The longtime suffering of Avalanche and Nuggets fans with limited TV game access is finally over.
Altitude Sports — a Stan Kroenke-owned regional sports network (RSN) — announced Thursday it will release a direct-to-consumer streaming service in October called Altitude+.
The subscription-based app will cost $19.95/month to access all Nuggets and Avalanche games not exclusive to a national network.
Kroenke Sports and Entertainment (KSE) also reached a broadcast agreement with TEGNA.
Local stations 9NEWS and My20 will split 20 Nuggets games and 20 Avalanche games — with free over-the-air (OTA) broadcasts — during the upcoming NBA and NHL seasons. The OTA schedule has not been released.
Comcast-Altitude TV blackout: Will Kroenke Sports join over-the-air broadcast movement?
Comcast, the state’s largest cable provider, has not carried Altitude Sports since 2019 due to a contract dispute. In Colorado, there are zero RSN channels on Comcast’s regular level of video service.
The sports media landscape rapidly evolved as the subscriber base dwindled for traditional cable. Altitude Sports is also available on DirecTV and FuboTV. KSE joins a growing list of professional sports teams bypassing the traditional RSN model to widen the distribution of game broadcasts.
Comcast subscribers in Colorado missed five consecutive seasons of Altitude TV over historic runs for two franchises. The Avalanche won the 2022 Stanley Cup and Nathan Mackinnon was named the NHL’s most valuable player last season. The Nuggets were the 2023 NBA champions and Nikola Jokic thrice won league MVP (2021, 2022, 2024).
It has been more than five years — or 1,852 days — since the contract between Altitude Sports and Comcast expired on Sept. 1, 2019.
The recent shift happened seven months ago when the longtime executive overseeing Altitude TV, Matt Hutchings, resigned from KSE. He was replaced by Kevin Demoff, president of the Kroenke-owned Los Angeles Rams, as the new KSE president of team and media operations.
Kevin Demoff leads revamped Kroenke Sports effort to solve Comcast-Altitude TV blackout
In March, Demoff said Altitude Sports was “studying every possibility” for widening the distribution of local game broadcasts, including OTA, streaming and traditional cable. Earlier this month, Comcast told The Denver Gazette it remained open to a contract with Altitude Sports that “reflects the changing consumer video market,” spokeswoman Leslie Oliver said.
Altitude Sports will produce Avalanche and Nuggets games airing on Altitude+/OTA broadcasts with the same on-air talent. Starting next month, the Altitude+ app can be downloaded on iOS and Android devices.
The Avs begin their regular season Oct. 9 against the Golden Knights in Las Vegas. The Nuggets’ regular-season opener is Oct. 24 against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Ball Arena.
