Nikola Jokic, No. 15 of the Denver Nuggets, and No. 5 Bones Hyland and No. 24 No. 24 of the Los Angeles Clippers during the second half of a preseason game at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles in October. Man Powell shot 19, 2023.
Kevork Djansezian | Kevork DjansezianGetty Images
Local fans of the NBA's Denver Nuggets and NHL's Colorado Avalanche will have some new ways to watch their teams play this season.
Kroenke Sports & Entertainment — Stan Kroenke's company owns several professional sports franchises, including Denver's NBA and NHL teams and its regional sports network Altitude — is partnering with radio station owners Label This season will offer plenty of games against the Avalanche and Nuggets. It also launched 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, who are looking for more ways to deliver games to fans who have foregone traditional pay-TV bundles.
Beginning this season, Tegna's free local over-the-air broadcasts, 9NEWS and My20 will broadcast 20 Nuggets and 20 Avalanche games.
Kroenke Sports & Entertainment will also launch direct-to-consumer streaming service Altitude+ in October. The platform will allow fans in the Denver media market to watch all Avalanche and Nuggets games for $19.95 per month.
this NHL season begins The New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabers play in Prague on October 4th. The North American season begins on October 8th. start October 22nd.
While both teams' local games air on Altitude Sports, the regional sports network is only available to Denver fans through DirecTV Fubo TV station. It can also be found in charter communications corp. Spectrum in parts of its nine-state territory.
However, the height is not yet available Comcast and Dish pay TV customers since In 2019, a big hole was left in the Denver market. The availability of Tegna radio stations and the launch of streaming services may solve the problem for fans in the market.
“It does play a role,” Steve Smith, president of Kroenke's sports and entertainment company KSE Media Ventures, told CNBC. “But what we're really focused on is trying to get the most for our two great teams. exposure. “We think this deal really gives people the opportunity to do what they want. “
Altitude Sports sued Comcast in 2019 after the parties failed to reach a distribution agreement, resulting in so-called blackouts for Comcast customers. both sides settle down March 2023, but it’s worth noting that the settlement does not include the reinstatement of Comcast’s Altitude Sports.
Diamond Sports' Bally Sports regional sports network is currently in bankruptcy protection and was halted by Comcast customers earlier this year. However, the two sides reached an agreement in July.
After Diamond Sports went bankrupt, many teams parted ways with their regional sports networks, opting to partner with broadcasters and launch streaming services.
Recently, the NHL's Dallas Stars and Anaheim Ducks exited Bally Sports. Stars games this season will be broadcast on the streaming service Victory+, and local Ducks games will be broadcast on Victory+ and local over-the-air broadcasts. Streaming options for both are free.
Meanwhile, the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and New Orleans Pelicans are switching to local wireless broadcasters instead of Bally Sports for all games this season. Prior to this, both teams had reached agreements similar to those the Nuggets and Avalanche had with Tegna. Prior to airing all games through broadcasters, the Pelicans had already broadcast 10 games on the following websites grayThe Mavericks played 13 games at Tegna's site during the second half of last season.
Regional sports networks are also increasingly offering streaming options.
YES Network, which broadcasts MLB's New York Yankees, and MSG Networks, which broadcasts NBA's New York Knicks and NHL's New York Rangers, are also among them. A streaming option launched this fall through a joint venture.
The pricing of regional sports networks’ streaming options reflects the caution they must be careful not to further disrupt the pay-TV model and violate contracts with distributors. These pay-TV contracts help support billions of dollars in broadcast fees paid by television networks to professional sports leagues.
Revealed: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.