So we got some definitive(ish) answers from TSN today.

First, the question that most people, including myself, were interested in, what’s happening with the NASCAR Pinty’s Series? It’s pretty much as I was expecting it to be:

“Complete coverage of the NASCAR Pinty’s Series will be available to stream through TSN+, beginning May 13, with recap programs airing on TSN’s national television feeds.” 

While not saying it outright, it looks as though we will still get live coverage, only on TSN+ instead of TSN.ca, as the debut date is the same as the series opener date. Fully produced delayed coverage will follow at a later date, likely, as in the past, the following weekend. 

**Update at 5:00 PM**

TSN has confirmed to me that the TSN+ boradcasts of the NASCAR Pinty's Series will be live broadcasts, as they were last year on TSN.ca

The Canadian Superbike Championship will again air as delayed coverage on the main network channels, as it did last year, beginning in June, so great news for Superbike fans.

There was nothing noted about the FEL SportsCar series this year. There was also nothing mentioned when asked about the SRX series, so assume that won’t be available, at least not as of now. 

Formula One will be exactly as last year, with all the same coverage on the main TSN Channels, as well as TSN.ca and the TSN app. So all pre and post race shows, free practice, qualifying and sprint races are all available as they were last year.

TSN+ will make additional features available to F1 fans, including Pit Lane feed, Driver Tracking, Timing Feed, Mixed On-Board Cameras and “unique in-car driver feeds”. 

Unfortunately, it looks like there will be no additional motorsports content on TSN+ from TSN’s motorsport analyst Tim Hauraney, which is unfortunate. For those who don’t know, Tim brings a ton of racing experience, having raced Formula Atlantic and Porsche’s in Europe, and a bunch more. TSN+ would have been the perfect place to give Tim some more, unique content that would also attract new subscribers, giving them additional value for their subscription. 

Tim’s “auto racing news and analysis will appear on SportsCentre, TSN.ca, and the TSN app.” 

And, finally, as I thought, pricing for TSN+ has not been released yet and will be released in the coming weeks, so you would think TSN+ will continue to be free since they can’t charge a price they don’t yet know. 

There was nothing mentioned about Indy Car, as per their previous release, 8 races on the main network, with the rest on TSN+. In combination with NBC's over-the-air-network viewers will get all but 2 races from their regular subscriptions. 

TSN's Regular Network Indy Car Schedule - All races will be carried on TSN+

Sunday, March 5 St Pete’s Noon TSN2/TSN+
Sunday, April 2 Texas Motor Speedway Noon TSN/TSN+
Sunday, April 16 Long Beach Streets of Long Beach Street 3pm TSN/TSN+
Sunday, May 28 107th Indianapolis 500 Oval 11am TSN/TSN+
Sunday, July 2 Mid-Ohio Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Road 1:30pm TSN/TSN+
Sunday, July 16 Toronto Streets of Toronto Street 1:30pm TSN/TSN+
Sunday, August 6 Nashville Streets of Nashville Street Noon TSN/TSN+
Sunday, Sept. 3 Portland Portland International Raceway Road 3pm TSN/TSN+

I have followed up to confirm the NASCAR PInty’s Series TSN+ coverage is live. I’ll update this article when I hear back. 

On the whole I think TSN+ will be a good addition for motorsports fans in Canada, provided the price isn’t ridiculous, as was Sportsnet +, where IndyCar went to die. 

It gives TSN an opportunity to build out its motorsports coverage, including Canadian motorsports, that would be impossible with just the main network channels, even with 5 of them. And a series that can advertise that it will be available on TSN, even TSN+, has a bigger potential sponsor draw than not being available at all, or only on their own live stream. 

And unlike the Sportsnet offering from a few years ago, there is a lot of good, non-motorsports content to watch as well, so it’s already ahead Sportnet’s IndyCar offering. 

At this point, I think the content is definitely there, and everything depends on price. If TSN wants $20 a month for it, I suspect it will have a future similar to Sportsnet +. If they put it somewhere in the $5.00 to $10.00 a month, then I think it has a chance.