After months of negotiations, there could be hope for Chicago sports fans to watch the Chicago White Sox, Blackhawks, and Bulls games on CHSN for those who subscribe to Comcast cable in the Windy City. According to a report by 670 The Score host Laurence Holmes Wednesday night, due to the upcoming rights agreement with the NBA and NBCUniversal, Comcast subscribers could soon have the option to purchase broadcasts on the “ultimate tier” package in the coming months.
Additionally, the Chicago Sun Times is reporting Thursday morning that CHSN is expected to launch on Comcast cable locally in Chicago this Friday. The Sun-Times is reporting that Comcact/Xfinity customers will pay an additional $20 per month for the tier in which CHSN will be part of.
CHSN launched in October of last year following the closure of NBC Sports Chicago and still has no carriage deal in place with the distributor. However, it is available on other Chicago-area providers such as DirecTV and Astound/RCN. Additionally, CHSN is also available in the Chicago market via over-the-air broadcasting.
More recently, Bulls President Michael Reinsdorf joined Blackhawks CEO Danny Wirtz at a Crain’s Chicago Business real estate event in April and expressed his frustration. He stated that he believes Comcast is acting in bad faith during negotiations with the network.
“It’s disappointing you can’t go to bars and restaurants to get games,” Reinsdorf said. “They’re costing people money, they’re costing people enjoyment, and to me, that’s not right.”
According to a report in the Chicago Sun-Times, Reinsdorf believed he had a deal in place with Comcast back in December. However, he said it fell apart at the corporate level.
Furthermore, Reinsdorf noted that the teams involved had previously enjoyed a great relationship with Comcast while their games appeared on NBC Sports Chicago. Reinsdorf’s family are the majority owners of the White Sox and Bulls.
“To me, it’s bad faith,” Reinsdorf said. “It’s discriminatory. It doesn’t make sense.”
Additionally, according to the report from Holmes, the issue could be corrected with the NBA set to begin its new 11-year agreements with The Walt Disney Company (ESPN/ABC), Comcast Corporation (NBC/Peacock), and Amazon (Prime Video), reportedly worth a collective $77 billion.
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