It has been a heated topic of discussion on Denver sports talk radio for several years. Now NBA commissioner Adam Silver has weighed in on the ongoing dispute between Comcast and Altitude TV.
The regional sports network is the home to the Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche and the Colorado Mammoth of the National Lacross League, and issues between the cable provider to the vast majority of Coloradans and the network have dragged on for several years now.
Kroenke Sports and Entertainment owns Altitude TV as well as the three teams above, in addition to owning the Los Angeles Rams in the NFL and Arsenal in the Premier League. Altitude has taken Comcast to court over perceived violations of antitrust laws. Despite the two sides reaching a settlement in March, Altitude remained unavailable on Comcast.
It’s believed that over 90% of Denver residents don’t have access to Altitude as a result of the dispute, although that stat has been questioned.
Silver, ahead of the first two games of the NBA Finals in Denver this weekend, said the league did what they could to try and help the two sides reach an agreement.
“The league office has tried to mediate several times between the parties,” Silver said last week ahead of Game 1. “It’s a commercial dispute. There hasn’t been a simple resolution to it.”
“I know there’s no doubt it’s bad for fans, of course, and the team recognizes that,” he added. “It’s my hope, though, and one of the things that’s changed considerably since this dispute has started is the advent of many more streaming platforms, better digital streaming technology.”
Silver expressed frustration over the lack of access in the Denver market to the team outside of national broadcasts. He said the regional sports network model is broken.
“It makes no sense,” he said. “It’s on us to fix it.”
The league currently has two years left on its current media rights deal, and given the crumbling at the top of the RSN ladder with Bally Sports and AT&T Sportsnet, Silver sees an opportunity for the NBA in this next deal to shift how fans see games locally.
“As we are trying to design what a new approach should be to see NBA games, the part that is on us is taking into account how a local fan is able to watch as well,” he said. “As opposed to historically we’ve had local games and national games, to me, I think from a fan standpoint, they’re certainly not making those distinctions.”
