Our long regional nightmare is over.
Chicago Sports Network is expected to launch on Comcast cable Friday, likely in time for the Royals-White Sox game, the Sun-Times has learned. That will allow about 1 million Xfinity customers in the area to watch the rest of the Sox’ season and not miss another entire Bulls and Blackhawks season.
After fighting to launch on the Popular programming tier, Comcast’s middle tier of channels, CHSN will appear on the Ultimate tier, which costs an additional $20 per month. Customers had been receiving a monthly credit of $8.85 to offset the loss of NBC Sports Chicago, the teams’ former home, which went off the air Sept. 30.
So what made Comcast, the dominant TV provider in the area, agree to end its blackout of CHSN after more than eight months? It certainly wasn’t the teams’ play. They haven’t done the network any favors by losing as often as they have. That’s no way to create leverage.
CHSN knew its path to wide distribution would be bumpy, especially with Comcast, which has been moving regional sports networks across the country to its highest programming tier. Industry insiders speculated on four possible reasons the sides reached an agreement.
CHSN lowered asking price
Programmers charge distributors a monthly fee per subscriber to carry a channel, and the distributor passes the cost to consumers. This reason seems unlikely because CHSN couldn’t have been asking for too much, given the state of RSNs and that of its teams. Such information is normally locked down by non-disclosure agreements.
CHSN agreed to be tiered
CHSN staffers knew that if Comcast was going to carry the network, it would end up on the Ultimate tier. Standard Media, which is partnering with the teams to handle distribution, fought that fate, but to no avail. Though CHSN won’t have the reach it would on a lower tier, it’ll make more ad revenue on Comcast than it does over the air on the WJYS subchannels.
Interestingly, the Cubs’ Marquee Sports Network is expected to remain on the Popular tier through the season and move to the Ultimate tier before next season. Marquee essentially has been grandfathered in, and certainly the Cubs’ on-field success has helped.
Comcast lost subscribers
Is it possible that enough Sox fans made enough of a stink to get Comcast’s attention? That information is hard to get, and the company seems to be more focused on bolstering its internet service than appeasing Sox fans anyway.
CHSN agreed to reduce over-the-air access
This would go against part of the network’s business plan, which has been to expand its footprint within the teams’ TV territory to sell advertising. OTA distribution was never meant to replace the distribution CHSN couldn’t achieve. It was more of an act of goodwill with customers until the network met its goals.
But Comcast didn’t see it that way, questioning why it should pay for a channel that was free to all. It was the No. 1 sticking point in negotiations, which led some to believe that CHSN agreed to reduce the number of games available over the air to grant Comcast some exclusivity in the market.
The answer could be all, none or some of the above. One reason that isn’t behind the detente is NBC’s upcoming deal with the NBA. The theory was that Comcast, which owns NBC, would want to promote games that will air on the network and streaming service Peacock during Bulls games on CHSN.
If that were the case, sources said, Comcast would wait until the NBA season to settle the dispute and not pay to carry CHSN for the next four months. Comcast and NBC are not one and the same. Comcast owns NBCUniversal, which owns and operates NBC. CHSN has been dealing with Comcast cable’s programming division, whose goals often don’t align with NBC’s.
Whatever the case, the nightmare is over, and the games are about to return. Of course, considering the teams, that opens the possibility of many other nightmares.
