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After years of court battles, Altitude Sports & Entertainment and Comcast Corporation have reached a settlement in an ongoing federal antitrust lawsuit. But despite signs of possible progress in a larger, ongoing dispute, the two remained at odds over a transportation deal, keeping local Avalanche and Nuggets fans in the dark.
The cable provider and regional sports network announced the confidential settlement Friday afternoon. According to Comcast, the parties will soon file a dismissal agreement that does not affect the lawsuit.
Back in 2019, Altitude sued Comcast for alleged antitrust violations. In a complaint filed in US District Court for the District of Colorado, Denver Sports Networks claims that Comcast wants to “eliminate competition from Altitude” and “strengthen its control” of multi-channel television distribution in the Denver DMA and across the country. ”
Comcast has denied the allegations, called the lawsuit “baseless,” and said it remains willing to distribute Altitude’s content in a way that doesn’t raise rates for nearly all of its customers.
A Comcast spokesman said the settlement appeared to mark the end of an acrimonious legal standoff but would not resolve an ongoing shipping dispute between the media company and the cable provider.
“This is clear – Kroenke Sports control the team, the stadium and the Altitude network. The ball is in their stadium, they can do the right thing and make it available to their fans, regardless of their service provider ,” said Leslie Oliver, director of communications for Comcast Colorado. “Comcast has always been clear that we want to make the games available to fans who want to watch them without making other people pay.”
The years-long shipping dispute began in 2019 when a deal between the two entities ended. As a result, Altitude said in court filings, all Colorado Avalanche-Denver Nuggets games were stopped for Comcast customers, who accounted for roughly 92 percent of the cable subscribers in the market.
In negotiations, Altitude asked Comcast to provide “Modest Consumer Price Index Growth,” Company leaders previously told CBS New Colorado. Comcast said doing so would raise costs for nearly all customers, while only a few watch Altitude.
Comcast and Altitude “remain open to discussing potential future business and distribution arrangements,” according to a joint statement Friday.
A Comcast Colorado spokeswoman told CBS News Colorado that the company had previously offered to offer the network to customers as a standalone subscription, much like HBO or Netflix do. That would allow customers who want the channel to get it, while Comcast insists the vast majority of people who don’t watch the network won’t have to pay for it.
Matt Hutchings, president and CEO of Kroenke Sports and Entertainment Media Ventures, which owns and operates Altitude Sports, said the company wants the same treatment as other regional sports networks across the country. According to Hutchings, the network offered Comcast the same deal as AT&T Sportsnet Rocky Mountain (home of the Colorado Rockies) in July.
“Comcast wants to follow the example of Altitude Sports, an independent regional sports network in Colorado,” Hutchins said in October.
Experts say the ongoing dispute is part of a larger problem unfolding across the country, with regional sports networks (RSNs) and cable providers continuing to strike a balance in a rapidly changing media landscape.
In some cities, fights over subscription fees have led to similar outages. There are other issues involving RSN, including Diamond Sports Group, the company that owns Bally Sports, which recently filed for bankruptcy after failing to pay interest to bondholders.
“The whole model of sports television is broken right now,” Darrin Duber-Smith, a senior lecturer at Denver Metropolitan State College of Business, previously told CBS News Colorado. “You’re at a point where you have to make concessions, and I think Avalanche and Comcast are on the front lines of this larger conflict.”
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