The odds on a joint bid coming from Shaw Communications and the CBC for NHL or Olympic Games rights got better on Friday when the western Canadian cable giant submitted an application for a sports specialty channel to the CRTC.

The regulator said the bid is for Shaw Media Sports, to be operated by Shaw Television G.P. as a “mainstream” category 2 sports channel.

That means Shaw, which recently acquired the former Canwest Global Communications’ TV assets and rebranded them as Shaw Media, will be looking to pick up broadcast rights to pro hockey, football, basketball and other major sports coveted by rivals like TSN (CTV), which is set to be taken over by BCE and Roger Communications’ Rogers Sportsnet.

And with the CTV/Rogers Canadian Olympic Broadcast Consortium looking likely to bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia and the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil, the consensus is if either CBC and Shaw hope to overcome the deep pockets of TSN/Sportsnet’s parents, the broadcasters will have to team up to make a counter bid when the rights become available in April.

Shaw-owned niche channels like TLN and Euroworld Sports and the CBC’s Bold channel are expected to be part of a joint CBC/Shaw bid for Olympic rights.

Preceding the recent application to the CRTC, Shaw hired former Canadian Olympic Broadcast Consortium exec Christos Nikitopoulos as its new vice president of sports.