The Blackhawks Problem with the Chicago Sports Network

«The entire premise of Chicago Sports Network, somewhat ironically, is to expand the access of the games and the content to all the fans of Chicago,» Coyle said on Saturday evening. «We know how the RSNs and cable in general have been just kind of shrinking over the years and the audience and people being able to watch just going away. And so we saw this as an opportunity to reset to reach all Chicago sports fans, anyone who wanted to watch this, regardless of where they live»

However, this has been anything but the case, as fans have had to access the games through not-so-legal measures, such as streaming sites, third-party VPNs, and whatever solution they can find while Danny Wirtz and the front office continue to make little headway in solving this issue.

The major issue keeping their fans from viewing their local RSN is carriage fees, which Comcase/Xfinity doesn't seem to want to negotiate.

The biggest issue of why CHSN is not on Comcast/Xfinity is because of the carriage fees.

According to digiday.com, «Carriage fees are the fees that pay-TV providers pay to TV network owners to carry the network owners' linear TV channels on the providers' cable, satellite or streaming pay-TV services. These fees are sometimes referred to as ''affiliate'' or ''distribution'' fees and annually bring in hundreds of millions to billions of dollars in revenue for TV network owners.»

The CHSN hasn't helped its image during all of this either as they have refused to cave to Comcast/Xfinity's fees, unlike the Marquee Sports Network which carried the Chicago Cubs in 2020.

They're instead outsourcing lobbying to the fans, instead of putting institutional pressure on both of these networks, so fans can watch their team(s).

The fans have a right to be outraged about the situation, as ownership in all of the sports teams involved have had a chance to ink a deal before the season begins for the Blackhawks, Bulls, and White Sox.

Instead, Danny Wirtz and Jerry Reinsdorf rested on their laurels and thought a deal would go through instead of examining how the deal with the Cubs went.

Also, since they have adopted a careless attitude, rather than sharing revenue with NBC Universal, and the NHL they will have no revenue for the team and this will place undue pressure on the fans, and players, as they're all on the hook for Escrow.

Reinsdorf and Wirtz have followed Ted Leonsis who has Monumental Sports Network, but have failed to put in the work to seal the deal with Comcast/Xfinity.

POLL
Do you think Danny Wirtz and Jerry Reinsdorf were too ambitious with the Chicago Sports Network?
Yes	179	91.8 %
No	16	8.2 %
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Previously on HawksInsider

5 thoughts: Blackhawks vs Sabres - fourth line shines and Soderblom continues to improve

Poor intensity and mistakes cost the Blackhawks in loss against Buffalo Sabres

CHSN President reveals stunning statement and calls out Comcast, NBC Sports and more