Craig Smith and Lukas Reichel teamed up on two goals during the Chicago Blackhawks’ 4-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres Saturday night – but none of Comcast’s one million subscribers in Chicago were able to watch it through Xfinity because of stalled negotiations between the cable provider and Chicago Sports Network.
Industry sources told the Tribune this week that Comcast has balked at CHSN offering its fledgling broadcast for free to consumers through over-the-air digital antennas. Why should the company have to pay for it — and share it with their subscribers through regional sports network fees — when CHSN is giving it away?
Shortly before Saturday night’s game at the United Center, CHSN president Jason Coyle pushed back hard against that reasoning.
“It probably makes sense to sports fans, but it really is a red herring,” Coyle said. “It’s not accurate.
“It’s kind of this false argument, because Channel 2 (CBS), Channel 5 (NBC), Channel 7 (ABC), Channel 32 (Fox) those are free, our local channels. And if you look on the Xfinity bill, you see the local broadcast fees. They don’t take them for free and sell them to their customers. They have to pay.”
Coyle added, “You want to watch the Bears on (Channels) 2 or 5 or 7 or 32, you can watch them on an antenna. When you watch them on Xfinity, they’re not just taking it from (Channels) 2 and 5, they have to pay. That’s standard. This is not us being crazy. This is us getting back to the basics, investing in our fans, willing to take financial steps back, and then hearing this for the first time. We have not heard this directly.”
In fact, several sources who spoke to the Tribune this week on the condition of anonymity seemed surprised when informed the new network’s free broadcast component was a major sticking point in the impasse.
Comcast, according to sources, desires to move CHSN to its “Ultimate” tier, whereas the channel’s predecessor NBC Sports Chicago was on the “Popular” tier. The “Ultimate” tier would mean a higher monthly fee for customers. That’s what it did with SportsNet Pittsburgh, which meant a $20 increase for subscribers who wanted to keep watching the Penguins and Pirates.
CHSN and its teams — the Bulls, Hawks and White Sox — have said they want to avoid going to the higher tier.
“We have made two substantive offers,” Coyle said. “It’s important to know they have made none. There are no offers back from Comcast. We have received none. There are none to sign. There is no deal ready for us to sign. We have received no offers, there’s nothing for us to say ‘yes’ to. There are reports (of a Comcast) offer – and obviously they came from somewhere – but I’m just telling you it’s not accurate.
“Our last offer to them showed our extreme, reasonable approach. We voluntarily are taking a significant financial haircut. So not flat, not a little bit down, significantly down. We are willing – in order to make sure that more people could watch – to take less money.”
Meanwhile, Coyle said CHSN was close to a deal with streamer Fubo.
“We feel really good about Fubo. Like really good,” he said.
The network has also added more Midwest stations to broaden its reach via antenna, including nearby Indianapolis.
“Indy went live this week,” Coyle said. “We signed a deal with Cedar Rapids and Des Moines, which will be rolling out this (coming) week. Fort Wayne will be rolling out this (coming) week.”
He expects to add up to five more antenna stations the following week.
However, those markets will be subject to various blackout rules for each league (NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball), based on their region.
Coyle emphasized, “None of this is designed to get people to cut the cord.”
However, he said the teams and the network are “pretty close” to launching a direct-to-consumer streaming app, which he had believed would’ve been more objectionable to Comcast than antennas.
For that reason, “we did not want to rush it” and were waiting to see how things played out with Comcast, he said.
“We don’t want people to cut the cord. It’s not in our interest,” Coyle said.
And speaking of disinterest, Hawks coach Luke Richardson never looked more perturbed this season after his team got off to a listless start during the loss to Buffalo.
“The first period, we just didn’t skate and match the intensity,” Richardson said. “Kind of like that first period of the year (against Utah), we just didn’t play well at all, so that cost us the game tonight.”
The Hawks get no points – literally, sometimes – for keeping it close every game this season.
“There absolutely has to be no cheat in our game,” Smith said. “If we use our feet and everybody buys into the system, we keep ourselves in games and give us a chance.”
Here are three takeaways from the 4-2 loss.
1. Lukas Reichel’s and Craig Smith’s line with Andreas Athanasiou gave as much as it got.
Smith’s first two goals of the season represent as much as a starter kit for Reichel as it represents Smith’s indoctrination as a Hawk.
Reichel made a great cross-ice pass to Smith on the first goal, and Smith cleaned up Reichel’s rebound on the second score.
It’s a positive sign for Reichel, who was healthy-scratched for the first four games, but he noted that his line also gave up goals to the Sabres’ Beck Malenstyn and JJ Peterka.
“We were forechecking hard, we skated hard, and we got two goals, which is good,” Reichel said. “But at the same time, we’re disappointed because we didn’t win and … we gave up two goals, our line. If you score, you’ve got to play defensively good, too.”
Smith said of his chemistry with Reichel, “You talk here and there and try to figure out each other, so you can get the best out of each other for the night.
“But this is an opportunity league. Opportunities are small or big, depending on who you are. You’ve got to make the best one when you get in and I think he did a great job tonight. You can see with his legs, he can definitely create. So it was nice to see him get rewarded.”
2. Wyatt Kaiser was a victim of a tough bounce.
On Malenstyn’s goal, the puck bounced off Kaiser’s skate before it bounced off Malenstyn and into the net.
“Tough bounce,” Richardson said, “but we’re trying to ask the players to block shots when they can. Unfortunately, it was probably going wide off his skate, but it hit the other guy’s skate, so it looked like a pinball machine from the ‘70s.
Richardson credited Kaiser for playing hard and physically.
“He’s trying to do the right thing, so can’t complain about that,” he said.
3. How did Tage Thompson get so free?
In the opening goal by Buffalo, Thompson — one of the Sabres’ top finishers — beat goalie Arvid Söderblom from right down Main Street.
Richardson explained: “We had coverage in the neutral zone and unfortunately he got by us, and our backchecking forwards were looking a little bit puck-focused, and he got by us.
“You try to catch up and you can’t — it’s either a hooking call or an offensive chance, and it was an offensive chance. It turned into a three-on-two and our forwards can’t let that happen, they have to have that coverage for our D.
“So the most dangerous guy on the ice shooting from the middle, that’s a tough one for Sody.”
