Nikola Jokic, #15 of the Denver Nuggets, shoots the ball against Bones Hyland, #5, and Norman Powell, #24, of the Los Angeles Clippers during the second half of a preseason game at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on October 19, 2023.
Kevork Djansezian | Getty Images
Local fans of the NBA’s Denver Nuggets and the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche will have some new ways to watch their teams’ games this season.
Kroenke Sports & Entertainment — Stan Kroenke’s company that owns several professional sports franchises including Denver’s NBA and NHL teams along with their regional sports network, Altitude — is partnering with broadcast station owner Tegna to offer a chunk of Avalanche and Nuggets games this season. It’s also launching a direct-to-consumer streaming service.
The local broadcast partnership and new streaming service is part of a growing trend, especially among NBA and NHL teams, which are searching for more ways to offer games to fans who have turned away from the traditional pay-TV bundle.
Beginning this season, there will be 20 Nuggets and 20 Avalanche games on Tegna’s free local over-the-air broadcasts, 9NEWS and My20.
Kroenke Sports & Entertainment is also launching the direct-to-consumer streaming service, Altitude+, in October. The platform will give fans in the Denver media market access to all Avalanche and Nuggets games for $19.95 a month.
The NHL season begins on Oct. 4 when the New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres play in Prague. The season in North America begins on Oct. 8. The NBA season begins on Oct. 22.
While both teams’ local games are aired on Altitude Sports, the regional sports network is only available to fans in Denver on DirecTV and Fubo TV. It’s also available on Charter Communications’ Spectrum in some parts of its nine-state territory.
However, Altitude hasn’t been available to Comcast and Dish pay TV customers since 2019, leaving a big hole in the Denver market. The availability on Tegna’s broadcast stations and the introduction of the streaming service may solve problems for fans in the market.
“It certainly played a role. But what we’re really focused on is trying to get maximum exposure for our two great teams,” Kroenke Sports & Entertainment’s KSE Media Ventures President Steve Smith said in an interview with CNBC. “And we think this deal really gives people the opportunity to do it however they want.”
Altitude Sports sued Comcast in 2019 after the two sides could not reach a distribution agreement, leading to a so-called blackout for Comcast’s customers. The two sides settled in March 2023, but notably the settlement did not include a restoration of Altitude Sports on Comcast.
The Bally Sports regional sports networks owned by Diamond Sports, which is under bankruptcy protection, went dark for Comcast customers earlier this year. However, the two sides reached an agreement in July.
In the wake of Diamond Sports’ bankruptcy, numerous teams have parted ways with their regional sports networks, opting for deals with broadcasters and launching streaming services.
Most recently, the NHL’s Dallas Stars and Anaheim Ducks exited Bally Sports. Stars games will be available on streaming service Victory+ this season, and the local Ducks games will be available via Victory+ and a local over-the-air broadcast. The streaming option for both is free.
Meanwhile, the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and New Orleans Pelicans have both turned to local over-the-air broadcasters instead of Bally Sports for all their games this season. This followed both teams reaching agreements similar to the Nuggets and Avalanche’s deal with Tegna. Prior to offering all games through broadcasters, the Pelicans had aired 10 of their matchups on Gray‘s stations, while the Mavericks offered 13 games in the latter part of last season on Tegna’s stations.
Regional sports networks are also increasingly offering streaming options.
The YES Network, which airs MLB’s New York Yankees, and MSG Networks, which offers the NBA’s New York Knicks and NHL’s New York Rangers, among others, are also debuting a streaming option through a joint venture this fall.
The pricing of regional sports networks’ streaming options reflects that they must be careful not to further disrupt the pay-TV model and breach contracts with distributors. These pay-TV contracts help support the billions of dollars in fees that the networks pay professional sports leagues to air their games.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.