Regional sports network NBC Sports Chicago (US) will establish a new programming roster beginning next month as it looks to finalize its distribution lineup.
With Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs exiting the network, NBC Sports Chicago revamped its deals with three other area professional clubs: the NHL's Blackhawks, the NBA's Bulls and the MLB's White Sox. Carriage for the current network is set to expire Sept. 30. The new channel lineup debuts the following day.
The NBCUniversal Media LLC-owned network has signed new affiliate pacts with parent Comcast Corp., the largest cable operator in the Chicago market, as well as RCN Corp., WideOpenWest Inc. and other smaller operators. Virtual providers, such as Google LLC's YouTube TV, Sony Corp.'s PlayStationVue and Hulu LLC's live TV offering, also have inked new carriage deals.
The RSN does not yet have agreements with the satellite TV providers DIRECTV and DISH Network Corp. and is hoping to avoid any disruption in service. The dispute could come to a head Oct. 4, when the Blackhawks open their 2019-2020 NHL season against the Philadelphia Flyers.
NBC Sports Chicago has launched a multimedia campaign warning DIRECTV and DISH customers that they could soon miss out on game action and other coverage.
As the Cubs team with Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. on the Marquee Sports Network, area distributors and pay TV subscribers will also face higher costs since they will have to subscribe to both Marquee and NBC Sports Chicago to see all of the major club's content in Chicago, beginning with the 2020 season. The new RSN Marquee is expected to debut in February in time for the Cubs' spring training contests. Following its deal last month to acquire RSNs from The Walt Disney Co., Sinclair is now the nation's largest operator of regional sports networks.
Despite losing Cubs' content, NBC Sports Chicago is upping the ante, as it will air 300 live events annually, up from 280, including 70 of this season's 82 Blackhawks games, Bulls matchups throughout the 2019-2020 season and most of the White Sox contests in the 2020 campaign.
Under a 15-year deal expiring Sept. 30, the four clubs and Comcast each hold a 20% stake in NBC Sports Chicago. It is unclear how the equity holdings will be structured under the new partnership.
DIRECTV parent AT&T Inc. said it is negotiating a renewal for NBC Sports Chicago, but wants a deal affording its subscribers more choice.
"Our goal is to offer Blackhawks and Bulls games to anyone who wants them most at a value that makes sense to our customers overall," the company said in a statement. "We cannot agree to exorbitant deals that do a disservice to our customers, especially when the Cubs are now launching another expensive network on their own."
DISH said it does not comment on ongoing negotiations.
NBC Sports Chicago and its partner teams are running their own multimedia campaign to get viewers to push cable and satellite systems to get on board with the new service, with ads featuring White Sox announcer Jason Benetti, Bulls analyst Stacey King and Blackhawks commentator Eddie Olczyk.
There is also a website warning DIRECTV and DISH subscribers that they could lose access to the three teams' games, and it offers a list of alternate providers.
