Contract disputes have a far-reaching effect on the NHL that doesn’t stop at trades! The ever-present pervasiveness of contract disputes is even felt in the fundamental right (right?)…to viewership! As many know, Altitude Sports, owned by Stanley Kroenke, which deals with the distribution of all Colorado Avalanche games, has been in a contract dispute with Comcast since 2019, which has resulted in a TV blackout and pausing the broadcast of Avalanche games on Comcast…which is, incidentally, Colorado’s largest cable provider!
Former Avalanche defenseman Bowen Byram once commented on the dire situation, saying, “A team with so many great players — Nate (MacKinnon), Mikko (Rantanen), Cale (Makar) — you should try to showcase them as much as possible…They should be on TV at every chance.” This is, however, far from the reality.
The reality? A personal jab straight from the television screen. The blunt statement, “This program’s blocked in your area,” plastered across a still image of the two opposing team logos for fans to stare solemnly as they wave their Avalanche flags and eat their Rocky Mountain Oysters in silence. However, it is now 2025, and surely there have been some improvements in Stanley Kroenke’s contractual dispute?
Nope.
There has been no change, and things really reached a boiling point yesterday when the Dallas Stars were playing the Colorado Avalanche at the Ball Arena. Fans were all geared up to watch the game when…the Comcast-Altitude dispute shot that possibility right out the window, ensuring that Colorado locals couldn’t watch their home team win. Win or lose, it is the ethics of the matter, and fans on Reddit went wild… while watching that still image with the very blunt, very rudely apostrophe-ied “This program’s blocked in your area” plastered across it.
One contract dispute and numerous furious Colorado Avalanche fans
A Reddit thread, obviously started by a fan who was eagerly gearing up to watch the game, sparked an outcry from fans across Colorado who found themselves in the same boat. Ready, but with nothing to receive.
Some fans couldn’t handle the widespread prevalence of the blackout, commenting with, “I’m in Denver, have comcast and hbo max too, and it’s blacked out on both platforms… it’s impossible to watch the team if you live here.” The resounding response to this issue seemed to be illegal streaming.
Others added to the above point, stating, “I was in keystone on Friday during the game. I have Altitude+, but I couldn’t watch it on that because it said I was outside the viewing area. I also have ESPN+, but I couldn’t watch it on that because it said it was blacked out. It’s so frustrating.” These are possibly intricacies to the contractual dispute that we can’t get into here, but it is worth noting that Stanley Kroenke’s company, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, owns the rights to many, many American sports teams, and who’s to say what the fine print says on each of those contracts?
Other fans were just trying to wrap their heads around the logic of the situation, saying, “I just don’t get why it’s blacked out on what would be national tv” and also coming to terms with the future, “Nationally televised and cant watch it in colorado. And i guess we wont be able to watch wednesdays game either?” It’s true; had it not been for the contractual dispute between this specific broadcaster and this specific entertainment conglomerate, the game, along with every other local game, would have been available for free on cable!
Which leads us to the true highlight from the Reddit thread, the Redditor who won at ‘saying it like it is’ and summed up the situation in a few, perfect words, with that classic dash of well-timed sarcasm: “Altitude plus shit the bed almost immediately..,, shocking.”
Though the Colorado Avalanche won the game 4-3, some of that fan joy at Cale Makar driving home the win with his overtime goal certainly must have tempered by the fact that not everyone was even able to watch it happen. The NHL is no stranger to lockouts like this, with fan complaints dating back several years. But the question is, will we ever see a change?
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