Canadian Football League (CFL) to make games free to view online for international audiences only
Canadian's still required to pay Bell/TSN to watch games
If you are a fan of Canadian football and live outside Canada, you are in luck this year, as the CFL has announced all of its games, including pre-season, regular-season, and playoffs, will be available for free viewing online via the league’s new CFL Plus service.
Canadians are out of luck, though, and must pay Bell/TSN to watch games broadcast via cable/satellite or online.
Presumably, the league was unable to find an international broadcast partner to lock up content for paying subscribers, as the only requirement the league has for viewers to take in the action is to sign up with a name and e-mail address; no payment needed.
CFL Plus is available here. American football fans will have some access to CFL Plus, able to watch games that aren’t locked under contract to CBS Sports Network. For those games, viewers will need to be paid subscribers to CSN.
Internationally, there are no restrictions.
Pre-season coverage
The one exception for Canadians will be the pre-season, with most of the games available for free online viewing via the CFL’s new Preseason Live service. Bell/TSN has locked up three of the nine games, with the other six available without restriction.