PHOENIX — If you have DISH Network, the Colorado Rockies’ season came to an end a few days early.
DISH Network has dropped AT&T SportsNet from its channel lineup, effectively dropping TV coverage of the Colorado Rockies and other major sports teams around the country.
The move was announced Thursday by both DISH and AT&T SportsNet. Rockies fans who usually watched games via DISH will not be able to watch the team’s final three games of the season at Arizona.
DISH dropped not only AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain — which carries Rockies games — but also AT&T SportsNet Southwest, AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh and ROOT Sports Northwest.
DISH customers in those markets are now without live games from teams such as the Houston Astros, Utah Jazz, Houston Rockets, Vegas Golden Knights, Seattle Kraken, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Pittsburgh Pirates.
For sports fans in Colorado, the decision comes on the heels of two straight seasons that Nuggets, Avalanche and Rapids games have been unavailable on Comcast (XFinity cable) and DISH after both providers’ agreements with Altitude TV lapsed.
The Rockies did not issue a statement regarding the matter, instead referring to statements from AT&T SportsNet.
“We are not surprised DISH Network has chosen to deprive their customers of our regional sports networks,” said Patrick Crumb, president of AT&T Sports Networks. “As each of the nation’s regional sports networks’ agreements with DISH has come up for renewal over the last several years, we have witnessed them remove each RSN from their channel lineup.
“Until today the AT&T SportsNet and ROOT SPORTS networks were among the last remaining RSNs on the DISH platform. With DISH dropping our RSNs today, there is only one remaining RSN in the entire country that is carried by DISH.
“It is unfortunate that DISH has decided to abandon local MLB, NBA and NHL games, but the vast majority of DISH subscribers will have multiple alternative options for TV and streaming providers that carry our networks and we expect that many will switch from DISH to those providers that value premium local sports content.”
DISH Network, of course, provided a different view of the situation.
“The current RSN model is fundamentally broken,” Brian Neylon, group president of DISH, told Cord Cutter News. “This model requires nearly all customers to pay for RSNs when only a small percentage of customers actually watch them.”
Neylon said that there should be an alternative for fans to watch regional sports networks.
“Our proposal to offer sports fans access to RSNs is simple, and provides choice and value to all of our customers,” Neylon said. “It would allow DISH TV customers to choose to subscribe to the RSN channels they want — such as the regional AT&T SportsNet and Root Sports networks — on an a la carte basis, similar to premium subscription channels.
“With this updated RSN model, no customer would be forced to pay for content they don’t watch, and the RSNs would determine the price customers would pay for their channels.”
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