With the Bulls and Blackhawks seasons in full swing and Comcast carriage negotiations stalled, the Chicago Sports Network is moving forward this week with its direct-to-consumer streaming service, bypassing the pay-TV middleman to reach blacked-out viewers.
The app, which launches Friday, will offer live access to CHSN, including all Bulls, Blackhawks and White Sox games, as well as other programming. The cost is $19.99 per month for one team’s games or $29.99 for all three, plus the nightly primetime sports talk shows. The service will enable subscribers to stream the regional sports network directly on web browsers, mobile devices and, in the coming weeks, connected TV platforms.
“Fans have been calling for it, and so it’s important,” CHSN President Jason Coyle told the Tribune on Thursday. “It gives fans another option. It puts it completely in their control, whether they want to watch the games.”
On Wednesday, the Blackhawks sent letters to fans offering season ticketholders free access to the direct-to-consumer product for the rest of the Hawks games this season. Similarly, the Bulls are offering free streaming of their remaining basketball schedule for season ticketholders as well.
As the traditional regional sports network model struggles, a number of teams are adding DTC streaming services, including the Cubs’ Marquee Sports Network, which launched the service at $19.99 per month in July 2023.
CHSN had initially planned to introduce its direct-to-consumer streaming app further down the road, but the impasse with Comcast likely accelerated the timetable. Marquee, for example, waited three years after launch before rolling out its DTC product.
“Given where we are with them … we’re not going to wait anymore,” Coyle said. “People who are Comcast subscribers can’t watch it, and that’s why we’re getting them direct-to-consumer.”
The app may be coming none too soon for 1 million Comcast subscribers in the Chicago area, who have been left in the dark since the new network hit the air last month.
A joint venture between the Bulls, Blackhawks, White Sox and Nashville-based Standard Media, the Chicago Sports Network supplanted NBC Sports Chicago, the 20-year-old regional sports network whose broadcast rights expired in September.
CHSN struck deals with pay-TV providers DirecTV and Astound to carry the network at its Oct. 1 debut. It also reached agreements with TV stations in Chicago and other markets to broadcast the sports programming for free over the air.
Last month, CHSN added streaming service FuboTV to its distribution lineup, another significant partner for the fledgling RSN.
Comcast, however, the largest pay-TV provider in Chicago, continues to play hardball with CHSN, requiring the new sports network move to a higher-priced tier, but offering a much lower carriage fee than it paid its predecessor, according to sources familiar with the negotiations. The cable giant previously owned 30% of NBC Sports Chicago, formerly known as Comcast SportsNet.
CHSN has reportedly agreed to shifting to the Ultimate tier — a premium channel package which costs subscribers an additional $20 per month — but the two sides have yet to come to terms on the carriage fee.
Coyle said CHSN recently made its third offer to Comcast, agreeing to tier flexibility and a lower carriage fee. While hopeful the deal will get done soon, he is frustrated by the lack of progress in getting the teams’ former media partner to engage in negotiations.
“They have so many fans who we know want to watch the network,” Coyle said. “We’ve been very willing to be flexible, and we’re not trying to force their hand into particular business outcomes.”
A Comcast spokesperson declined to comment on the negotiations this week.
Traditional pay TV — excluding online services such as Sling, Hulu and YouTube — has fallen to about 50 million subscribers, or about 38% of U.S. households, according to the latest data from eMarketer. That number is expected to drop to 40 million subscribers by 2026, or just 3 in 10 households.
Increasingly, digital streaming services such FuboTV and direct-to-consumer apps are grabbing a bigger slice of the sports viewership pie amid cord-cutting and the decline of the legacy cable package.
This year, more than 105 million viewers will watch live sports programming regularly on digital platforms, topping traditional pay-TV channels by more than 20 million people, according to eMarketer. The trend is expected to accelerate in the coming years, with digital live sports reaching 127 million viewers by 2027 as traditional pay-TV viewership continues to decline.
On Wednesday, Diamond Sports Group announced that FanDuel Sports Network, formerly Bally Sports, will be available for streaming through a Prime Video add-on subscription in the markets covered by the 16 regional sports networks.
Diamond Sports, which cratered under the weight of massive debt and the declining value of its carriage agreements, is expected to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy this month, pending a Nov. 14 confirmation hearing in a Texas court.
When NBC Sports Chicago went dark at the end of September, Comcast kept billing customers in advance for October as negotiations to replace it with the already-live CHSN continued.
This week, Comcast notified Chicago-area customers that an $8.85 credit for the loss of NBC Sports Chicago will be applied to their next monthly bill. At the same time, the regional sports fee, which also includes Marquee and Big Ten Network, will remain at $19.20 for November, pending a possible deal with CHSN.
For CHSN, direct-to-consumer streaming is unlikely to fill the void left by Comcast, but it is an increasingly important piece of the distribution puzzle in a fragmented digital media world.
With the Bears in a mid-season tailspin, Chicago sports fans may be ready to check out an alternative like the Bulls and Blackhawks, even as both teams get off to losing starts.
David Perlman, a Comcast subscriber in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood, is looking forward to seeing the new network, but after exploring several alternatives, had resigned himself to waiting for a carriage deal to get done.
While an antenna he hooked up 38 years ago is still bringing in a long list of Chicago TV channels, he has been unable to receive WJYS-Ch. 62, a full-powered UHF TV station broadcasting the sports network from atop Willis Tower in high-definition on its digital subchannels.
CHSN recommended repositioning the antenna, but Perlman said he is not venturing up on his roof. Perlman also wasn’t interested in signing up for the $80 FuboTV package, just to get CHSN, especially with the Bulls and Blackhawks already dwelling near the bottom of their respective standings.
But news of the imminent DTC option may change the picture for him.
“If I was offered the opportunity to buy access for $20/month, I would probably take it,” Perlman said.
Other fans, however, are less inclined to buy the DTC package.
Steve Baldasti, 74, a longtime Hawks season ticketholder from northwest suburban Hoffman Estates, got an email Wednesday from team CEO Danny Wirtz, letting him know he would get free access to the direct-to-consumer product for the remainder of the season as “a gesture of sincere appreciation.”
Baldasti said he was not impressed with the offer. While he might take advantage of the free Hawks access this season, Baldasti said Thursday that he has no intention of paying $30 a month to access the full CHSN live sports lineup.
“That’s almost $400 a year to watch, at this point, three losing teams,” Baldasti said.
Originally Published:
Robert Channick
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