Bulls President slams Comcast for non-carriage of CHSN

Comes after YES strikes a deal with the nation’s largest cable provider – thanks to the White House

A new salvo was launched today in the Comcast-CHSN war over carriage. 

Bulls president Michael Reinsdorf (who is the son of owner Jerry Reinsdorf) blasted Comcast Corp. Thursday at a Crain’s real estate forum for failing to reach a deal with the Chicago Sports Network (CHSN) on its Xfinity systems, calling their negotiation tactics “in bad faith” and “discriminatory”. 

Appearing at the forum with Blackhawks owner Danny Wirtz (whose team is also part of the network), Reinsdorf let loose on the cable giant. “To me, it’s bad faith,” he said. “It’s discriminatory. It doesn’t make any sense to me…It’s disappointing you can’t go to bars and restaurants to get games.” Reinsdorf revealed that CHSN and Comcast nearly came to a deal in December, but it fell apart at the last minute. 

CHSN launched last October to replace NBC Sports Chicago, which closed September 30, 2024, after twenty years in operation. Once known as Comcast SportsNet, it was rebranded NBC Sports Chicago after Comcast bought NBCUniversal. Comcast is Chicago’s largest cable provider, with one million households in a market of around eight million. CHSN is home to the Blackhawks, Bulls, and White Sox. 

The impasse comes as the MLB season has started. Comcast moved regional sports networks to a higher-priced tier, which they did with three of their four – NBC Sports Bay Area, NBC Sports California, and NBC Sports Boston. Comcast also wants to do the same with CHSN and Marquee, as the Cubs’ network is still on its regular tiers. Reinsdorf believes the Cubs’ negotiations to move to a higher-priced tier are going better, leading to the bad faith and discriminatory claims. 

CHSN struck deals with Astound/RCN, DirecTV, Fubo, U-Verse, and religious independent WJYS, which leased its dot-two and dot-three over-the-air channels to the network. It also struck deals with Gray Media for coverage in Rockford and South Bend. 

While cord-cutting is happening in the rest of the country, it has been slow to take root in the Chicago area since cable TV’s arrival was late to begin with as most of the city wasn’t wired until the late 1980s and early 1990s, thanks to delays getting legislative actions approved during Mayor Harold Washington’s administration due to Council Wars. Chicagoans are known for being creatures of habit and slow to adopt new technologies. 

While the CHSN-Comcast drama continues, a similar situation was averted in the New York City area as YES and Comcast agreed to a new deal for the home of the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Nets. The negotiations attracted the attention of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who urged the two to hammer out an agreement, also said, “The FCC does have authority to step in and address claims of discriminatory conduct”, even though it is not in the agency’s purview. Carr recently made this same accusation against YouTube TV, asking why they weren’t carrying “faith-based” channels owned by Great American Media. 

You wonder if Reinsdorf heard about these claims from YES and was hoping to get the attention of regulators. But the Yankees boss has connections to President Trump, even going so far as to thank him for settling the conflict. “I would like to thank President Donald J. Trump and his administration, especially Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, “ said Yankees and YES head Randy Levine. He also thanked other New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey-area elected officials. 

Maybe this is what Reinsdorf is angling for: The FCC or Trump to get involved, and maybe that’s why he used the same language. But that seems very unlikely, especially in a metro area that is hostile to his administration, and none of CHSN’s principals have any political connections of the sort.