The rumors were already worrying, but the recent confirmation sent shockwaves: Amazon Prime Video now has serious designs on the Canadian hockey market.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman spoke of the Canadian priority with barely veiled enthusiasm, emphasizing how much the streaming giant believes in the importance of hockey in Canada.
For RDS and TVA Sports, two pillars of traditional sports television in Quebec, this news represents a real earthquake.
Amazon is not just investing in broadcast rights for hockey games in the United States. Their goal is clear: to conquer the Canadian market, a historic stronghold of ice sports.
When Bettman points out that “Prime Video truly believes in the importance of hockey in Canada,” he sends a powerful message to traditional broadcasters, already struggling with eroding revenues and subscriber bases.
Amazon is ready to play the Goliath, and even regional broadcasting rights, once the preserve of channels like RDS and TVA Sports, are now at stake.
The threat to RDS and TVA Sports is not limited to the broadcasting of national matches. With the expiration of regional broadcasting rights in 2026, these two channels will have to fight against Amazon to stay in the race.
The online commerce giant, already well established in sports broadcasting with Thursday Night Football in the United States, seems determined to apply the same aggressive strategy in Canada, with financial resources that neither RDS nor TVA Sports can match.
The launch of Prime Monday Night Hockey on October 14 will be the first concrete sign of this new reality.
The opening game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Pittsburgh Penguins, broadcast exclusively on Prime Video, marks the beginning of a historic turning point.
For Quebec viewers, accustomed to following their matches on traditional channels, this is the beginning of a major transition.
For broadcasters like RDS and TVA Sports, it is the beginning of a fierce fight for survival.
Amazon’s arrival in the Canadian sports landscape confirms a global trend: the migration of sporting events to digital platforms.
Traditional television, with its rigid schedule and commercial interruptions, is increasingly being abandoned by new generations of viewers.
The latter prefer streaming services, where they can consume their content on demand, on various devices, without being constrained by the schedules imposed by traditional channels.
Beyond Amazon, other major players like Netflix and Apple TV+ are also taking a keen interest in sports broadcasting.
Geoff Molson, owner of the Montreal Canadiens, is even preparing the launch of Habs TV, a streaming platform dedicated exclusively to his team’s games.
This initiative, planned for 2026, directly threatens traditional sports channels like RDS, which have always been the preferred broadcasters of Canadiens games.
Now, even the teams themselves are bypassing these broadcasters by turning to digital.
The financial situation of TVA Sports and RDS makes this news even more worrying. TVA Sports, which has been accumulating losses since its creation in 2011, is now a financial black hole for Quebecor.
With cumulative deficits of nearly $300 million and a loss of $18 million in 2023, the chain is on a tightrope.
TVA Sports denies having lost “only” $242 million since 2011, but according to several internal sources, the losses are closer to $300 million.
The massive $720 million contract signed to broadcast Canadiens games on Saturdays only made matters worse.
On the RDS side, although management has been more cautious, the figures are hardly better. The channel has lost nearly 800,000 subscribers in four years, and its advertising revenues are collapsing.
Faced with a competitor like Amazon, with colossal financial resources and an almost unlimited capacity for innovation, these traditional chains find themselves in a weak position.
They are forced to rethink their business model, but time is running out. If they fail to adapt quickly to this new reality, they risk disappearing under the weight of the streaming revolution.
Gary Bettman’s statements confirm what many already feared: Amazon is not just touching the margins of the Canadian hockey market, it is firmly establishing itself there.
For RDS and TVA Sports, this announcement sounds like the worst possible news. The arrival of Prime Video, with its first game at the Bell Centre in October, marks the beginning of an irreversible process that could well seal the fate of Quebec sports channels by 2026.
The unease is real, palpable even, within the management teams of these two channels, because the threat they face is of an unprecedented scale.
RDS and TVA Sports will have to fight a battle against a giant, with limited resources and an aging business model.
Barring a miracle or rapid adaptation, these two channels, once at the pinnacle of sports broadcasting, could soon be nothing more than memories of a bygone era.
The future of sports in Canada is Amazon, and for RDS and TVA Sports, the time for the final battle is approaching.
David will soon lay down his arms…against Goliath…
