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 Denver Nuggets (NBA) and Colorado Avalanche (NHL) will have 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 its regional sports network, Altitude — is partnering with the owner of a broadcast station Sign to offer a portion of Avalanche and Nuggets games this season. It is also launching a direct-to-consumer streaming service.
The local broadcast partnership and new streaming service are part of a growing trend, particularly among NBA and NHL teams, as they look for more ways to offer games to fans who have turned away from traditional pay-TV packages.
Starting this season, 20 Nuggets and 20 Avalanche games will be broadcast on free local broadcasts of Tegna, 9NEWS and My20.
Kroenke Sports & Entertainment is also launching a 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 per month.
The NHL season begins on October 4 when the New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres play in Prague. The North American season begins on October 8. The NBA season begins on October 22.
While both teams' local games are broadcast on Altitude Sports, the regional sports network is only available to fans in Denver on DirecTV and Fubo TV. It is also available on Charter Communications Spectrum in some parts of the nine-state territory.
However, Altitude has not yet been available for Comcast and Dish pay TV customers since 2019, leaving a big hole in the Denver market. Availability on Tegna’s channels and the introduction of the streaming service could solve issues for fans in the market.
“It certainly played a role. But what we're really focused on is getting maximum exposure for our two great teams,” Steve Smith, president of KSE Media Ventures at Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, said in an interview with CNBC. “And we think this deal really gives people the opportunity to do it the way they want to.”
Altitude Sports sued Comcast in 2019 after the two sides failed to 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 reinstating Altitude Sports on Comcast.
Bally Sports’ regional sports networks, owned by bankruptcy-protected Diamond Sports, went offline for Comcast customers earlier this year, but the two sides reached a settlement in July.
Following the bankruptcy of Diamond Sports, many teams have canceled their regional sports networks and entered into agreements with broadcasters and started streaming services.
Recently, the NHL’s Dallas Stars and Anaheim Ducks left Bally Sports. Stars games will be available on the streaming service Victory+ this season, while local Ducks games will be available via Victory+ and a local broadcast. The streaming option for both is free.
Meanwhile, the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and New Orleans Pelicans have both turned to local broadcasters instead of Bally Sports for all of their games this season. This follows the Nuggets and Avalanche reaching agreements similar to the deal they did with Tegna. Before going all-out on broadcasters, the Pelicans had aired 10 of their games 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 broadcasts the MLB's New York Yankees, and MSG Networks, which broadcasts the NBA's New York Knicks and the NHL's New York Rangers, among others, are also launch a streaming option this fall through a joint venture.
The prices of regional sports networks’ streaming options reflect the fact that they must be careful not to further disrupt the pay-TV model and violate contracts with distributors. These pay-TV contracts help support the billions of dollars in fees the networks pay professional sports leagues to air their games.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.