Starting Oct. 1, the Blackhawks, Bulls and White Sox will have a new TV home — but many in Chicago won’t be able to see it.
Here’s what to know about the Chicago Sports Network.
So what’s happening — and why now?
The Chicago Sports Network — a joint venture among the three teams and Nashville, Tenn.-based Standard Media — is supplanting NBC Sports Chicago, the 20-year-old regional sports network whose broadcast rights expired after the Sox season ended Sunday.
NBC Sports Chicago, founded as Comcast SportsNet in 2004, was a partnership between cable giant Comcast and the Cubs, Sox, Hawks and Bulls. A ratings and revenue winner for most of its run, it covered Cubs and Sox World Series championships, three Hawks Stanley Cups and several Bulls playoff appearances.
But the Cubs broke off to form the Marquee Sports Network in 2020, and regional sports networks, long the cash cow of pay TV, have struggled financially in recent years as cord-cutting takes its toll on the cable bundle.
Enter CHSN.
How to watch
The 24/7 regional sports network will air for DirecTV subscribers across a five-state footprint that includes Illinois, Iowa and portions of Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan.
“We have always prided ourselves on being a sports leader and intend to remain at the forefront,” Rob Thun, chief content officer for DirecTV, said in a news release.
CHSN will be included starting Tuesday in the 125-plus-channel Choice Package on DirecTV, which costs $74.99 per month. DirecTV has about 300,000 subscribers in the Chicago area. DirecTV subscribers can find CHSN on Channel 665, and for U-verse it’s Channels 1741 (HD)/741 (SD) — the same ones NBCSCH had.
If you don’t have DirecTV, it’s time to break out the TV antenna. CHSN struck a deal with WJYS-Ch. 62, a full-powered UHF station licensed to Hammond that broadcasts from Willis Tower. The main channel has 24/7 religious programming, while its two digital subchannels air shopping networks. But come Tuesday, those two digital subchannels — 62.2 and 62.3 — will carry CHSN in high definition for anyone who can capture the signal with a TV antenna.
About 15% of the 3.46 million homes in the Chicago market watch TV using an antenna, according to Nielsen.
Gray Media television stations in Rockford and South Bend both flipped the switch to join the fledgling regional sports network ahead of its two-hour premiere show at 5 p.m. on Oct. 1. In Rockford, CHSN is on the air with Gray Media on WSLN-TV’s digital subchannels, 19.3 and 19.4, while the network has also gone live in South Bend on WNDU-Ch. 16.2, with overflow programming on channel 16.4.
CHSN has yet to secure a carriage deal with Comcast, the largest pay-TV platform in the market with nearly 1 million subscribers and the former partner with NBCSCH.
CHSN President Jason Coyle expects more pay-TV distributors to come on board in the months ahead.
“It comes down to reaching fans to the full extent of our rights geographically and providing them the network on as many platforms as we possibly can,” he said.
What happens if two games are airing at the same time?
Just like with NBC Sports Chicago, there is a CHSN and a CHSN+ to accommodate for those instances.
For DirecTV users, it will be Channel 665 for CHSN and 665-1 for CHSNP. Astound also lists two channels each for HD and SD: CHSN HD Channel 685 and CHSNPLS HD Channel 576, and then CHSN SD Channel 370 and CHSNPLS SD Channel 371. All the over-the-air deals also include two channels to handle the overflow.
What else will be new?
CHSN is completing an atrium studio at the United Center where fans will be able to interact with the live Hawks and Bulls game broadcasts. A studio for Sox games at Guaranteed Rate Field is also in the works for next season, Coyle said.
The Bulls and Hawks will share a studio in the United Center’s east atrium in the space previously used by Stadium for shows such as “The Rally.”
“That’s a new model that really I haven’t done before,” analyst Kendall Gill said of the Bulls show he’ll be a part of, “but I’m excited to see what it’s like. … Maybe a celebrity with local ties, or if (Bears quarterback) Caleb Williams perhaps came to the game, maybe he sits in the third seat for a segment or two, things like that.
“So you get a different perspective from people from different sports.”
CHSN plans to broadcast more than 300 games this season as it builds its distribution partners and associated local sports programming to fill out the schedule.
What it means for the Blackhawks
CHSN is scheduled to launch Oct. 1 with a Hawks preseason game at the Minnesota Wild, followed by weekend games on the road against the Wild and in Milwaukee against the St. Louis Blues, respectively.
The Hawks open the regular season Oct. 8 on the road against the newly formed Utah Hockey Club — but that will be televised nationally on ESPN. Their next game, Oct. 11 against the Jets in Winnipeg, Manitoba, will air on CHSN.
CHSN will air 69 regular-season games; any updates to the TV schedule will post on CHSN.com.
Veteran NHL announcer Rick Ball and analyst Darren Pang will handle the Hawks telecasts.
For pregame and postgame shows, Pat Boyle, a Chicago sportscaster for two decades, will be joined by analyst Tony Granato, a former NHL player and coach, and studio contributor and backup analyst Caley Chelios, daughter of Hawks legend Chris Chelios.
What it means for the Bulls
CHSN will air all 82 regular-season games — as well as the five preseason ones, which begin Oct. 8 in Cleveland.
Only five games in the 2024-25 season will air nationally: Nov. 7 at home against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Nov. 23 at home against the Memphis Grizzlies and April 6 at the Charlotte Hornets will be broadcast on NBA TV, and Nov. 20 matchup at the Milwaukee Bucks and Jan. 17 at the Hornets will be broadcast on ESPN.
Adam Amin and Stacey King will call Bulls games for CHSN.
The pregame, halftime and postgame shows will include host Jason Goff, Gill and sideline reporter and insider K.C. Johnson, a former Bulls beat reporter for the Tribune. Former Bull Will Perdue, who served as a studio analyst for NBCSCH, won’t resume that role for CHSN.
“Bulls Countdown Live” will air before every regular-season game and “Bulls Postgame Live” immediately following each game.
What it means for the White Sox
There’s no word yet on the full studio team for CHSN, but Chuck Garfien will return.
Steve Stone and John Schriffen will be back in the broadcast booth. Because who wouldn’t want to see what the Sox have in store as an encore for the worst season ever.
