Three months have passed since the Blackhawks, Bulls and White Sox announced they were going their own way and creating the Chicago Sports Network (CHSN).
Since then, a lot has happened behind the scenes. On LinkedIn, a number of people indicate they left Stadium and joined CHSN. We know Pat Boyle will continue to be the Blackhawks’ studio host. But outside of that, we haven’t heard much else publicly.
Of all the unanswered questions about the network, the biggest one continues to be where to find it starting next month.
CHSN’s initial press release says “the network will launch with agreements in place with traditional cable providers, streaming services and be available via free, over-the-air broadcast.”
Earlier this week, The Athletic contacted a CHSN spokesperson who said they planned to have an update “shortly.”
CHSN will likely end up with carriage on multiple cable providers. Comcast is still the place to be in the Chicago-area market. It’ll be interesting to see whether CHSN lands carriage with Comcast through a tiered package or possibly through the FCC’s must-carry rights as a local television station.
“The must-carry law requires the cable provider to air them, so you are in paid TV packages when you are in broadcasts,” said Patrick Crakes, a media consultant and former TV executive. “That’s the good thing. The bad thing is (the networks) aren’t getting paid for it, anything but advertising, and you’re way down the line. When you go to your electronic programming guide from your paid distributor, you see your ABC and your FOX. Once you get past 13, you’ve got Channel 68 and all this other stuff down there. They’re going to be somewhere there probably.”
How all that plays out will likely determine a lot of the network’s viewership. A lot of fans will simply want convenience. But for the fans who don’t have a live streaming service and don’t want to add one, there will still be the free, over-the-air broadcast.
That’s the option I wanted to venture further into. How does that actually work? Here’s my personal experience finding out.
I have a Roku TV. I was able to access a bunch of free TV through Roku. There are a lot of channels I had no idea existed. But from what I understand, CHSN will require an antenna for the over-the-air broadcast. My Roku TV doesn’t include a built-in antenna. Most TVs don’t.
My next step was searching for an antenna. Staying in the New York Times family, I looked at Wirecutter’s recommendations and purchased Channel Master’s FLATenna from Amazon. It was about $30. There was a slightly cheaper option that Best Buy sold.
The installation was pretty easy. You attach a cable from the antenna to the TV and scan for channels. I must have messed up that part the first time because my Roku TV found zero channels. I reattached the cable, scanned again and landed six channels. I had 7.1, 7.2 , 7.3, 60.1, 60.2 and 60.3. According to TheFreeTVProject.org, I should be getting 107 channels for free. I do recommend that website because it has tips and much more information.
From everything I’ve read, there are so many factors that could play into what the antenna is picking up. It could be about how high or low it’s located in a building. It could be about placement within the room. I’ll probably need to spend a lot more time fiddling with it.
That’s the part CHSN should probably have already released information about to get ahead of all the questions viewers are going to have. Thirty years ago, antenna TVs were what everyone knew. That’s not the case anymore. It’s a lot more complicated.
“The things that people are most passionate about, they’ll spend the time on,” Crakes said. “Here’s the thing: for us, we’re passionate about this, but most people aren’t.
“The content discovery problem that has emerged over the last five or six years, people will typically spend about five minutes looking for what they want. If they don’t find it, they’ll find something else. They’re used to a certain system. They’re used to an electronic programming guide. They’re used to pointing and clicking. Putting on an antenna and only seeing X (number of) channels, that is less of me being able to graze my way around to all this segmented content.
“It’s a very general market. When your game’s not on it, it’s general news or something. … It just seems to me that is a mental block.”
As an over-the-air network, CHSN will have the capability of reaching an even larger audience, but whether it actually does will depend on its accessibility. We shall see.
The Blackhawks had a few changes in their business and hockey departments this offseason.
Within hockey operations, Erik Condra left his position as development coach and was replaced by Andy Delmore. Condra had been with the Blackhawks since 2020. Delmore, a former NHL defenseman, joins the Blackhawks after being an assistant with the OHL’s Windsor Spitfire and the University of Windsor last season.
Thor is back with the organization. Well, Thor lookalike and former Blackhawks defenseman Michael Kostka is back. He was recently hired as a mental performance coach. Kostka played for the Blackhawks during the 2013-14 season. After retiring from hockey, he got into mental performance coaching.
The major change on the business side is Jamie Spencer’s departure as the executive vice president of revenue. Matt Gray was promoted to Spencer’s position and will be responsible for strategy and revenue within Blackhawks business operations leadership.
We previously reported that the Rockford IceHogs hired Josh MacNevin to replace Jared Nightingale as an assistant, but I had a chance recently to talk to IceHogs head coach Anders Sorensen more about the hire. This season could be major for development in Rockford, and the Blackhawks did their homework on the candidates.
“I think there were a couple of different areas we liked about him in his interview process,” Sorensen said. “I think No. 1, for me at least, was his view on his development and player development coincided on how myself and (Blackhawks assistant GM of player development) Mark Eaton and guys around the development area on how we think. That was a big part of it. He’s worked in the Western League. He’s worked with talented young defensemen in the past, and that was an area as well that obviously attracted us. Especially, he had success of moving those guys on to the pro levels and they’ve done well at the pro levels, so that was a big part of it for us. And then, his personality, he’s got a real good demeanor about him and how he goes about his business.”
The Blackhawks don’t love talking about their analytics department. They like to keep as much secretive as possible.
Looking through the Blackhawks staff, the consistency of their hockey strategy and analytics department did jump out. While Jeff Greenberg’s departure to the Detroit Tigers shuffled positions within the department, there hasn’t been much change otherwise. All 12 people listed within the hockey strategy and analytics department have been with the organization for at least a year. You would think that would lead to some progress in what they’re doing. We may never know, though.
The Blackhawks have said they’re making a point of capping season tickets at a smaller number than in the past in hopes of allowing more fans a chance at tickets.
The numbers have been increasing year by year, and now the Blackhawks have already capped their 300-level tickets for this season and are close on other sections.
Patrick Kane’s second game back in Chicago won’t be as big as last year, but it was still one of the most popular when tickets went on sale on Friday morning. For one, there won’t be a jersey retirement ceremony to coincide with it — one of the many factors that played into last year’s game being such a hot ticket.
Still, though, the Detroit Red Wings game in Chicago on Nov. 6, which falls on a Wednesday, appeared to be moving fast when tickets went on sale on Friday. It was noticeable that season-ticket holders already knew that, too, and were already putting up their tickets for resale to make a profit.
What a summer for WGN Radio alumni.
Judd Sirott, who was WGN’s studio host from 2008-2017, was named the Boston Bruins’ TV play-by-play announcer in August, replacing Jack Edwards. Sirott had been calling Bruins games on the radio side.
Nick Olczyk, who filled in as a color commentator for WGN during the 2021-22 season, was named a TV color analyst for the Utah Hockey Club. He spent the last two seasons with the Seattle Kraken.
Finally, Joe Brand, who did a bit of everything on Blackhawks’ radio broadcasts in recent years, was recently named the Pittsburgh Penguins’ radio play-by-play announcer.
Marek Vanacker is the one major prospect missing from the Blackhawks’ rookie roster for the upcoming Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase.
Vanacker, who was drafted No. 27 in June, is unavailable because he is still recovering from undergoing surgery on his right shoulder to repair a torn labrum. He underwent the surgery in early June.
Vanacker recently signed an entry-level contract with the Blackhawks, but he will spend two more seasons in the OHL. He’s currently rehabbing back home and is expected to return to play with the Brantford Bulldogs in December or January.
(Photo: Patrick Gorski / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
