Toronto Blue Jays
Television
### Television

All Blue Jays games are carried nationally on [Sportsnet](/wiki/Sportsnet "Sportsnet") (which, like the Blue Jays, is owned by Rogers Communications). As of 2023, [Dan Shulman](/wiki/Dan_Shulman "Dan Shulman") serves as the lead play\-by\-play announcer, with [Buck Martinez](/wiki/Buck_Martinez "Buck Martinez") as the primary colour commentator; on select series, [Toronto Raptors](/wiki/Toronto_Raptors "Toronto Raptors") play\-by\-play announcer [Matt Devlin](/wiki/Matt_Devlin_%28sportscaster%29 "Matt Devlin (sportscaster)") calls the game in place of Shulman, and Joe Siddall works colour commentary in place of Martinez. Prior to that, Martinez had been the primary play\-by\-play announcer alongside colour commentator [Pat Tabler](/wiki/Pat_Tabler "Pat Tabler"), with Shulman only calling games sporadically since 2016\. In previous years, the colour analyst role rotated between Pat Tabler, [Rance Mulliniks](/wiki/Rance_Mulliniks "Rance Mulliniks"), [Darrin Fletcher](/wiki/Darrin_Fletcher "Darrin Fletcher"), and from 2011 to 2017, [Gregg Zaun](/wiki/Gregg_Zaun "Gregg Zaun"). Sportsnet became the team's primary carrier soon after it launched in the late 1990s and became the team's exclusive broadcaster in 2010\.[Blue Jays Now Exclusively on Sportsnet](https://web.archive.org/web/20100518073220/http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20100513&content_id=10022884&vkey=pr_tor&fext=.jsp&c_id=tor), Blue Jays press release, May 13, 2010 As of August 2010, [Sportsnet One](/wiki/Sportsnet_One "Sportsnet One") also broadcasts Blue Jays games (often in case of scheduling conflicts with the main Sportsnet channels). Rogers was, however, criticized by fans and critics due to Sportsnet One only being carried by [Rogers Cable](/wiki/Rogers_Cable "Rogers Cable") systems on launch.

Sportsnet's broadcasts of the [2015 American League Division Series](/wiki/2015_American_League_Division_Series "2015 American League Division Series") involving the Blue Jays were among the highest\-rated telecasts in network history, with Game 4 drawing an audience of 4\.38 million viewers.

[thumb\|left\|[Jamie Campbell](/wiki/Jamie_Campbell_%28sportscaster%29 "Jamie Campbell (sportscaster)") and [Gregg Zaun](/wiki/Gregg_Zaun "Gregg Zaun") providing [Sportsnet](/wiki/Sportsnet "Sportsnet") coverage of a Toronto Blue Jays game in 2011](/wiki/File:Jamie_Campbell_and_Gregg_Zaun.jpg "Jamie Campbell and Gregg Zaun.jpg")
In September 2012, [AMI\-tv](/wiki/AMI-tv "AMI-tv") simulcast three Blue Jays games with [described video](/wiki/Descriptive_Video_Service "Descriptive Video Service") provided by CJCL correspondent [Sam Cosentino](/wiki/Sam_Cosentino "Sam Cosentino"), which included explanations of on\-screen graphics. Paul Beeston praised AMI's involvement, stating that "to our knowledge, we are the first sports organization to have our games provided through this revolutionary approach to accommodating the needs of the blind and low\-vision community."

On June 27, 2013, Rogers' over\-the\-air Toronto multicultural [Omni Television](/wiki/Omni_Television "Omni Television") station [CJMT\-DT](/wiki/CJMT-DT "CJMT-DT") simulcast a Blue Jays game, scheduled to be started by Taiwanese player [Chien\-Ming Wang](/wiki/Chien-Ming_Wang "Chien-Ming Wang"), with commentary in [Mandarin](/wiki/Standard_Chinese "Standard Chinese"), marking the first ever Canadian MLB broadcast in the language. In June 2018, Omni announced that it would air Sunday afternoon games in [Tagalog](/wiki/Tagalog_language "Tagalog language"), the most spoken [language of the Philippines](/wiki/Languages_of_the_Philippines "Languages of the Philippines"), through the remainder of the season. Sportsnet and Omni announced a regular season of Sunday broadcasts in Tagalog for the 2019 season.

[TVA Sports](/wiki/TVA_Sports "TVA Sports") has aired games in [French](/wiki/French_language "French language") since 2011, with Denis Casavant and François Paquet on play\-by\-play and [Rodger Brulotte](/wiki/Rodger_Brulotte "Rodger Brulotte") on colour. The channel currently has rights to 81 Blue Jay games per season in a three\-year deal signed in 2023\. [Jacques Doucet](/wiki/Jacques_Doucet_%28sportscaster%29 "Jacques Doucet (sportscaster)"), former Montreal Expos radio announcer, broadcast the Blue Jays on TVA Sports from 2011 until his retirement in 2022\.

[The Sports Network](/wiki/The_Sports_Network "The Sports Network") (TSN), which (like the Jays) was owned by Labatt from 1984 to 1995, served as the primary cable television outlet for the Blue Jays prior to the launch of Sportsnet. TSN (and later, its sister channel [TSN2](/wiki/TSN2 "TSN2")) continued to carry approximately ten Jays games through the 2009 season until May 2010; most recently, [Rod Black](/wiki/Rod_Black "Rod Black") handled play\-by\-play while Tabler served as colour commentator on these telecasts. [CBC](/wiki/CBC_Television "CBC Television") has carried Blue Jays games intermittently throughout the team's history, most recently in 2007 and 2008; those broadcasts featured [Jim Hughson](/wiki/Jim_Hughson "Jim Hughson") as the play\-by\-play announcer, and former Blue Jays [Rance Mulliniks](/wiki/Rance_Mulliniks "Rance Mulliniks") and [Jesse Barfield](/wiki/Jesse_Barfield "Jesse Barfield") on colour commentary. Games also aired on [CTV](/wiki/CTV_Television_Network "CTV Television Network") (except in Montreal) from the team's inception until the late 1990s. The Blue Jays have not appeared over\-the\-air in Canada in English since 2008\.

In 2008, Rogers Communications, owner of the Jays, was granted a license by the [Canadian Radio\-Television Commission](/wiki/Canadian_Radio-television_and_Telecommunications_Commission "Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission") (CRTC) for a "Baseball TV" [specialty channel](/wiki/Specialty_channel "Specialty channel"). The channel would have been dedicated to coverage of baseball, combining content from the United States–based [MLB Network](/wiki/MLB_Network "MLB Network") with original Canadian content. However, the channel was never launched, and Rogers sponsored an application to allow distribution of the U.S. MLB Network on Canadian providers instead.

Due to the structure of Rogers' MLB broadcast contracts, Sportsnet is not permitted to use its domestic production for Blue Jays games if the team is in postseason play (as it is technically still considered a regional broadcaster) and instead carries the U.S. broadcast (such as [Fox](/wiki/MLB_on_Fox "MLB on Fox") in 2015, and [TBS](/wiki/MLB_on_TBS "MLB on TBS") in 2016\). This is in contrast to the [NBA](/wiki/National_Basketball_Association "National Basketball Association")'s [Toronto Raptors](/wiki/Toronto_Raptors "Toronto Raptors") (via TSN and Sportsnet), as well as the [NHL](/wiki/National_Hockey_League "National Hockey League") and [MLS](/wiki/Major_League_Soccer "Major League Soccer")'s Canadian\-based teams (via [Hockey Night in Canada](/wiki/Hockey_Night_in_Canada "Hockey Night in Canada") on CBC and Sportsnet, and TSN respectively) who were allowed to produce their own broadcasts during postseason games. Buck Martinez has served as a colour commentator for post\-season coverage ultimately simulcast by Sportsnet, however, having formerly worked Division Series games for TBS and on the [MLB International](/wiki/MLB_International "MLB International") broadcast of the [2016 World Series](/wiki/2016_World_Series "2016 World Series"). In 2022, however, MLB allowed Sportsnet to carry its own production of Blue Jays postseason games as it is technically a national broadcaster.


How does the CRTC's role in regulating broadcasting affect the Blue Jays and Sportsnet?