Colorado Rockies fans may be forced to pay for a streaming app to watch their favorite team or risk not being able to watch them at all. According to The Denver Post, there are still no ways to watch Rockies baseball on traditional cable television, although the team indicates there are negotiations in place.
The Post’s Patrick Saunders said the team is negotiating with local cable companies like Comcast, DISH Network, and DIRECTV to get games to sports fans. However, Saunders reports that while the team said these deals would be worked out before the regular season, nothing has materialized. To be fair, the Rockies’ regular season starts Thursday, meaning there are still three days to make something happen.
If the Rockies can’t get a deal done, the only option for fans will be to subscribe to Rockies.TV, the team’s direct-to-consumer streaming service. It costs $19.99 per month, $99.99 for the season, and will not be subject to blackouts, meaning fans can watch every game with the service. While some fans say they won’t pay extra to watch a middling Rockies club, Saunders isn’t so sure.
“Several disgruntled fans have told me they won’t pay $19.99 monthly to watch a team that lost 103 games last season,” Saunders wrote. “I’m not sure I believe many of them. Baseball is part of the fabric of summer, and I think fans would miss tuning in to the local team more than they realize.”
The Rockies’ former TV home, AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountains, was shuttered by parent company WarnerBros. Discovery after it didn’t make rights payments for the channel. While teams like the Utah Jazz and Vegas Golden Knights reacquired their rights from WBD and partnered with local stations, the Rockies did no such thing.
Why the Rockies haven’t yet joined up with the area’s other notable regional sports network, Altitude Sports Network, is unknown, but a report from John Ourand indicated there was interest from the broadcasting company in the vagabond MLB club back in August. But for now, the Rockies float among the sports television ocean, looking for a vessel to carry them ashore.
