Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri speaks at the telecommunications company's annual general meeting in Toronto, Wednesday, April 26, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris YoungTORONTO -
“I always like to talk strategy, especially amongst 250 friends,” he joked in response to the question from Globe and Mail columnist Andrew Willis, who moderated the event.The remark comes after Rogers announced last week that the company and NHL had reached an exclusive agreement with Amazon's Prime Video to carry Monday regular-season games in Canada for the next two seasons.
Asked why Rogers decided to offload content to a streaming service competitor, Staffieri noted Rogers owns not just sports television stations, but also professional sports teams. Rogers is the owner of the Toronto Blue Jays and has a 37.5 per cent stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, which counts the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors, Toronto FC and Toronto Argonauts among its properties.