The Chicago Blackhawks’ flagship network, Chicago Sports Network, still has a major issue with local fans. The majority of Hawks fans are still unable to watch games through legal means.
The question being posed by many Blackhawks fans is, “Why is this still an issue?” Once again, the greed and arrogance of the Blackhawks and Bulls/White Sox ownership has left their fans searching for legal ways to watch. When the Hawks were on NBC SportsNet Chicago, NBC Universal handled the negations and carriage fees. Instead of picking a media company comparable to NBC or even close to the Sinclair Media Group, which broadcasts Marquee, the Blackhawks, Bulls and White Sox went cheap and unknown.
The franchise owners went with the media company Standard Media. While the majority of people have not heard of Standard Media, many people within the media industry believed Standard Media was not up to the task of negotiating broadcasting deal and carriage fees.
Other watching options
While majority of Blackhawks fans cannot watch games on Comcast/Xfinity, there is now another option for cord cutters. CHSN inked a deal with FuboTV. FuboTV is charging the low price of $79.99 per month and requires the regional sports package for $14.99 to watch CHSN. This is now the third option to watch Blackhawks games.
Now Blackhawks fans have DirecTV, FuboTV and the local antenna. While some believe the antenna is the easy option, other people have experienced difficulties with the antenna. Mark Lazerus had a “fun” time trying to watch the Blackhawks and ultimately gave up.
I’m having fun watching sports. pic.twitter.com/7ka5l6Q0Di
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) October 29, 2024
There is a reason why the antenna started becoming an antiquated piece of technology in the 1980s.
CHSN app
With three options and no Comcast/Xfinity deal on the horizon, CHSN is considering launching their own app.
Laurence Holmes of The Score shared this information on the potential CHSN app:
Here’s what I’m hearing on a CHSN app:
It should be available before Thanksgiving (hopefully sooner).
$19.99 per month PER team
$29.99 per month for all 3
Or $300 per year all in.
Network still negotiating w/ Comcast. Some movement there.
— Laurence Holmes (@LaurenceWHolmes) October 28, 2024
Holmes then went on to tweet the app was still in the beta testing phase and was waiting on NBA approval. While the price might shock people, sadly it is comparable to the Cubs charging $19.99 per month for Marquee app. In terms of the overall cost, CHSN might be a bit high. The AltitudeNOW app, which is for Denver sports teams, is $19.95 for 65 Denver Nuggets games and 65 Colorado Avalanche games. The app was created after Comcast and Dish blacked out Nuggets and Avalanche games in 2019.
The Altitude Sports app is available within the nine-state territory of the Rocky Mountain region. The Rocky Mount region includes Colorado, Arizona, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Southwest Dakota (Rapid City-DMA) and Wyoming. Utah has been removed due to the Utah Hockey Club franchise’s arrival in the NHL.
Fan perspective
We are now 10 games into the season and the Hawks still do not have a deal done with Comcast/Xfinity. The CHSN app is in beta testing, and unlike the Colorado app, you will be charged more money to watch one of the other bad teams on this app.
As I stated before, this is a HUGE issue for Blackhawks fans and there is seemingly no resolution in sight. Other fans like me are feeling the same way.
That’s a no for me. There are other teams, other games on tv to watch.
And, I don’t know how you can look at this report and take from it that its the cable/satellite systems who are the ones being unreasonable – not Wirtz and Reinsdorf. #Blackhawks https://t.co/RkOvCHmE8P
— ChrisBlock (@ChrisBlock) October 29, 2024
Yet despite the frustration and failure, Reinsdorf and Wirtz continue to push on with this failing endeavor.