Blackhawks, Bulls, White Sox’s new TV channel: What we do and don’t know

The official announcement of the Blackhawks, Bulls and White Sox’s new broadcast partnership came Monday, but it didn’t bring many new details.

We know the three teams will no longer be with NBC Sports Chicago. They do have a name for the network, the Chicago Sports Network (CHSN), which will be in partnership with Standard Media Group.

Pretty much everything else is unknown, including the name of the channel, the talent and how to watch.

With so many things unclear about this new channel, let’s lay out the biggest questions remaining.

What does over-the-air mean and how will you find it?

The free over-the-air broadcast will be the biggest selling point for the new channel … if you can find it.

All TVs since 2006 have been mandated to have digital tuners, but they still require an antenna to watch over-the-air programming. Your TV may already have a built-in antenna, but not all TVs include that. So, that would require purchasing one.

Once you’ve sorted out the antenna issue, you’ll have to find how to get to it on your TV. Your best bet will probably be to search on the internet how to do it with your specific TV. The process typically includes your TV scanning for channels that your antenna can pick up in your location. There are plenty of tutorials on YouTube and elsewhere.

Where else will you be able to find the network? 

The teams expect carriage with most cable providers, but the biggest hurdle will be Comcast, the biggest cable provider in Chicago. One of the main upsides to the team broadcasting on NBC Sports Chicago (originally called Comcast SportsNet Chicago) was that Comcast carried them and the channel wasn’t placed in the most expensive cable tier. Going by Comcast’s recent negotiations with Bally Sports, this could be a challenge for the new channel.

While fewer people subscribe to Comcast than years ago, it remains a vital platform in the Chicago area, and it’ll certainly be a priority for the three teams. The Cubs launched Marquee without carriage on Comcast and reached an agreement only right before the pandemic-delayed Opening Day 2020.

Any chance for an app and a direct-to-consumer subscription option? 

It doesn’t sound like an option anytime soon. The Cubs needed three years to launch that for Marquee, but you would think it’s a priority.

The Vegas Golden Knights might have provided an ideal road map. The Golden Knights’ broadcasts are available over the air through a deal with Scripps Sports, but they also created a stream-only option, which began this past year. Fans can pay $69.99 for the season to stream all 69 locally broadcasted games.

Of course, the Blackhawks will have national games on TNT or ESPN. In the past, the Blackhawks were allowed to locally broadcast some games that were also broadcast nationally, so it’ll be interesting to see how the Blackhawks and the league navigate that as the NHL will want to put Connor Bedard in front of a national audience more often.

The Bulls and White Sox? Not so much. The networks aren’t exactly clamoring for the Jerry Reinsdorf-owned teams.

How will you find games outside the Chicago market?

It’s likely easier to watch the Blackhawks if you’re outside the market by simply paying for each league’s broadcast service (NHL Center Ice/ESPN+, MLB.TV, NBA League Pass). As long as you’re outside the local market, you won’t be blacked out from locally broadcast Blackhawks games — and the same goes for the Bulls and White Sox with the NBA and MLB packages.

Who will be the talent?

Changes to the in-game broadcasts are unlikely because the teams employ those people. The teams will have more of a say now on the studio talent. It would be logical for the teams to try to gather up a lot of the people who worked at NBC Sports Chicago, but that’s not a given. The Cubs decided to bring in many new faces when they went on their own, but in some cases, they didn’t have much of a choice as some people decided to stay at NBC.

The network has hired Jason Coyle to be its president. He was previously the president of Stadium. That might bring some clarity to the direction.

“As we set out to design the network, we began and ended every discussion with the simple question: What is best for our fans?” Coyle said in a statement. “What is the best approach to distribution? How can we push the limits of both in-game and studio production? We plan to serve our fans on as many platforms and in as many markets as our rights allow.”

Former White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen should be able to command a nice payday. He’s in a Charles Barkley position as the main attraction of the Sox’s pregame and postgame shows. He and host Chuck Garfien are much more enjoyable than the actual product. The Bulls’ trio of Jason Goff, Will Perdue and Kendall Gill are also excellent.

As for the Bulls’ in-game broadcasters, Adam Amin and Stacey King are keepers for the Bulls. They bring honesty and entertainment to a mediocre product. Meanwhile, new White Sox play-by-play broadcaster John Schriffen is off to a pretty rough start. How long will Steve Stone want to continue doing games? The Sox booth could be due for a shakeup with a new network.

The Blackhawks will undoubtedly try to keep some of their in-studio team together. Caley Chelios is employed by the team and has gotten more comfortable in the past few seasons. Pat Boyle has always been well-liked by fans and has demonstrated he can even carry a show by himself if needed. Charlie Roumeliotis has emerged as a multi-faceted reporter, including in the studio. Tony Granato is knowledgeable and seemed comfortable in the studio. The Blackhawks weren’t happy with what John Scott said about the Corey Perry exit, but fans seemed to like Scott’s honesty.

What does the launch date mean for Blackhawks preseason?

If the network is launched in October, as noted in Monday’s annoucement, it won’t be ready for the start of the Blackhawks’ preseason schedule. That may not be a huge issue in the big picture, but it would have been odd last season if Connor Bedard made his preseason debut and no one saw it. The Blackhawks’ No. 2 draft pick this year probably won’t start in the NHL, but if he does, they’d probably like to show him in the preseason, too.

What will fill the 24-hour programming? 

Infomercials, probably. In the waning days of NBC Sports Chicago, the channel cut most of the additional programming aside from Bears shows. (Expect NBC to continue to cover the Bears, especially with all the buzz around the team.) But aside from ads, an alignment with Stadium, which has a handful of national shows, will fill the extra hours on the new channel. Right now, the Reinsdorf-owned network is partnered with Marquee, but that’s expected to change. We wouldn’t expect a ton of documentaries. Could they bring back David Kaplan and his old reporters’ roundtable show?

This all seems rushed. Is it?

That’s how it works, usually. In talking to NBC Sports Chicago reporters and camera operators in recent months, they’ve been waiting for news just like everyone else.

What’s happening to NBC Sports Chicago?

Once the Cubs left and NBC started de-emphasizing local sports, this was bound to happen. The NBC Sports Chicago crew was tight-knit and put out good work over two decades. But there have been layoffs and firings for years leading up to this moment. Hopefully, the good people who are still employed find homes at the new network.

(Photo: Patrick Gorski / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)