By December 1987, TSN had reached one million subscribers, but the network's staff sought wider distribution for the channel as part of basic cable service; the CRTC approved the network's request for permission to allow TSN to be carried as part of a basic cable lineup. Mike Day, producer of TSN's daily sports news program "SportsDesk" lamented about the shift to basic cable and the larger audience it would bring, commenting that "one night you're doing a news show that potentially has an audience of one million people, and the next day the potential is five million people." At this, Hal Johnson was hired by TSN to be one of their sports reporters, only to be subsequently rejected on account that the network did not want to have more than one black reporter. This proved to be a part of a series of frustrations with racist treatment from TSN among other broadcasters until Johnson co-created the "BodyBreak" informational spot concept to provide a positive example. As it was, TSN turned the concept down saying that they were convinced that the Canadian viewing public not accept him and his wife, Joanne McLeod, being together. At that, Johnson turned to the public fitness promotion organization, ParticipACTION, who agreed to support the series, which became a mainstay of Canadian television, including on TSN itself. When Johnson came forward in 2020 with the story of the series' creation, TSN would release an official apology of their racist mistreatment of him.