Altitude Sues Comcast for Antitrust Violation

Altitude, the Regional Sports Network for the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche, sued Comcast today for an antitrust violation. In a statement, Altitude said that Comcast’s “goal is to drive Altitude out of business by driving down its revenue below its costs” and that “Comcast would then be free to install its own regional sports network to take over from Altitude.”

“Denver region sports fans deserve to watch their teams at a fair price and Altitude deserves fair and reasonable fees,” said Altitude President Matt Hutchings. “If Comcast has its way, Comcast customers will have to pay much more money to watch our games and many will not be able to afford it.”

The Washington Post reported that Comcast “did not immediately comment.”

For fans of the Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets, it has been virtually impossible to stream games in their local market. Altitude has never been available on Live TV Streaming Services like Hulu Live TV, PlayStation Vue and YouTube TV. In September, the channel was dropped by Comcast, Dish Network and DIRECTV, but it eventually reached an agreement with DIRECTV last month.

They’re not alone, though. Outside of Fox and NBC Sports Regional Sports Networks, independent RSNs like MSG in New York and NESN in Boston have not been available to secure wide distribution across streaming services. Outside of AT&T SportsNet Southwest, which is available only on fuboTV, the rest of AT&T SportsNet channels aren’t available to stream.