Altitude Sports Network (Channel 681 Dropped)

[Richfunb]

An interesting renewal battle is taking place in Colorado. One of our regional sports networks, Altitude Sports (channel 681) has been dropped by DirecTV, Comcast, and Dish Network, all today (Saturday). The story is that all 3 contracts were up and Altitude offered to renew them at the same fee as previous. But the Cable and Satellite companies wanted huge discounts to continue carrying the channel. The owner of Altitude stated that DirecTV wants a 60% decrease in the amount it pays! This seems to be the new tough bargaining position that DirecTV and the others are now taking with the program providers. The fans will not be happy if this continues as this channel carries Denver Nuggets basketball, Colorado Avalanche hockey, and Colorado Rapids soccer. It's also interesting that DirecTV, Comcast, and Dish Network seem to be fighting this battle together.

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[ejb1980]

Altitude was dropped before today. It's been gone for about a week. They also air some college hockey in the winter, which is what I watch(ed) on there. If Directv, Dish, and Comcast all dropped it, who carries it now? Some small cable company that covers 3 towns? Some dumb streamer?

 

[Claude Greiner]

Oh wow. This will be interesting as nobody can jump ship and threaten to cancel over it.

 

[slice1900]

Why would Altitude negotiate contracts with three major providers to all end at once? That makes it easy for them to play hardball, because they know customers can't simply jump ship like they could if only one of them dropped it. Their own fault for being so short-sighted.

I don't know what Altitude was charging before (what is the RSN fee if you live in Denver?) but RSN fees have been one of the big complaints from people, especially non sports fans. Since a small minority of customers watch RSNs, it is a lot easier to play hardball with it than it would be with ESPN. Particularly an outfit like Altitude which it sounds like owns only one RSN. The reason why RSNs are owned in groups is because it gives you more leverage since the popularity of RSNs varies by the popularity of teams they carry (YES has a lot more leverage because the Yankees are far more popular in NYC than the teams Altitude carries are in Denver)

It is the same problem Pac 12 Network has trying to negotiate by themselves.

 

[HoTat2]

Altitude was dropped before today. It's been gone for about a week. They also air some college hockey in the winter, which is what I watch(ed) on there. If Directv, Dish, and Comcast all dropped it, who carries it now? Some small cable company that covers 3 towns? Some dumb streamer?

Wow, I agree ...

I don't get it, how is ASN really making any income right now?

They're going to soon have to look into filing for bankruptcy protection at this rate ...

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[Juan]

YES is fox sports in disguise

Why would Altitude negotiate contracts with three major providers to all end at once? That makes it easy for them to play hardball, because they know customers can't simply jump ship like they could if only one of them dropped it. Their own fault for being so short-sighted.

I don't know what Altitude was charging before (what is the RSN fee if you live in Denver?) but RSN fees have been one of the big complaints from people, especially non sports fans. Since a small minority of customers watch RSNs, it is a lot easier to play hardball with it than it would be with ESPN. Particularly an outfit like Altitude which it sounds like owns only one RSN. The reason why RSNs are owned in groups is because it gives you more leverage since the popularity of RSNs varies by the popularity of teams they carry (YES has a lot more leverage because the Yankees are far more popular in NYC than the teams Altitude carries are in Denver)

It is the same problem Pac 12 Network has trying to negotiate by themselves.

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[RichManitoba]

This won't affect the Altitude broadcasts of the Avalanche on NHL Center Ice will it?
I believe Center Ice is an NHL product and DirecTV can't pick and choose. (?)

 

[TheRatPatrol]

Why would Altitude negotiate contracts with three major providers to all end at once?

Maybe because they all signed up at the same when the RSN originally started?

This won't affect the Altitude broadcasts of the Avalanche on NHL Center Ice will it?
I believe Center Ice is an NHL product and DirecTV can't pick and choose. (?)

It will still be available in the NHLCI package for those that live outside of the Denver area regional footprint. Those that live inside the regional footprint will be blacked out from the game on the NHLCI package.

 

[Don in CT]

YES is fox sports in disguise

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Not anymore. While they were the marquee RSN in the Fox Sports family they are basically independent again.

 

[slice1900]

Not anymore. While they were the marquee RSN in the Fox Sports family they are basically independent again.

Sinclair did buy a small share (along with Amazon) and I wouldn't be surprised if YES plans to have Sinclair negotiate its carriage along with their other sports channels they bought from Fox (and the Cubs channel they are launching next year)

Sinclair is likely going to include carriage of their locals along with it, so it will be a bigger risk for providers who hold out - they would lose a bunch of their locals all over the country and a bunch of their RSNs all over the country. The contracts wouldn't be aligned now, but they will want to align the terms when a provider renews either locals or RSNs so they can bundle them all next time around.

Luckily for Directv they renewed all the Fox sports RSNs last fall before Sinclair's takeover so it'll be a while before they have to deal with this.

 

[Don in CT]

Sinclair did buy a small share (along with Amazon) and I wouldn't be surprised if YES plans to have Sinclair negotiate its carriage along with their other sports channels they bought from Fox (and the Cubs channel they are launching next year)

Sinclair is likely going to include carriage of their locals along with it, so it will be a bigger risk for providers who hold out - they would lose a bunch of their locals all over the country and a bunch of their RSNs all over the country.

Luckily for Directv they renewed all the Fox sports RSNs last fall before Sinclair's takeover so it'll be a while before they have to deal with this.

It's also how Fox got YES back on Comcast, using Fox News as leverage.

 

[zippyfrog]

Maybe because they all signed up at the same when the RSN originally started?

That is exactly what happened. I was reading a story on The Athletic about it, and Dish, Comcast, and DirecTV all signed 15 year contracts within the first week of the RSN launching.

 

[Don in CT]

That is exactly what happened. I was reading a story on The Athletic about it, and Dish, Comcast, and DirecTV all signed 15 year contracts within the first week of the RSN launching.

15 years seems excessive. No wonder they want a better deal.

 

[zippyfrog]

For those that subscribe to The Athletic, here is the full story: A league of their own? It looks that way for Altitude when...

The important points:

• Dish/Direct/Comcast signed a 15 year pact at the network launch
• Altitude is a single station and doesn't have the other channels as leverage
• Altitude doesn't have the summer programming that can justify the cost (comparison to NESN, another stand-alone RSN, that has Bruins in the fall/winter then Red Sox in Spring/Summer)
• Negotiations were going on with the 3 companies for the past 6-12 months
• There is no OTT or streaming option because it isn't a viable option and looked at working with Hulu, Amazon, and Sling

 

[Richfunb]

My Regional Sports Fee in Colorado is $8.49 per month for 2 RSNs, Altitude Network and AT&T Sportsnet Rocky Mountain. Since AT&T owns DirecTV, I suppose it is possible that their negotiating tactic might be to force Altitude out of business and then sign up the local sports teams to their surviving network.

 

[slice1900]

My Regional Sports Fee in Colorado is $8.49 per month for 2 RSNs, Altitude Network and AT&T Sportsnet Rocky Mountain. Since AT&T owns DirecTV, I suppose it is possible that their negotiating tactic might be to force Altitude out of business and then sign up the local sports teams to their surviving network.

That might explain it if Directv was the only holdout, but it is also Dish and Comcast neither of whom would benefit from this.

 

[TheRatPatrol]

My Regional Sports Fee in Colorado is $8.49 per month for 2 RSNs, Altitude Network and AT&T Sportsnet Rocky Mountain. Since AT&T owns DirecTV, I suppose it is possible that their negotiating tactic might be to force Altitude out of business and then sign up the local sports teams to their surviving network.

Or Comcast could start a Comcast Sports Network Denver.

 

[ejb1980]

Or Comcast could start a Comcast Sports Network Denver.

Unlikely, since they haven't called them that in a while. But they could start NBC Sports Denver.

 

[Juan]

They have laws against such tactics

My Regional Sports Fee in Colorado is $8.49 per month for 2 RSNs, Altitude Network and AT&T Sportsnet Rocky Mountain. Since AT&T owns DirecTV, I suppose it is possible that their negotiating tactic might be to force Altitude out of business and then sign up the local sports teams to their surviving network.

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[TheRatPatrol]

Unlikely, since they haven't called them that in a while. But they could start NBC Sports Denver.

Same difference. I guess I’m school.