Altitude Waives Exclusivity Rights To First Round Playoff Games
DENVER (CBS4) - Sports fans in Denver will be able to catch every moment of the Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets first-round playoff run. Altitude Sports and Entertainment announced on Tuesday they have waived their exclusive broadcast rights in Denver for the Avalanche and Nuggets first-round playoff games.
This means all playoff games that are shown nationally, will be available throughout the Denver metro area.
Fans can watch the Avalanche play on NBCSN, NHL Network, and CNBC. The Nuggets games shown on TNT and ESPN will be available as well. The games will also be shown on Altitude on DIRECTV and Charter Cable.
The news comes on the heels of a season-long negotiations battle between Altitude Sports, Comcast and DISH Network. The regional sports channel's contract with Comcast and DISH Network expired in September and the separate parties haven't come to an agreement in contract renewal talks.
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Because of the dispute, Avalanche and Nuggets games were not televised locally, only on DIRECTV.
"Our fans have been ignored and dismissed by both Comcast and DISH Network continuing to blackout their hometown Network," Altitude President, Matt Hutchings said in a statement. "We have never wanted our fans to miss a minute of action during Nuggets and Avalanche playoff runs."
DISH Network responded to Altitude's comments in an email to CBS4 on Tuesday afternoon.
"We have not been ignoring the fans. In fact, we have made Altitude several offers, including a public offer last February: We'd launch Altitude TV on DISH and SLING TV, cover the operational costs, offer it to consumers a la carte at the price Altitude wanted and send them 100% of the proceeds. Despite this fair offer, we never received a response from Altitude. They continue to use sports fans as a bargaining chip. We want to carry this channel, which is why we have been and will continue to be open to talking with Altitude to come to a fair agreement."
The Avalanche first-round playoff game against the Arizona Coyotes will start on Wednesday, Aug. 12 at 3:30 p.m.
