Until Friday night, negotiations among Altitude Sports and the Big 3 carriers — Comcast, Dish and DirecTV — had remained behind closed doors.
But Altitude chief operating officer Matt Hutchings, speaking on Altitude’s Channel 20 broadcast of Friday night’s Nuggets game, revealed some of what the latest offers to distributors have entailed.
“We’ve put on the table. We want to do 4K (technology). We talked about putting a skycam in the Pepsi Center. We talked about doing an extra channel so folks can have access into when you guys are preparing and when the guys are warming up,” Hutchings said.
He said the distributors have been intrigued with their innovative ideas but won’t budge on their carrier rates.
“We can’t accept that even though we’re coming back, talking about spending more money, doing more things,” Hutchings said. “They just won’t accept it. They’re stonewalling and the fans are losing out, and that’s not right.”
“No other NBA or NHL team is covered the way that we’ve brought to the table,” Hutchings said on the broadcast.
In addition, Altitude has offered variations of an app that could supplement a traditional broadcast feed, according to Altitude executive vice president Kenny Miller.
“I’m all about coming up with creative solutions to make the broadcast not only better for our fans but also broadcasts that benefit their customers,” Miller said.
In a nod to the mounting frustration over the impasse, Altitude Sports reached a “streaming” deal with Front Range bars and restaurants that will provide legal means to show Nuggets and Avalanche games through Monday. Hutchings said the deal was with “100-200” establishments.
