OFFICIAL NEWS: Colorado Avalanche lost one their Executive in charge of TV conflict who leave for.
Executive Matt Hutchings, who was in charge of the Altitude TV conflict with Comcast, leaves Kroenke Sports.
The executive vice president and chief operational officer of the business that owns the Nuggets and Avalanche, Matt Hutchings, was in charge of Altitude TV at Kroenke Sports and Entertainment. Hutchings resigned from his role.
As president and CEO of KSE Media Ventures, Hutchings has occupied the role since 2013. The longest-running dispute between Comcast, the major cable provider in Colorado, and Altitude prompted his retirement. Since 2019, Comcast has not offered Altitude TV, which keeps local subscribers from being able to view most broadcasts of Avalanche and Nuggets games.
In a press announcement announcing his resignation, Hutchings stated, “I am grateful for the professional opportunities and thrilling experiences that have come with my time at KSE.” “As a firm, we have experienced great expansion, and our teams have achieved incredible success. As KSE continues to set the standard for sports, broadcasting, and entertainment in Colorado and beyond, I will be watching and supporting them.
Between 2004 and 2012, Hutchings was employed in management at Altitude. After leaving Kroenke, he was named president of Comcast Sportsnet Houston. The next year, he returned to Kroenke and Altitude.
Shortly after its carriage agreement expired in September 2019, Altitude filed a first lawsuit against Comcast, claiming that the cable operator had broken antitrust rules. The arrangement did not bring the regional sports network back to Comcast’s platforms, but the parties resolved in March 2023. In Colorado, DirecTV, Fubo TV, and Charter all provide Altitude.
A revolution in live sports streaming and widespread conflict for regional sports networks have occurred at the same time as the contract deadlock. Major League Baseball will be hosting the Colorado Rockies’ broadcasts for the upcoming season as the RSN that aired their games, AT&T Sportsnet, stopped operations last year. Rockies.tv will broadcast Rockies games; however, the team has not yet disclosed a cable television alternative.
While the NBA does not control local rights involving the Nuggets, NBA commissioner Adam Silver stated during the 2023 NBA Finals that one major theme while working on the NBA’s next media rights deal has been the increasingly hazy distinction between “national” games and local games from the perspective of the fan base. In recent years, several NHL and NBA teams have made the switch to over-the-air broadcasts and streaming agreements.
In June of last year, Silver stated, “We have an opportunity now to redesign how fans can receive games.” “It is evident to me that disenfranchising fans is the last thing we (the league) want to do, which is why I am saying it’s on us. Not that it should be any different, but especially with a team that is capable of making the Finals, as we all know.
I’m extremely understanding of fans, and while I’m here in town, I’ve seen comments on social media and in a number of letters from people saying, “This makes absolutely no sense that I can’t watch games.” I think this is a problem that we need to own.
