Nuggets, Avalanche games to be broadcast on Altitude streaming service, local TV

Kroenke Sports & Entertainment has solved its Comcast problem.

Nuggets and Avalanche games will soon be available via a paid-subscription streaming service, with select games also set to be broadcast over-the-air on Denvers KUSA-9 and KTVD-20, KSE announced Thursday morning.

The company plans to debut a streaming service called Altitude+ in October, when both teams begin their 2024-25 seasons.

All games not aired exclusively on a national network will be available to stream.

Subscriptions will cost $19.95 per month ($239.40 per year).

A total of 20 Nuggets games and 20 Avs games will be televised over the air for free on My20 (KTVD-20).

Ten of those games will also appear on KUSA-9, the Denver-area NBC affiliate.

The news comes five years into an ongoing carriage dispute between Comcast and Altitude Sports, the Kroenke-owned regional sports network, which has resulted in Nuggets and Avalanche games being blacked out for Comcast subscribers.

Altitude Sports and its game broadcasts have been available as a channel on DirecTV, Fubo and Spectrum TV.

They still will be but now a combination of streaming and over-the-air broadcasts will give fans another avenue to bypass blackouts.

Its huge news.

Great news.

And obviously I know its something that Josh (Kroenke) and the entirety of KSE have been working very hard on for a long time now.

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The most important part of that is for our fans, Nuggets coach Michael Malone said.

I feel we have the best fans in the NBA, and theyve been a huge part of our success.

And now the fact that our fans can watch the Nuggets play is going to be great, because thats one thing you hear as you walk or drive around town is that there are people who havent been able to watch the Nuggets or the Avalanche.

And obviously both teams are in the middle of historic runs with great players.

And we want our fans to see as many games as possible.

The Altitude+ application will be available for download on Apple and Android devices first, and indications are that a smart TV version of the app will be released a few weeks later, though KSE hasnt provided a specific launch date yet.

Subscriptions will include access to pregame and postgame coverage, as well as the networks standard college coverage of Colorado State, Air Force and the University of Denver.

Nuggets and Avs games televised over the air on KUSA-9 and My20 will be produced by Altitude Sports with the same talent, including Nuggets play-by-play announcer Chris Marlowe and Avalanche play-by-play announcer Marc Moser.

You want those people whove become synonymous with Altitude and the Nuggets and the Avalanche to be the people that (fans) see on streaming and over-the-air, Kevin Demoff, KSEs president of team and media operations, told The Denver Post.

Its important to us that no matter where you watch our broadcast, on Channel 9, Channel 20, on Altitude+, on Altitude, that it looks and feels the same.

That youre getting the exact same experience no matter where you watch.

The contractual dispute between KSE and Comcast coincided with widespread strife for regional sports networks and a revolution in live sports streaming.

Other sports franchises previously established the standard for pivoting away from RSNs in favor of the two-pronged approach KSE is now adopting: old-school broadcast TV combined with new-school, self-started subscription services.

The dispute has also coincided with an unprecedented era of success on the ice and on the hardwood for the teams owned by billionaire Stan Kroenke.

The Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2022.

The Nuggets followed with their first NBA championship in franchise history in 2023.

Avs center Nathan MacKinnon and Nuggets center Nikola Jokic both won the most valuable player award in their respective leagues in 2024 the first time that the NBA and NHLs MVP winners have hailed from the same city since Magic Johnson and Wayne Gretzky in 1989.

The excellence of both teams was perpetually at arms length from local sports fans, however.

In November 2019, Altitude filed a lawsuit against Comcast after its carriage deal lapsed two months earlier, accusing Colorados largest cable provider of violating antitrust laws.

The lawsuit was settled in March 2023, but the two sides remained at a contract impasse, keeping Nuggets and Avalanche games blacked out on the cable providers platform.

Sports Business Journals John Ourand reported in February 2022 that Altitude registered an NBA-worst 0.19 rating in the Denver market the lowest TV number recorded in any pro hoops market for nearly two decades.

In February 2024, Matt Hutchings, the KSE executive who had overseen Altitude, resigned.

He was replaced the next month by Demoff, who swiftly acknowledged streaming and over-the-air television as possible paths forward in his introductory news conference.

What Im most excited about is that our passionate fans can now see Nikola Jokic play basketball.

They can see Nathan MacKinnon play hockey, Demoff told The Post.

Weve had two MVPs.

Weve had two titles.

And unfortunately those havent been on air.

Im most pleased that now theres an option that gets all of our games on air.

But I do think as we grow our reach and our scope with these teams and the fan bases, that we can help find younger fans.

We can grow that next generation.

I think streaming is a great way to do that.

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