The National Hockey League has managed to become a year-round obsession.

The exhausting length of the playoffs coupled with early September training camps provides a scant break for puck-crazy Canadians. Throw in an always-active off-season of player movement and development to produce a 365-day-a-year topic of discussion.

In Toronto, it's impossible to avoid chatter about the Maple Leafs whether they're winning or losing, or even in the summer. The most loved, and despised, Canadian team is now set to fuel the fire even more. The franchise's owner, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Limited, is preparing to launch Leafs TV on Sept. 30.

The Maple Leaf channel will provide an in-depth look at the club, both historically and at the moment. In addition, the channel will take fans behind the scenes at the Air Canada Centre and bring them up close with all their favourite Leaf personalities.

It may seem like overkill to some, but Richard Peddie, president and chief executive officer of MLSEL, disagrees.

"This isn't the stamp-collecting channel or the azalea channel," Peddie said. "We think this channel will appeal to more than just your hardcore sports fan."

There are few precedents for the Leaf channel to build upon. The lone sports franchise to operate its own network is English soccer power Manchester United. While MUTV is available solely on a pay-per-view basis, MLSEL hopes the Leaf channel will be eventually provided to cable subscribers at a nominal monthly fee. The channel will initially be available only to digital cable subscribers in Ontario, although it will be blacked out in the Ottawa region because of to league restrictions.

Such a close connection between the team's management and the station may seem problematic, but executive producer John Shannon says the station will not act simply as a booster for club. It will be justifiably critical of activity on and off the ice.

"We have to come completely objective," said Mr. Shannon, the former executive producer of Hockey Night in Canada. "That's the guarantee that I've been given. I trust the people I work with and think they know what to expect."

The station's on-air personalities will also help to establish credibility. Mike Anscombe, formerly a news anchor for Global Television and a long-time sports broadcaster, will be the host of a show focusing on the career of former Leafs. Paul Romanuk, previously of TSN and now with CHUM's all-sports radio network, will host of a Sunday morning round table called The Reporters. Brian McFarlane, a hockey historian and former HNIC broadcaster, will host a Sunday night telecast of classic Leaf games. Leaf television and radio voice Joe Bowen will be involved in a variety of channel endeavours.

One important element Leafs TV lacks, however, is the ability to broadcast games, because MLSEL already sells those rights to a number of different networks.

The channel is aiming to establish itself as an indispensable complement to those other networks. The channel will provide pre- and post-game shows, offering discussion, analysis and highlights with statistical updates, game summaries and press conferences.

The channel's Game in an Hour program will encapsulate each of the team's games into a one-hour show for broadcast an hour after the end of each contest. It hopes to provide the action of a 60-minute hockey game without the stoppages, intermissions or distractions of any normal broadcast.

When the channel's planning was in its infancy, Mr. Shannon was hoping to broadcast the team's exhibition games as well as the annual Blue and White scrimmage. That won't happened for a while - those rights are currently owned by TSN.

"Early on, we're finding it simply isn't financially feasible to do game," Mr. Shannon said. "It's not just the costs for obtaining the rights but also the technical costs involved with it. Down the road a year or two, [broadcasting game] is certainly in our plans."

The station will initially broadcast on a "wheel," with 12 hours of original programming each day that is repeated at night.

In the information age, the options and information available to sports fans seems endless. Too much is never enough. Leafs TV hopes to become a one-stop portal for the latest on the hockey team. MLESL thinks such a venture will set a precedent that will be followed throughout the sports world.

"This is a birthplace for a new, exciting format for many teams in North America," Mr. Shannon said. "If this works here, there's no reason the New York Yankees, Montreal Canadiens or any team with a firm hold in their market can't duplicate our success. We're leading the way."