Chicago Blackhawks complete a multi-million dollar deal that will ultimately hurt their fans
Photo credit: NHL
The CHSN is an RSN that is co-owned by the Chicago Blackhawks, and today, Danny Wirtz struck gold with a new multi-million dollar deal with Comcast/Xfinity that hurts fans.
The Chicago Blackhawks are an institution in the Windy City, and after the Patrick Kane dynasty, popularity picked up.
For Blackhawks fans, hockey is life, and it'd be normal to expect the team to play on television without any paywalls, something in the 2020s with the CHSN coming into play is difficult to do.
The impasse with Comcast has discouraged lifelong fans from catching the games on a regular basis, as the hurdles increase.
The franchise made an announcement on June 5th, which we thought would bring hope to Blackhawks fans, and now it seems thanks to Xfinity will hurt them.
On June 5, CHSN announced a massive, long-overdue deal in which Xfinity will finally carry CHSN on its top tier (the "Ultimate Tier"). This drawn-out process garnered the wrath of many Chicagoans for CHSN's inability to become available on Chicagoland's most popular cable provider. Even the Chicago Blackhawks' X account celebrated.
The deal has a carveout that kills over-the-air coverage in the Blackhawks' home state of Illinois. This kills the coverage in every market, and at one point was originally a selling point for CHSN.
Now, it'll be a talking point for fans, and possibly kill any hope of viewing the team on a regular basis again.
«As we set out to design the network, we began and ended every discussion with the simple question: What is best for our fans? 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.»
While you forced them to utilize archaic technology in order to view Blackhawks games for free, it was still an incentive to use tech outside of convention, a small sacrifice for your favorite hockey team. Even the Dallas Stars have an app called "Victory +" that allows them to watch games for free.
Now the Blackhawks will be lapped by other teams in the NHL, as trust is broken once again just to get Comcast/Xfinity on board with the deal.
The Blackhawks will be discouraging fans with this move, and with a upstart lineup full of promising prospects, killing OTA isn't a selling point.
As a team whose been around since 1926, this is more greed than anything and a decision made without considering the consequences of the effects it could have on viewership.
| POLL | ||
JUIN 10 | 377 ANSWERS Chicago Blackhawks complete a multi-million dollar deal that will ultimately hurt their fans Do you agree with how owner Danny Wirtz of the Chicago Blackhawks had dealt with the ongoing CHSN issues? | ||
| Yes | 94 | 24.9 % |
| No | 283 | 75.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
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