Nuggets video games are broadcast on Altitude Sports, a regional sports activities community owned by Stan Kroenke. Since 2004, it has broadcast video games of the Nuggets, the Avalanche, and the Rapids of Main League Soccer – all owned by the Kroenke household.
However in 2019, Altitude’s contracts with totally different tv suppliers expired. Altitude reached a cope with DirecTV, however Dish Community and Comcast, the cable supplier with a 92 percent market share in Denver, dropped the community. That implies that for 4 years, followers in Denver have not been in a position to watch the Avalanche, final 12 months’s Stanley Cup champions, or the Nuggets throughout their run to their first NBA Finals.
Altitude filed an antitrust lawsuit towards Comcast in 2019, which the parties settled in March, with none progress towards resolving the Nuggets/Avalanche standoff. Native followers can solely watch the two-time MVP Nikola Jokic by utilizing DirecTV, a streaming service known as Fubo TV. Even NBA League Cross subscribers in Denver cannot watch their very own staff.
Silver told reporters earlier than Sport 1 that he was sympathetic to Nuggets followers’ frustrations.
“The league workplace has tried to mediate a number of instances between the events,” Silver mentioned. “It’s a business dispute, and there hasn’t been a easy decision to it. There’s little question it’s unhealthy for the followers, after all.”
Whereas Silver mentioned “It is on us to repair it,” Denver followers is likely to be skeptical. In 2020, throughout Silver’s annual state of the league handle, the commissioner said, “Popping out of All-Star, (the NBA) can be redoubling their efforts to attempt to discover a path ahead right here.” In three years, that “redoubling” hasn’t led to any progress within the stalemate between a billionaire proprietor and a $162B company.
Followers in Denver are caught with unhealthy selections. They will swap to DirecTV to observe the Nuggets and Avalanche, however then they can not watch the College of Colorado, as a result of solely Comcast has the Pac-12 Community. And since Comcast additionally supplies web, switching providers may be expensive and tough.
Nuggets fan Alec Gwin summed up the state of affairs to The Athletic in late 2019.
“It’s a billionaire pissing contest,” Gwin mentioned. “And we’re standing beneath it.”
Regardless of Silver’s phrases of concern, after 4 years of this deadlock, Denver followers have stopped anticipating the commissioner to offer an umbrella.
