The Stanley Cup Champions go unwatched by unhappy fans
Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post via Getty Images
No end in sight for dispute between major cable providers and Altitude Sports. The Colorado Avalanche, Kroenke Sports Entertainment, and various cable providers, namely Xfinity, still have not agreed to terms. In combination with local blackout restrictions, this lack of agreement has left some of the team’s most die-hard without a way to watch for over three years. Currently, only the Avalanche, Nugget, Rapids, and Mammoth fans feel as though they are paying the actual price as Altitude continues to offer alternative means of viewing that aren’t affordable compared to how things were. Fans understand that things are never free but can’t come to grips with paying double the price for something that hasn’t changed.
Oh look, there’s a “regional sports fee” added to Fubo when you try to get it. So it’s $88 per month to watch the Avs and Nuggets. How about just charging Comcast customers $12 if they want Altitude and keeping 100%, as Comcast offered? Joke! pic.twitter.com/qxZV3quln7— James Merilatt (@jamesmerilatt) October 19, 2022
This situation is truly an unfortunate but perfect storm. The Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets have rosters that will put them in place to be competitive playoff teams for years to come. It would be in all parties best interest to broadcast that future success to as many willing perceivers as possible. Simultaneously the rest of the entertainment world is shifting from cable to streaming subscriptions which have left some networks vulnerable to cable companies renegotiating with more leverage. Why can’t Altitude offer its own streaming platform? Well, it’s a catch twenty-two. For Altitude to provide a streaming platform, all providers must carry the network. Altitude is held by 35% of providers coming up well short.
Wish they good. Bally has full carriage (all providers carry them) which allows them to offer this. Great move. I agree. Altitude only has 35% carriage. Couldn't support it.— Vic Lombardi (@VicLombardi) October 19, 2022
Altitude and KSE seem to say they need a specific budget to continue operations. Comcast claims that not enough local viewers are interested in Altitude’s product for the fee that would come along with Altitude’s proposed deal. Both of these positions seemed flawed to the fans and fellow media members.
A problem with their messaging was the insistence that if they took the last deal offered, they would've gone out of business. Somehow YEARS later there's been zero deal and they're trucking right along bleeding money. So what happened? Then attacking people? "Budget better" ???— AJ Haefele (@returnofaj) October 24, 2022
They find it hard to believe that the defending Stanley Cup Champions need to garner a larger viewing audience in their region. Simultaneously, fans wonder how a company can claim that an agreement would lead to them going belly up and then operate just fine without any agreement for over three years.
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