Report: Senators new TV deal could be worth up to $400 million

The Senators have been in existence since the 1992-93 NHL season. (Andre Ringuette/Getty Images)

Bell Media has agreed to a 12-year deal with the Ottawa Senators that will pay the team nearly $400 million, according to Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun.

Ottawa's regional games will be televised in English by TSN, with its sister station, RDS, broadcasting games in French. TSN 1200 in Ottawa will handle the radio broadcasts.

Neither side confirmed the terms of the agreement, which would give the Senators more than $33 million per season.

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"After Rogers SportsNet paid a whopping $5.2 billion to the NHL last month to get the national rights, TSN began frantically searching for hockey programming," Garrioch writes. "The timing of the expiry of the Senators deals at the end of this season was perfect for Ottawa because local rights have become very valuable."

The Canadiens reportedly agreed to a $68 million per year deal with RDS last month for rights to 60 regional home games, and the deal is worth a total of more than $800 million. And the Maple Leafs are reportedly getting more than $40 million from their deal with Rogers Sportsnet and TSN that expires after next season.

Said a league executive: “All these networks are looking for content. There’s a huge battle going on."

The Senators (23-20-10), one of seven Canadian NHL teams, are in sixth place in the Atlantic Conference, but they have made the playoffs in three of the last four seasons and 14 times in their 21-year history, including the 2007 Stanley Cup final.

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