Avalanche Launches Streaming Service, Some Games Air on Local Broadcast Stations

• This season, Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche fans will have additional options to watch their teams' games.
• Local broadcast stations owned by Tegna will air twenty games from each team.
• The new streaming service, Altitude+, will offer all of the teams' games that are not exclusive to a national network for $19.95 a month.

This season, Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche fans will have new ways to watch their teams' games.

Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, owned by Stan Kroenke, is partnering with a broadcast station owner to offer select Avalanche and Nuggets games this season. Additionally, the company is launching a direct-to-consumer streaming service.

NBA and NHL teams are increasingly turning to local broadcast partnerships and streaming services to offer games to fans who no longer subscribe to traditional pay-TV bundles.

This season, Tegna's free local over-the-air broadcasts, 9NEWS and My20, will feature 20 Nuggets and 20 Avalanche games.

In October, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment will introduce the direct-to-consumer streaming service, Altitude+, which will provide Denver media market fans with access to all Avalanche and Nuggets games for $19.95 per month.

The NHL season starts on Oct. 4 with the New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres playing in Prague, while the NBA season begins on Oct. 22.

The regional sports network, Altitude Sports, is only available to fans in Denver on DirecTV and some parts of its nine-state territory on Spectrum.

Since 2019, Altitude hasn't been accessible to Dish pay TV customers in Denver, leaving a significant gap in the market. However, the availability of the streaming service on Tegna's broadcast stations and the introduction of Altitude may address the issue for fans in the area.

"Steve Smith, KSE Media Ventures President, stated in an interview with CNBC that while the deal played a role, the main focus is on maximizing exposure for the two excellent teams. He believes that this deal provides individuals with the flexibility to achieve their goals."

In 2019, Altitude Sports filed a lawsuit against Comcast due to a failed distribution agreement, resulting in a blackout for Comcast's customers. Despite settling in March 2023, the agreement did not include the restoration of Altitude Sports on Comcast.

In July, Comcast customers lost access to the Bally Sports regional sports networks, which are owned by Diamond Sports and are under bankruptcy protection.

Following Diamond Sports' bankruptcy, many teams have severed ties with their regional sports networks and instead struck deals with broadcasters and launched streaming services.

This season, the NHL's Dallas Stars and Anaheim Ducks have left Bally Sports. The Stars' games will be available on streaming service Victory+, while the Ducks' local games will be accessible via Victory+ and a local over-the-air broadcast. Both streaming options are free.

The Mavericks and Pelicans have turned to local over-the-air broadcasters for all their games this season, following in the footsteps of the Nuggets and Avalanche's deal with Tegna. Prior to this, the Pelicans aired 10 of their games on 's stations, while the Mavericks offered 13 games in the latter part of last season on Tegna's stations.

Regional sports networks are also increasingly offering streaming options.

This fall, the YES Network and MSG Networks, which air the MLB's New York Yankees and NBA's New York Knicks, among others, are introducing a streaming option through a joint venture.

The streaming options of regional sports networks must be priced carefully to avoid disrupting the pay-TV model and breaching contracts with distributors, which in turn support the billions of dollars in fees that the networks pay professional sports leagues to air their games.

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.