a huge shareholder in The Score?

They bought 10 percent of the the scores parent company a few years ago
But apparently they sold most of there shares

Did anybody ever watch the Score?

Quoted from farley

Once they announced their latest "cutting edge" format, you had to know they were grasping at straws.  The market is just far too cluttered, and the Score finally realized they just can't be relevant or compete with two giant networks.

The saddest part of a new "cutting edge" format or "hardcore" as The Score seems to call it, is that their format changes only in graphics.  The content remains the same, the low budget look and even lower budget sportscasters aren't providing any different entertainment / info and are seemingly asking you to tune into a lesser quality station out of sheer pity.

I think the hardcore thing would have been fun, if it were truly hardcore, balls to the wall in your face sports insight.  Unfortunately they didn't do that and at the end of the day nobody enjoyed hearing Steve Kouleas squeal his way through a hockey conversation before the "format change" and nobody cares to hear/see it after.

On a side note, anybody notice that Sportsnet is now promoting HockeyCentral Trade Deadline as an ultra serious broadcast?? hmmmm wonder why that could be...