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Let’s Talk About the Chicago Sports Network

[Photo: The Business Journals]

Back in June, it was announced that the Bulls, Blackhawks, and White Sox were coming together to launch the Chicago Sports Network to be the new home for their games, replacing NBC Sports Chicago. The initial press release talked of deals with TV providers, streaming services, as well as games broadcast over the air. Then we heard nothing for about three-and-a-half months. With the Blackhawks and Bulls seasons approaching, CHSN had only locked up a deal with DirecTV. A deal with Astound (formerly RCN) was announced shortly before the network’s October 1st launch.

So they’ve got DirecTV (which includes U-Verse) and Astound covered, where does that leave everyone else? Scott Powers of The Athletic reached out to YouTubeTV and Comcast; YouTube had nothing to share, Comcast said they were in negotiations.

 

Powers said he thinks CHSN will end up on Comcast and that if they don’t end up on YouTubeTV, it won’t be for a lack of effort.

Phillip Swann, the TV Answer Man, does not expect CHSN to end up on YouTubeTV, noting the streaming service’s bearishness when it comes to regional sports networks. While YouTubeTV carried NBC Sports Chicago, as Swann notes, that was part of a larger deal between YouTube and NBC. It’s much easier to tell Jerry Reinsdorf and Danny Wirtz to go screw than it is NBC. One might think that YouTube would lean into the sports fan market, given how much they just spent to acquire NFL Sunday Ticket, but hey, they’re the multi-billion dollar company here. Swann also said that he thinks CHSN could end up on Fubo.

Dish Network is in the process of merging with DirecTV, so those customers should have CHSN once that deal goes through, but it would likely be well into 2025 before that happens, assuming the deal isn’t shot down. The two attempted to merge in 2002, but that deal was denied by the federal government on the grounds that it was anti-competitive. Given how many more TV options exist today, it would hard to make the same claim now, but you never know.

In the meantime, CHSN is advising people to purchase an antenna to watch games over the air. The problem is that, as of now, they only have TV partnerships in Chicago, Rockford, and South Bend lined up. If you’re not in one of those places and want to watch the Blackhawks, your best option right now is ESPN+ and a VPN. Similarly, to watch Bulls games, your best option is League Pass and a VPN. 

Obviously, this is not the set of circumstances you want when launching a TV network and it’s a huge unforced error on Reinsdorf and Wirtz’s part. The incompetence on Reinsdorf’s end is unsurprising. If Jerry was in charge of the sun, it wouldn’t come up. The incompetence on Danny Wirtz’s end is disappointing. It’s been time for a while now to have the “what would you say you do here?” conversation with Jamie Faulkner, this is just the latest issue. Since forcing out Pat and Edzo, the Blackhawks broadcast has been mediocre at best. Chris Vosters and Colby Cohen were their replacements, then Cohen left and was replaced by Darren Pang. Vosters was let go after the 2023-24 season and replaced by Calgary Flames play-by-play man Rick Ball. Ball and Pang should be one of the better duos in the league, so it’s nice that they finally fixed that issue, but they still haven’t found a better idea than Caley Chelios to fill in for Panger when he’s calling a national game, which is irritating because it isn’t hard to do – most people with the ability to speak and at least a vague understanding of hockey would be a better idea than Caley Chelios.

Faulkner has said that she wants the CHSN broadcasts to feel like a national braodcast, which, if you’re talking about quality, should be achieved now that it’s Ball and Panger together. Of course, the obvious question becomes “if that’s what you wanted, why did you get rid of Pat and Edzo in the first place?” If she wants the broadcast to sound more like a national broadcast, meaning more neutral and buttoned-up, she should be shown the door immediately because how many terrible ideas are you allowed to have and still keep your job. I will go to my grave saying that if you were dead set on moving on from Pat and Edzo, you should have just moved John Wiedeman and Troy Murray up to TV and been done with it.

Then, of course, you have the White Sox broadcast issues – letting Jason Benetti get away was the definition of stupidity. It is only not the most egregious screw-up because this is a Jerry Reinsdorf operation we’re talking about. Now, to be fair, when Neil Funk retired, hiring Adam Amin to replace him was a solid move. I guess that used up Reinsodorf’s one good idea card for this decade.

Whatever Elmo’s calling it now, Bluesky, Threads: @312sportsguy

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