(Denver) Imagine that one day, Videotron ceases to offer RDS in its cable distribution network, or that Bell makes it impossible to subscribe to TVA Sports.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
In fact, we feared it would come to this in 2019 when Quebecor jammed the TVA Sports signal to Bell subscribers, but everything was back to normal. But in Denver, it is indeed a reality.
That’s because the team’s official broadcaster, Altitude Sports, doesn’t get along with Comcast and Dish Network, two of the major cable companies in the United States. Consequence: the channel is not offered to subscribers of these two services, who therefore cannot watch their team’s matches without using illicit means.
Coming out of the Ball Arena after Wednesday’s game, we chat with three fans who we feared tipsy, but who were finally as straight as a Shane (excuse her). We talk about the subject that one of them interrupts us. “Don’t talk to me about it! »
As the discussion progresses, we understand that the majority opinion of supporters is frustration with a chicanery of billionaires. It appears that Altitude is owned by Stan Kroenke, owner of the Avalanche, who also owns the Nuggets (NBA), the Colorado Rapids (MLS), Arsenal FC (EPL), as well as the Los Angeles Rams (NFL). ), that he moved from St. Louis.
If he ever worries that his next insurance payment will bounce, he can always borrow money from his wife, Ann Walton. Walton as in Walmart. Understand by this that we do not often eat baloney at the Kroenke-Walton.
We slip a word to our server at Station 26, a friendly microbrewery in the Northeast Park Hill district.
Photo Guillaume LeFrancois, La Presse
Station 26 microbrewery
During the first game of the final, “everyone sitting at the bar was wearing an Avalanche jersey,” he proudly says. There’s nothing sporty about his bar; there are two televisions, but it’s a classic microbrewery, which closes at 11 p.m., which has everything necessary for people who bring Toutou, which even offers sunscreen at the entrance for those who roast on the terrace. In short, not the kind of place where the owner will invest thousands of dollars to subscribe to all the sports networks.
In the series, he can present the matches, since they are broadcast by the major national networks. But in season, no way to watch the Avalanche there. At home either, because he does not have access to Altitude. His solution?
Like any good Denver resident, I’m watching this through a VPN connection through India!
Hermenegilde*
According to an estimate cited by The Athletic last November, Comcast and Dish own about 55% of the cable market in Denver. So that’s a lot of potential hockey fans who can’t watch the games, so much so that the question came up at Gary Bettman’s press briefing on Wednesday.
“It’s an unfortunate situation,” said the NHL commissioner. Fans should express their displeasure to those to whom they write checks every month. »
With two of the NHL’s most spectacular players in Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon playing in Colorado, one can understand Bettman’s toe tapping.
* Fictitious first name