avalanche news
How Altitude+ Streaming Compares To Other U.S. NHL Markets
Thursday’s Announcement that Altitude TV has finally found a way to make Avalanche (and Denver Nuggets) games more accessible is great news. It’s certainly been a long time coming.
The press release announced two options to help fill the half-decade blackout void. First, 20 Avalanche games will be offered free over-the-air on Denver’s 9NEWS (KUSA-TV) and My20 (KTVD-TV). I don’t sense there are any complaints here.
Joins us, @9NEWS and KTVD20 for 20 @Avalanche games this season!#GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/dZ2uA6iXuB
— AltitudeTV (@AltitudeTV) September 26, 2024
But the second Altitide+ streaming option, which gives you full coverage of every game broadcasted on Altitude TV might be the one met with mixed feelings.
For starters, streaming is the way to go and it was only a matter of time for Altitude to catch on. It’ll be nice for local market fans to have the ability to stream games wherever they’d like without needing to pay for a full cable package. I’m a big believer that they’ve knocked this out of the park.
But at $19.95/month, Altitude+ is a touch pricier than a handful of other regional sports streaming options around the league.
With this option, you’ll have access to Avs, Nuggets, and regional collegiate coverage. It doesn’t sound like they’ll have an option to pay less for only one team. And that’s certainly something many Avs fans might be more interested in.
Altitude+ will first be available for download on iOS and Android devices, with connected smart TV apps to follow soon after. It’s unclear at this time when the TV app update will come, but many will be waiting for it.
Here’s how Altitude+ and the 20-games-free services compare to other NHL teams in the United States.
By my count, seven of the 25 markets offer games free for their local market. And only five teams have an option priced higher than Altitude+.
Of the remaining 12 (Philadelphia doesn’t offer an unbundled option yet), four are cheaper than Altitude+ and the other eight are priced the same. This puts Altitude+ comfortably in the middle of the pack.
Anaheim Ducks: Available FREE on Victory+
Boston Bruins: $30/month or $330/year on NESN 360
Buffalo Sabres: $30/month or $280/year on Gotham Sports
Carolina Hurricanes: $20/month or $190/year on Bally Sports+
Chicago Blackhawks: Available FREE over-the-air
Columbus Blue Jackets: $20/month or $190/year on Bally Sports+
Dallas Stars: Available FREE on Victory+
Detroit Red Wings: $20/month or $190/year on Bally Sports+
Florida Panthers: $70/year on Panthers+ or FREE over-the-air locally
Los Angeles Kings: $20/month or $190/year on Bally Sports+
Nashville Predators: $20/month or $190/year on Bally Sports+
New Jersey Devils: $30/month or $280/year on Gotham Sports
New York Islanders: $30/month or $280/year on Gotham Sports
New York Rangers: $30/month or $280/year on Gotham Sports
Philadelphia Flyers: (No unbundled option available)
Pittsburgh Penguins: $18/mo on SNP 360
Seattle Kraken: Available on Amazon Prime for no extra charge or FREE over-the-air locally
St. Louis Blues: $20/month or $190/year on Bally Sports+
Tampa Bay Lightning: $20/month or $190/year on Bally Sports+
Utah Hockey Club: $15/month or $70/year on UtahHC+ or FREE over-the-air locally
Vegas Golden Knights: $70/year on KnightTime+ or FREE over-the-air locally
Washington Capitals: $20/month or $200/year on Monumental
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So, $9 per month more expensive than ESPN+ and I would only get Avs games that are broadcast on Altitude? Hard pass. But, I don’t live in the Avs market, so I don’t get any blacked out games ESPN+ (except the ones broadcast on NHL Network or MN Mild games). It appears the Kroenke’s have the local fanbase over a barrel.
The days of KSE playing the blame game and blowing smoke are finally over. Not because they are innovators and leaders who came up with something new but they were kind of shamed by all the teams Aarif listed and had to follow their lead. The Kroenkes put together complex real estate deals all the time but somehow they wanted fans to believe this was just too difficult to solve over the course of 5 years. Good news but shame on them for all the hoodwinking…
How many of these other streaming services though offer both NBA and NHL? At least 11 of those markets do no have a NBA team. I live in San Diego. They charge $40.99 a month to stream Padres games!
I get to watch all Avs games (except for Kings/Anaheim) on ESPN + through Hulu live Plus. I might still dish out the monthly fee just to watch Nuggets games although my wife will probably hate me for that…
Same here bro I always go to kings and ducks games when they come out here. I watch it on max and espn+
In my humble opinion, the NHL has made it difficult and expensive for fans to stream games. I travel in my RV and spend most of my time in Texas, so I can’t use the Altitude+ streaming app. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but as of right now, I need ESPN, ESPN+ or Hulu, TNT or Max. What a pain.
I recall the better days of just paying for a center ice package via nhl networks and got all the avs games and playoffs and when the rest of the tv packages got resold to espn and tnt it ruined everything. Can get most regular season games via espn+ but not playoffs, thats a different additional charge in the spring, so annoying.
I would prefer a yearly rate of maybe $99/year, but I do like this a lot better than a cable subscription and think the price per month isn’t terrible, especially if I can watch 10-15 games per month. Did they say anything about watching full game replays?
As rights holders they’re only allowed to reair games with a certain window after the original broadcast otherwise they have to pay the league again to re air them, they did this during one of the early lockouts since they were a new station and didn’t have anything else to air
I agree. I think they missed their profit-maximizing price with a poorly thought-out strategy. at $20 per month with some overlap of broadcast games and the holidays, i’ll subscribe Jan, Feb and March. No loyalty cuts both ways.
Not super impressed that after six years this was their solution. Also, doesn’t mean too much to me since I live outside of the nine state area. And for nationally televised games, I would still need espn+/sling/whatever else.
I’d imagine the $20/mo cost is partially determined by trying to prevent DirectTV subscribers from dropping the most expensive channel package and switching to streaming. Don’t know for sure, since it’s been a while since I looked at DTV priing, but it was expensive to get the channel lineup that included Altitude. The issue for me is that the Alt+ app cannot be downloaded to a Roku it would seem. I suppose I can put it on my phone and cast it. Also, I like being able to switch between games on ESPN+ which will be cumbersome if I am… Read more »
This is something they’ve addressed. It will be added soon after Altitude+ is released. Doesn’t sound like they’ll have it right away but it’ll be there eventually.