Local fans of the NBA’s Denver Nuggets and the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche will have some new ways to watch their teams play this season.
Kroenke Sports & Entertainment — Stan Kroenke’s company, which owns several professional sports franchises, including Denver’s NBA and NHL teams, and its regional sports network, Altitude, is partnering with the station’s owners. . Tegna We’ll be offering a ton of Avalanche vs. Nuggets games this season. It will also launch a direct-to-consumer streaming service.
Local broadcast partnerships and new streaming services are part of a growing trend, especially among NBA and NHL teams looking for more ways to bring games to fans who have moved away from traditional pay-TV bundles.
Starting this season, 20 Nuggets games and 20 Avalanche games will be broadcast on Tegna’s free local terrestrial broadcasts, 9NEWS and My20.
Kroenke Sports & Entertainment will also launch its direct-to-consumer streaming service Altitude+ in October. The platform will give fans in the Denver media market access to every Avalanche-Nuggets game for $19.95 per month.
The NHL season opens on October 4th with a game between the New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabers in Prague. The North American season begins on October 8th, and the NBA season begins on October 22nd.
Local games for both teams will be aired on Altitude Sports, but the regional sports network will only be available to Denver fans on DirecTV. fubo tv. Also available charter communications spectrum in some areas of the territory of nine states.
However, Altitude was not available. comcast Since 2019, Dish’s pay-TV customers have declined, leaving a gaping hole in the Denver market. Tegna’s availability on stations and the introduction of streaming services could solve the fan problem in the market.
“It certainly played a role,” Steve Smith, president of KSE Media Ventures at Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, said in an interview with CNBC. “It’s about trying to give the team maximum exposure.” “And we think this agreement really gives people the opportunity to do what they want.”
Altitude Sports sued Comcast in 2019 after the two sides were unable to reach a distribution agreement, leading to a so-called blackout for Comcast’s customers. The two sides reached a settlement in March 2023, but notably, the settlement did not include the restoration of Altitude Sports on Comcast.
The Bally Sports regional sports network, owned by Diamond Sports, which is under bankruptcy protection, was unable to serve Comcast customers earlier this year. However, the two sides reached an agreement in July.
In the wake of Diamond Sports’ bankruptcy, many teams decided to part ways with regional sports networks, opting to sign deals with broadcasters and launch streaming services.
Most recently, the NHL’s Dallas Stars and Anaheim Ducks withdrew from Bally Sports. This season, Stars games will be available on the streaming service Victory+, and local Ducks games will be available on Victory+ and local terrestrial broadcasts. Both streaming options are free.
Meanwhile, the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and New Orleans Pelicans relied on local terrestrial broadcasts instead of Bally Sports for all of their games this season. This followed the two teams reaching an agreement similar to the Nuggets and Avalanche’s contract with Tegna. The Pelicans had 10 games on television before all games were broadcast on the station. graywhile the Mavericks offered 13 games on Tenya’s station during the second half of last season.
More and more regional sports networks are also offering streaming options.
YES Network, which broadcasts MLB’s New York Yankees, and MSG Networks, which broadcasts the NBA’s New York Knicks and NHL’s New York Rangers, will also debut streaming options through joint ventures this fall.
Pricing for regional sports networks’ streaming options reflects the need to be careful not to further disrupt pay-TV models or violate agreements with distributors. These pay-TV deals help support the billions of dollars in fees that networks pay professional sports leagues to air their games.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.