In late Feb 2021 TSN released an update for their Apple TV app.
The TSN streaming app on the Apple TV has been pretty bare bones which we reviewed before when it first launched in 2018.

Screen Shot 2021-03-04 at 7.11.29 PM.png

Updating the app was as simple as clicking on the update button within the Canadian iTunes Apple TV App store.

Once we updated the app, we opened the new version of the app from the home screen of our Apple TV.

As you keep scrolling down past the live feeds you’ll find various predefined content categories like TSN’s documentary collection as well as featured short clips and other clips under various sporting categories.

This is all new to the app because the previous version of the TSN app on the Apple TV only had the live feeds. It had no on demand content whatsoever.

The home screen scroll of the new TSN Apple TV App

At the very top of the home screen you’ll find big title cards that you can scroll through sideways showing you what is on the various TSN channels right now.

They are clearly labelled indicating what’s on and what TSN channel it is (TSN 1 - TSN 5)

TSN Update Home Screen Top Card Scroll GIF.gif

When you scroll down below that you’ll find the same live channel listings. One of the major issues the previous edition of the TSN app had was that often times what was listed would not be what you would get.

As an example you would click on what you thought was TSN 2 to watch a NHL game but instead you would get TSN 4 and a Poker Tournament.

Unfortunately Bell hasn’t seemed to fix this issue with the new version of the app, as we ran into this same issue on our first use of the app.

If you look at the top row example it says that the following was on

TSN 1 - That’s Hockey
TSN 2 - Countdown to UFC 259
TSN 3 - NBA Basketball
TSN 4 - NBA Basketball
TSN 5 - NBA Basketball

Yet when you go down to the row below it says what is actually on is

TSN 1 - NBA Basketball
TSN 2 - NHL Hockey
TSN 3 - NHL Hockey
TSN 4 - NBA Basketball
TSN 5 - That’s Hockey

This makes using the app very confusing.

If you jump over to the next section of the app the ‘Live’ section simply repeats what we saw on the home screen of the app. The only difference is that as you scroll down you’ll be shown what is upcoming on the various TSN channels.

We’d prefer to see this section get renamed to schedule and have there be a guide available that included what was on previously. We’re not really sure what the point of having the same information, in this case the live channels, in two separate places within the app.

New On Demand Content

The big addition to the app is that TSN now has a fair amount of clips, documentaries and other content all available on demand.

If you scroll over to the News & Highlights section you can scroll across to sort the content first by sport or you can scroll down where you will find highlight clips by predefined categories which again is a duplication of what is already on the home screen. You don’t need to be a paid subscribe to TSN in order to watch the clips and highlights, although you will get ads.

At the very bottom you’ll also find on demand games which is another big new add on to the TSN app. You do need to be a TSN subscriber to watch the on demand games. As of now on demand seems to be limited to NBA games, MLB, AEW Wrestling, Formula E Racing, Curling, PGA Golf, NCAA Hockey and some UFC. There are no NHL games on demand.

Much of the on demand sports aren’t labeled with any dates, so it’s unknown at this point how long things will stay up and be available in that section.

As per our testing for now you seem to be able to pause, rewind and fast forward through on demand games and events but beware there are a lot of commercial breaks embedded in the streams which you will endure.

All of this is something we noted should have been there from the beginning because the Sportsnet app on the Apple TV has had all of this functionality for years.

Documentary Collection

The really big addition to the TSN app is in the final section titled ‘Doc Collection’.
Here you will find a fairly large selection of on demand documentaries including TSN Staff Picks, ESPN 30 for 30, E:60, ESPN Films, Nine for IX and some HBO Sports content.

Oddly this section also includes content from Comedy Central like some of the CC Roasts and HBO Shows like Ballers, Eastbound & Down and other non sports related content. This seems to be Bell flexing some of it’s synergy of other content libraries it owns most notably from Crave.

Well that is a nice touch the TSN app is not set up to watch an episodic TV series. As an example if you start to watch one of the 5 seasons of HBO’s show Ballers through the TSN app, it doesn’t keep track of what episodes you have and haven’t watched or where you left off in a specific episode.

This is kind of a basic streaming service staple and one Bell should know since they also own and operate Crave.

Final Thoughts

This is a nice surprise from Bell and TSN. This is what the app should have been when it was first launched especially since it was $24.99 a month back then.

Now that the price has been reduced to $19.99 per month there is a good deal of content here, but the cynic in us makes is think that all this new additional content will come with a possible price increase of the app. We’ll see.

For now TSN is $19.99 per month or $7.99 for a 24 hour pass. They also have a 6 month subscription for $99.95.

We just wish they would fix the live feed guide issue. It also seems like the RDS app did not get the same update.

What do you think of the updated app?

Update - World Cup 2022

TSN finally expanded their device list by releasing a native app for the Roku, Amazon FireStick and Android TV just days before the start of the 2022 World Cup. TSN and RDS own the rights to the 2022 World Cup broadcasts in Canada. They still haven’t released an app for the new Google Chromecast with Google TV.

TSN first launched their service in 2014. So it only took them 8 years to finally launch apps for these additional devices.

Update - Euro’s 2021

TSN is the only Canadian option for streaming the Euro 2021 tournament and unfortunately we’ve heard from many customers that there have been a whole host of problems.

First off users have not been happy about the quality of the streams noting that many other streaming services who have the streaming rights are broadcasting in 4K while TSN is not.

@TSN_Sports - I signed up for your app to watch Euro2021, but the resolution is really poor. I have 1 GB/s download, so can take 4K easily. Can you broadcast the games with high res for those who have high bandwidth?
— Prof. Alan G. Jones, P.Geo., MRIA, Fellow AGU (@alan_g_jones) June 19, 2021

Hey @TSN_Sports are you doing the Euros in 4k or 1080 on TSN Direct?
— Micah ⚽🚲 (@mfg81) June 9, 2021

We decided to take a deeper look and compare the streams on the new Apple TV. This is because the Apple TV is one of the only devices with a native TSN app. They still do not have a Firestick, Chromecast with Google TV or Roku app. Another complaint we continue to see.

First we opened the TSN app and looked at the stream details for the Turkey vs Wales game. What we found was that the frame rate hovered around the 30 fps area.

We also went and looked at the same game on the BBC app on the Apple TV. The stream started at the 25 fps rate but quickly jumped up and stayed at the 50 fps rate.

We then moved on to the ESPN app again on the same Apple TV. ESPN had the highest frame rate in the 60 fps area.

It’s again worth noting that TSN costs $19.99 Canadian a month, the BBC app is free to use and ESPN+ costs $5.99 US a month.

The other big complaint was about games on demand. Since many of the games are on at odd hours due to the time difference not everyone is able to watch every game live and since you can’t PVR these streams teh service should make the games available to watch after they have aired.

Unfortunately this is another area TSN was failing in.

@TSN_Sports completely ridiculous that TSN Direct only allows live feed of Euro 2021. Should be on demand. $20/month is a rip off
— Mark Bussanich (@MarkBussanich) June 11, 2021

Euro 2020
Why is @TSN_Sports so bad? The italy v turkey game played Friday will not be on demand for 24 to 48 hours after the finish of the game!
I cancelled my subscription today.
I encourage every football/ soccer lover in canada to demand @TSN_Sports to be better !
— Garry (@DominoTheory5) June 12, 2021

This is another area we did a quick deep dive look into. In the TSN app when you first scroll down you’ll find a Euro 2020 section, but all it has is highlights. There are no on demand games anywhere to be found.

To get to the on demand games you have to scroll all the way to the bottom of the app where there is an on demand section mixed with a number of events. In total we found 8 Euro games available on demand.

Games don’t seem to show up here until 24 - 48 hours after they have played live and not all the games show up.

@EURO2020 #EURO2020
Going to finish work very soon can’t wait to go home and watch wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 on @TSN_Sports on demand! Ohh wait , on demand really doesn’t mean on demand ….it means 24 to 48 hours later if they choose to…
— Garry (@DominoTheory5) June 12, 2021

In comparison in the UK the Euro games are being split between BBC and iTV and both of their apps have better defined Euro sections that include highlights, full matches on demand and even their pre game shows. They are also made available on demand right away and have all of the matches on demand.

The BBC had 20 games on demand while iTV had 23 games on demand. Again both of these apps are free.