The Los Angeles Angels, mind you, cost Uncle Stan quite a bit more than three bucks during BP.

It took a few decades, but a man named for two Major League Baseball players is about to join the ranks of MLB ownership. Enos (as in Enos Slaughter) Stanley (as in Stan Musial) Kroenke, according to reports, has reached an agreement to buy the Halos from previous owner Arte Moreno, effective in early 2027.

Assuming the deal goes through, that puts Stan a leg up at the next family BBQ on the baseball front, at least. The Penner Sports Group — which is overseen by Walton-Penner and her husband Greg and, like Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, is part of the Walmart financial empire — has owned the Broncos since August 2022 and purchased a 40% stake in the Rockies this past April. Penner said last month that they had no plans to extend that investment, and that control of the flailing baseball franchise will remain with the club’s majority owners, the Monfort family.

Yeah, that last one didn’t sit well with the baseball sickos on the Grading The Week staff, either. Especially after longtime season-ticket holders we know texted us to grouse about receiving notice from the club of a 14% price hike for next season, all while a potentially nuclear work stoppage looms in early 2027.

The Monforts are the Dodgers of leveraging real estate and selling alcohol. Unfortunately, the Rox also play in the same division as the real Dodgers and are therefore trying to avoid becoming the first MLB club since the Mets in 1965 to string together four straight seasons with 100 or more losses.

Kroenke buys Angels, Rox still stink — D

In a perfect world, KSE would’ve bought the Rockies from the Monforts ages ago. The games would fill up those dry summer months of programming on Altitude TV and spice up the evening hours on Altitude Sports Radio. Nikola Jokic would be rocking the owner’s box at Coors Field, a world-class player at a world-class venue,

While KSE’s stewardship of the Nuggets and Avs has at times been mercurial, it’s also been fairly successful from a standings perspective. And given the concurrent sagas of Peyton Watson, whom the Nuggets just traded to Cleveland rather than extend; and Cale Makar, who just landed the largest contract in NHL history, it’ll be fascinating to see how KSE handles payroll in a non-salary-capped sport. (Well, non-capped for now, boys and girls.)

Uncle Stan had reportedly bid for the Dodgers before, and like 99.99% of big-time North American sports franchise purchases, this one feels more like a land grab on Kroenke’s part than some burning desire to become the next Gene Autry. KSE’s SoFi Stadium, home to the Rams and landlords to the Chargers, is the centerpiece of the Hollywood Park entertainment district in Inglewood, Calif.

Magic Johnson, a minority owner of the Dodgers, welcomed Stan into the MLB ownership club via X.com, then thanked him for letting the NBA icon “rent their beautiful yacht named Aquila for 7 years!”

Those Walmart braggin’ rights are in Stan’s court, given that KSE’s got a tentacle in every major North American sports circuit, with the MLB arm (Angels) joining the NFL (Rams), NBA (Nuggets), NHL (Avalanche), and MLS (Rapids).

And given the global reach of the Arsenal brand, only the oceans cover more of planet Earth than the Kroenkes do at the moment.

On the baseball side, wish Stan luck. The Angels are — were? — one of the few MLB ownership situations that might have a more contentious vibe with its fan base than the Rockies do with Denverites. The Halos are on their sixth manager in eight years. The Angels even had their very own Kris Bryant situation in third baseman Anthony Rendon. The former All-Star landed a seven-year, $246-million contract with the Halos after helping Washington win a World Series in 2019 — then promptly fell apart. The infielder, now 36 years old, has spent this season away from the club, yet hasn’t formally retired.

Rendon’s agent? Scott Boras. Yep — the same guy who represents KB23. Small world, isn’t it? If nothing else, the GTW sickos are looking forward to watching Mike Trout run around in a Jokic jersey or a Nathan MacKinnon sweater soon.

Wednesday, Katy Winge received a promotion, becoming Altitude’s lead analyst on the Nuggets broadcasts. She becomes only the third woman in the NBA in this role.

Winge never set out to be a pioneer, but as she advanced from studio host to sideline reporter to calling a few games, she allowed herself to dream.

She just figured the opportunity would come with another organization. Chris Marlowe and Scott Hastings provided the soundtrack for Nuggets Nation for a quarter century. They were institutions.

However, when the team decided it was time for a reboot, Winge had options available that she had never considered.

“I was so grateful for the opportunity. But I wanted to think about it and respect those who had given so much to the organization, three people (Marlowe, Hastings and reporter Chris Dempsey) I care about deeply. It was bittersweet. I felt guilty,” Winge told The Post. “I took some time.”

The idea of calling games was a pinch-me moment. A decision like this — life-changing in every way — demanded calling her father, Peter. But he passed away unexpectedly last November.

Basketball bonded the Winge family — dad, mother Cathy, and brother Chris. If they were not watching games, they were watching Katy play games. She starred at Minnetonka High School in Minnesota and navigated a bumpy but successful college career at Illinois State.

Winge found confidence through hoops. And her broadcasting chops through endless conversations with her father.

“They say grief is love with no place to go. My dad was my guy. He was the one who introduced me to the sport. We would talk after every game, about the team, about what I brought to the broadcast,” Winge said, her speech halting at the memories. “He was my biggest cheerleader. He believed in me before I believed in myself.”

Thinking back on those conversations, Winge knew what her dad would have said about the Nuggets’ offer. She had to take the job. If not for the love of the game, then for the love of her father.

While the circumstances were not ideal, Winge was ready. She had earned this seat.

“She’s bold and unafraid. And those are two skills and talents that are hard to acquire in this business,” said Altitude colleague Vic Lombardi. “A lot of people in TV come across as arrogant, but most people, deep down, are insecure. She has always been comfortable with who she is. I noticed that from the get-go.”

When Kevin Demoff, Altitude’s president of team and media operations, went through the interview process, Winge’s name remained top of mind. She had grown as a broadcaster over several years, connected with Nuggets Nation and exhibited a sharp understanding of the game.

The last point became a touchstone in many conversations about her candidacy.

“She was the leader in the clubhouse, and the thing that jumped out was the outpouring of support from the coaches, the front office and fans,” Demoff said. “It is funny, we hear all the time the term elite ball knower. Well, Katie is an elite ball knower. The most impactful feedback we got was from the locker room, how much they valued talking to her and her sharing her knowledge.”

Winge will be paired with new play-by-play man Noah Reed. They are dramatically different from Marlowe and Hastings in age and experience.

The challenge of winning over viewers will be difficult. Sports viewers are notoriously unforgiving and impatient.

For Winge, she has been in this role before, but it is totally different when parachuting in for a few assignments sprinkled across seven months. In those spots, you are the substitute teacher trying not to mess things up.

Her new title provides room for her personality — already seen in interviews and on social media — to shine through.

“There is a chemistry and rhythm you develop in that seat. When I would do a couple of games here and there, I always felt like my best game was my last game. I am very well aware it is going to take some time,” Winge said. “I believe it will happen and that my love of the game will help others fall in love with it as well.”

Working in Winge’s favor are things no longer common among broadcasters: hard work and humility. There was no elevator to this role. Winge worked as a sports anchor in Rochester, Minn., long enough to become disenchanted with local news. She returned to school, earning her masters from Northwestern and found her footing “when working for a team.”

Playing the game at a high level — Winge averaged 11.3 points per game on 33.1% shooting from behind the arc as a senior at Illinois State — is one thing. Describing and explaining it in short bursts is another.

Winge has shown that ability.

“She has an incredible combination of basketball knowledge, playing experience, preparation and authenticity,” said Oakland Athletics play-by-play announcer Jenny Cavnar, a fellow trailblazer. “I am thrilled that Denver gets a front-row seat to the next chapter in her career.”

Winge recognizes that being on the call in front of the camera will put her under the microscope. Ask those who know her, and they believe she has the right temperament to handle it, with Demoff saying, “She is already someone girls and women watch and look up to.”

Winge’s father was her inspiration, her coach. Truth is, even dreams come with doubts. And while Winge is driven to do this job well, to make the broadcasts smart and fun, she wishes she could have thanked her father in person.

But as she finds her voice, his will still be inside her head, forever preserved through messages.

“I can hear him saying,” Winge said, “’Hey kiddo, you’ve got this!'”

The Nuggets’ very newsy Wednesday began with news from the broadcast booth. The franchise announced its new team for Altitude Sports broadcasts, with Noah Reed joining the lineup as the play-by-play announcer and NBA veteran Jason Richardson joining the studio team to provide analysis.

Reed, a native of Indiana, had spent the previous five seasons calling football and college basketball for ESPN, FOX Sports and NBC/Peacock. He’ll be joined by Katy Winge, a longtime Kroenke Sports & Entertainment fixture who will take the role of lead analyst, becoming just the third full-time female analyst on an NBA regional network.

“This is a dream come true for me and something I’ve spent so much time and effort striving toward,” Reed said via a Nuggets news release. “I am thrilled to make Denver home and begin connecting and interacting with Nuggets fans everywhere.”

The duo of Reed and Winge replaces Chris Marlowe (play-by-play) and Scott Hastings (analyst), who were let go earlier this summer, along with reporter and studio analyst Chris Dempsey, a former sports reporter for The Denver Post.

Gardner, a Front Range favorite, is returning to Altitude, the company announced. The Denver native and CU/Northglenn alum will serve as a host/reporter on Nuggets broadcasts, as well as fulfill “other roles for the network,” per the KSE release. Gardner spent the last seven years based in New York City as a host with the MLB Network, NHL Network and DAZN, following roughly three years with Altitude prior to that.

Richardson, 45, will serve as studio analyst and as a second game analyst for “select” home games, per KSE. He played 14 seasons in the NBA (2001-15), primarily with Golden State, with whom he won NBA Slam Dunk Contest titles in 2002 and 2003. Richardson will be joined in the studio by another KSE fixture, Vic Lombardi. Altitude veteran and former Nuggets coach Bill Hanzlik will also serve as a studio analyst for “select” games, per KSE.

The new team’s regular-season debut will be the Nuggets’ home opener on Oct. 24 vs. the New Orleans Pelicans. Altitude will carry 67 Nuggets regular-season basketball games this season on both Altitude TV and Altitude+.

Longtime Altitude TV play-by-play announcer Chris Marlowe and color analyst Scott Hastings will no longer call Nuggets games next season as Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, the parent company that owns the Nuggets, Avalanche and Altitude, plans to shake up its talent, four sources familiar with the decision told The Denver Post.

Marlowe has been calling Nuggets games for Altitude since team owner Stan Kroenke launched the regional sports network in 2004. An Olympic gold medalist as part of the 1984 U.S. men’s volleyball team, he has also been the lead play-by-play guy for beach volleyball at seven Olympics, most recently for NBC in 2024. He was named Colorado Sportscaster of the Year in 2023.

“All good things must come to an end,” Marlowe said in a statement released on social media. “… Altitude Sports is moving in a different direction and decided not to renew my contract. It has been a wonderful 22-year run, and I want to thank everyone who was there along the way, especially the fans. I’m not retiring and this is not goodbye — it’s just so long for now.”

Hastings has been a Nuggets and Broncos color commentator for various local broadcasts in Denver since 1993, when he retired from an 11-year career in the NBA. Drafted by the Knicks in 1982, the big man spent the last two seasons of his playing career with the Nuggets. Hastings will continue to co-host a sports talk show on Altitude’s radio station, The Post has learned.

Altitude Nuggets reporter and studio analyst Chris Dempsey was also let go, according to four sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Born in Boulder, he’s a former sports reporter for The Denver Post.

Katy Winge and Vic Lombardi, two other staples on the Nuggets broadcast, have been retained, according to three of those sources.

“For more than a decade, Chris Marlowe, Scott Hastings and Chris Dempsey have been synonymous with Nuggets basketball, bringing energy, insight and a genuine love of the game to every broadcast,” president of KSE media ventures Steve Smith said in a statement to The Post.

“They have been part of many of the most memorable moments in franchise history, including the 2023 championship run, and have helped shape how generations of fans experience Nuggets basketball. Each has been an outstanding ambassador for our organization, leaving a lasting impact on our company, our fans, and the broader Nuggets community.”

Altitude will continue to produce the broadcasts shown on Denver’s KTVD-20 and KUSA-9, according to a news release from Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, the parent company of the Nuggets, Avalanche and Altitude.

All 40 games included in the renewed deal will air on My20 (KTVD-20), while five of the 20 Nuggets games and five of the 20 Avalanche games will also appear simultaneously on KUSA-9, the Denver-area NBC affiliate.

The initial deal, announced last September, coincided with KSE’s introduction of a paid-subscription streaming service called . The streaming option costs $19.95 per month or $199.99 per year and allows access to all Nuggets and Avalanche games not televised exclusively on national networks.

“Last season’s overwhelming community response to this partnership reinforced our commitment to ensuring that the fans who support the Nuggets and Avs can cheer on their favorite teams even when they can’t be with us at Ball Arena,” KSE president of team and media operations Kevin Demoff said in a statement Monday.

Here’s the full list of games that will be available over-the-air for free.

Nuggets games free to watch over the air: 2025-26 TV schedule

• Suns at Nuggets, 7 p.m. Oct. 25 (KTVD-20)

• Pelicans at Nuggets, 7 p.m. Oct. 29 (KTVD-20 and KUSA-9)

• Nuggets at Trail Blazers, 8 p.m. Oct. 31 (KTVD-20)

• Heat at Nuggets, 7 p.m. Nov. 5 (KTVD-20 and KUSA-9)

• Nuggets at Timberwolves, 6 p.m. Nov. 15 (KTVD-20)

• Nuggets at Grizzlies, 6 p.m. Nov. 24 (KTVD-20)

• Mavericks at Nuggets, 7 p.m. Dec. 1 (KTVD-20)

• Magic at Nuggets, 7 p.m. Dec. 18 (KTVD-20 and KUSA-9)

• Jazz at Nuggets, 7 p.m. Dec. 22 (KTVD-20)

• Nuggets at Celtics, 5:30 p.m. Jan. 7 (KTVD-20)

• Wizards at Nuggets, 7 p.m. Jan. 17 (KTVD-20)

• Nuggets at Wizards, 5 p.m. Jan. 22 (KTVD-20)

• Nets at Nuggets, 7 p.m. Jan. 29 (KTVD-20)

• Knicks at Nuggets, 7 p.m. March 6 (KTVD-20 and KUSA-9)

• Nuggets at Thunder, 5:30 p.m. March 9 (KTVD-20)

• Mavericks at Nuggets, 8 p.m. March 25 (KTVD-20)

• Nuggets at Jazz, 7 p.m. April 1 (KTVD-20)

• Trail Blazers at Nuggets, 7 p.m. April 6 (KTVD-20)

• Grizzlies at Nuggets, 7 p.m. April 8 (KTVD-20 and KUSA-9)

• Nuggets at Spurs, 6:30 p.m. April 12 (KTVD-20)

Avs games free to watch over the air: 2025-26 TV schedule

• Stars at Avalanche, 7 p.m. Oct. 11 (KTVD-20)

• Bruins at Avalanche, 7 p.m. Oct. 18 (KTVD-20)

• Avalanche at Oilers, 8 p.m. Nov. 8 (KTVD-20)

• Sabres at Avalanche, 7 p.m. Nov. 13 (KTVD-20 and KUSA-9)

• Rangers at Avalanche, 7 p.m. Nov. 20 (KTVD-20 and KUSA-9)

• Avalanche at Islanders, 5 p.m. Dec. 4 (KTVD-20)

• Predators at Avalanche, 7 p.m. Dec. 13 (KTVD-20)

• Jets at Avalanche, 7 p.m. Dec. 19 (KTVD-20)

• Senators at Avalanche, 7 p.m. Jan. 8 (KTVD-20)

• Maple Leafs at Avalanche, 8 p.m. Jan. 12 (KTVD-20)

• Predators at Avalanche, 7 p.m. Jan. 16 (KTVD-20)

• Red Wings at Avalanche, 7 p.m. Feb. 2 (KTVD-20)

• Wild at Avalanche, 7 p.m. Feb. 26 (KTVD-20 and KUSA-9)

• Avalanche at Kings, 8:30 p.m. March 2 (KTVD-20)

• Avalanche at Kraken, 8 p.m. March 12 (KTVD-20)

• Avalanche at Blackhawks, 6:30 p.m. March 20 (KTVD-20)

• Avalanche at Jets, 6 p.m. March 26 (KTVD-20)

• Flames at Avalanche, 7 p.m. April 9 (KTVD-20 and KUSA-9)

• Avalanche at Oilers, 7:30 p.m. April 13 (KTVD-20)

• Avalanche at Flames, 7 p.m. April 14 (KTVD-20 and KUSA-9)

The Avs’ regular-season opener will be quickly followed by a pair of home games against Utah (Oct. 9) and Dallas (Oct. 11) at Ball Arena, kicking off a schedule that concludes with a home game against Seattle on April 16.

The season begins earlier than normal in order to make room for a 20-day break for the Winter Olympics at Milan and Cortina, Italy, in February. The Avs will play 12 back-to-back sets of games, and March is the busiest month on the schedule with 15 total games. A seven-game homestand will run between Jan. 8-23 — the first such homestand since the 2020-21 season.

The Avs are also set to play a franchise-record 18 afternoon games during the regular season, five of which will be at Ball Arena.

Single-game tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m., while season tickets and partial deposits are already open. For more information, visit nhl.com/avalanche/tickets.

All 82 games will be available on Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM or 950 AM. Altitude TV broadcast dates will be revealed at a later date.

Colorado Avalanche 2025-26 schedule

(Click here to view schedule in mobile.)

Smith added, “a programming error occurred that ended the live broadcast early for some viewers.” Instead, a documentary on Nuggets star center Nikola Jokic aired.

“We sincerely apologize to all Avalanche fans watching on Xfinity who were unable to see the third period of last night’s game,” . “… We take full responsibility for this and deeply regret that you missed out.”

Altitude TV returned to Comcast in February after being unavailable on the cable platform for nearly six years due to a carriage dispute. During that span, both the Nuggets and Avalanche captured championships and saw their star players win MVP awards.

In this particular gag, our man Bugs is getting Yosemite Sam all worked up again. The long-eared galoot draws a line in the sand and dares Sam to cross it. Sam does. He does it again. Sam crosses it again. Bugs keeps drawing lines and backpedaling out of town, through the desert southwest, and eventually up a slope. Eventually, Bugs draws a line that will clearly leave Sam’s right foot dangling over a cliff and send him careening from great cartoon heights into a deep gorge below. Sam crosses the line anyway and, sure enough, falls.

Six years ago, KSE said that it was balking

Five years ago, same line. Same complaint. Four years ago, same line. Same complaint.

Then three years. Then two.

This past Tuesday, Altitude held a news conference to triumphantly announce its return to Xfinity customers — on a separate, premium, sports-related tier. Sam crossed that line after all.

KSE-Comcast dispute finally ending — A-minus

Now it’s not a letter-perfect comparison, and any deal that makes the best two teams in town — the Nuggets and Avalanche — available to a majority of Front Range television homes is better than no deal.

Although, did we mention that all sides also announced, as part of the agreement, that the said separate, premium sports-related tier, was increasing in price in April from $9.99 per month to $15.95? Just in time for the playoffs.

The RSN model is fading, yet the over-the-air ratings for the Nuggets and Avs were reportedly solid enough to keep Comcast at the bargaining table. These are good things. But to the scorekeepers in the GTW crew, there was only one winner in the Altitude-vs-Comcast standoff, ultimately — and it was the latter. By a nose.

Sadly, the victory was largely symbolic. Because there was a heck of a lot of losers. Denver fans, some of whom missed one of the greatest seasons in Nuggets history (’22-23) and the Avs’ first title-winning team (’21-22) in roughly two decades, were chief among them.

Necas vs. Mikko — B

Meanwhile, when it comes to the biggest trade of the winter,  the deal that sent Avalanche star Mikko Rantanen to Carolina, the only fair judgment will come after the Stanley Cup Playoffs for both Colorado and the Hurricanes. That said, Team GTW can’t deny that the cat-quick, 26-year-old Necas has come out of the gate faster than the Moose in his new digs. From Jan. 31-Feb. 7, the new Avs forward piled up four goals and an assist in five games — and the burgundy and blue won four of those five heading into the 4 Nations break. Rantanen, meanwhile, put up a goal and two points over his first six games since joining Carolina. And the ‘Canes, as of Saturday morning, were 2-4 since the trade. Time will tell, but maybe there’s something to this whole “Nathan MacKinnon Effect” after all.

Calvin Booth — D

The trade deadline came. The trade deadline went. Zeke Nnaji and Dario Saric are still here. The Nuggets general manager threw his bench under the bus. He threw their contracts under the bus. But how come he didn’t find room under said bus for the guy who gave out those deals to begin with? Booth caught lightning in a bottle in helping the Nuggets win their first NBA championship two years ago. Too bad he never found a cork.

Altitude Sports and Comcast have reached a new carriage agreement, Kroenke Sports and Entertainment announced Tuesday, ending a bitter contract dispute that caused local blackouts of Nuggets and Avalanche games dating back to September 2019.

Since then, both teams have won championships in their respective leagues, signifying a golden era of professional sports in Colorado, where Comcast is the largest cable provider.

Altitude, the Kroenke-owned regional sports network that broadcasts Denver’s NHL and NBA franchises, will begin airing on Comcast’s Xfinity cable service Tuesday evening, when the Avs play the Vancouver Canucks.

“We owe an apology to our staff, to our players, to our coaches, to our front office, and most importantly to our fans,” Kevin Demoff, KSE president of team and media operations, said during a Tuesday morning news conference at Ball Arena. “Every game we missed this year was a game too many.”

Demoff, who already worked closely with team owner Stan Kroenke as president of the Los Angeles Rams, took over Altitude oversight in March 2024, inheriting the Comcast stalemate after Matt Hutchings resigned from KSE the previous month.

“When I stood up here a year ago and promised that we would get these teams back on the air,” Demoff said, “I thought it would be quicker.”

In an attempt to navigate around the standoff, Demoff helped KSE launch a streaming platform called Altitude+ last October, selling subscriptions for $19.95 per month. In addition, 20 Nuggets games and 20 Avalanche games are being televised over the air this season on My20 (KTVD-20), with 10 of those games also appearing on KUSA-9, the Denver-area NBC affiliate.

Now with the renewed Comcast agreement, Altitude will also be available on Xfinity’s “More Sports and Entertainment” add-on package, which currently costs $9.99 but will increase to $15.95 on April 8. The package also includes CBS Sports, ESPNU, Big Ten Network, ESPNews, MLB Network, NFL Network and NHL Network. Altitude will be on channel 1250.

Neither KSE nor Comcast disclosed when the new contract ends. Demoff, asked when the two sides will have to enter into negotiations again, said, “I hope that (fans) never feel this pain again.”

Demoff credited Denver Mayor Mike Johnston for his persistence in urging on negotiations. Johnston, who attended Tuesday’s news conference wearing a Nikola Jokic jersey, described the multiyear blackout as a “tragedy.”

“We’ve been working on just to bring everybody to the table,” Johnston said. “So I was doing a lot of shuttle diplomacy back and forth. Sometimes it was when I was at a game here, running down one hall to talk to the Comcast folks then back down to talk to Kroenke people. Keeping them at the table and just keeping them focused on how important this was for fans.”

Colorado Governor Jared Polis also weighed in on the resolved dispute with a statement Tuesday, saying: “After far too long a wait, Comcast and Altitude are finally putting Coloradans first, allowing us to watch our world-class Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche. This means that more Colorado fans and kids can grow up watching the greatness of players like Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Nathan McKinnon, Cale Makar and many others without their families jumping through hoops.”

Jokic has won the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award three times in the last four seasons while the contract dispute was ongoing. MacKinnon won the NHL’s Hart Trophy last year, marking the second time in NBA and NHL history that both MVP winners have played in the same city. Magic Johnson and Wayne Gretzky accomplished the feat in 1989 while playing for the Los Angeles Lakers and Kings.

“This is an incredible day for Denver sports fans. … It is an absolute gift to be able to watch some of the greatest athletes in sports history playing in your hometown every night,” Johnston said. “Sometimes it is just 30 minutes when you’re washing dishes or 30 minutes when you’re doing homework with the kids. … You might have missed some of the last five seasons, but there’s plenty of great play coming.”

Nuggets and Avalanche games will soon be available via a paid-subscription streaming service, with select games also set to be broadcast over-the-air on Denver’s KUSA-9 and KTVD-20, KSE announced Thursday morning.

The company plans to debut a streaming service called Altitude+ in October, when both teams begin their 2024-25 seasons. All games not aired exclusively on a national network will be available to stream. Subscriptions will cost $19.95 per month ($239.40 per year).

A total of 20 Nuggets games and 20 Avs games will be televised over the air for free on My20 (KTVD-20). Ten of those games will also appear on KUSA-9, the Denver-area NBC affiliate.

The news comes five years into an ongoing carriage dispute between Comcast and Altitude Sports, the Kroenke-owned regional sports network, which has resulted in Nuggets and Avalanche games being blacked out for Comcast subscribers.

Altitude Sports and its game broadcasts have been available as a channel on DirecTV, Fubo and Spectrum TV. They still will be — but now a combination of streaming and over-the-air broadcasts will give fans another avenue to bypass blackouts.

“It’s huge news. Great news. And obviously I know it’s something that Josh (Kroenke) and the entirety of KSE have been working very hard on for a long time now. … The most important part of that is for our fans,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “I feel we have the best fans in the NBA, and they’ve been a huge part of our success. And now the fact that our fans can watch the Nuggets play is going to be great, because that’s one thing you hear as you walk or drive around town is that there are people who haven’t been able to watch the Nuggets or the Avalanche. And obviously both teams are in the middle of historic runs with great players. And we want our fans to see as many games as possible.”

The Altitude+ application will be available for download on Apple and Android devices first, and indications are that a smart TV version of the app will be released a few weeks later, though KSE hasn’t provided a specific launch date yet. Subscriptions will include access to pregame and postgame coverage, as well as the network’s standard college coverage of Colorado State, Air Force and the University of Denver.

Nuggets and Avs games televised over the air on KUSA-9 and My20 will be produced by Altitude Sports with the same talent, including Nuggets play-by-play announcer Chris Marlowe and Avalanche play-by-play announcer Marc Moser.

“You want those people who’ve become synonymous with Altitude and the Nuggets and the Avalanche to be the people that (fans) see on streaming and over-the-air,” Kevin Demoff, KSE’s president of team and media operations, told The Denver Post. “It’s important to us that no matter where you watch our broadcast, on Channel 9, Channel 20, on Altitude+, on Altitude, that it looks and feels the same. That you’re getting the exact same experience no matter where you watch.”

The contractual dispute between KSE and Comcast coincided with widespread strife for regional sports networks and a revolution in live sports streaming. Other sports franchises previously established the standard for pivoting away from RSNs in favor of the two-pronged approach KSE is now adopting: old-school broadcast TV combined with new-school, self-started subscription services.

The dispute has also coincided with an unprecedented era of success on the ice and on the hardwood for the teams owned by billionaire Stan Kroenke. The Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2022. The Nuggets followed with their first NBA championship in franchise history in 2023. Avs center Nathan MacKinnon and Nuggets center Nikola Jokic both won the most valuable player award in their respective leagues in 2024 — the first time that the NBA and NHL’s MVP winners have hailed from the same city since Magic Johnson and Wayne Gretzky in 1989.

The excellence of both teams was perpetually at arm’s length from local sports fans, however. In November 2019, Altitude filed a lawsuit against Comcast after its carriage deal lapsed two months earlier, accusing Colorado’s largest cable provider of violating antitrust laws. The lawsuit was settled in March 2023, but the two sides remained at a contract impasse, keeping Nuggets and Avalanche games blacked out on the cable provider’s platform.

Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand reported in February 2022 that Altitude registered an NBA-worst 0.19 rating in the Denver market — the lowest TV number recorded in any pro hoops market for nearly two decades. In February 2024, Matt Hutchings, the KSE executive who had overseen Altitude, resigned. He was replaced the next month by Demoff, who swiftly acknowledged streaming and over-the-air television as possible paths forward in his introductory news conference.

“What I’m most excited about is that our passionate fans can now see Nikola Jokic play basketball. They can see Nathan MacKinnon play hockey,” Demoff told The Post. “We’ve had two MVPs. We’ve had two titles. And unfortunately those haven’t been on air. I’m most pleased that now there’s an option that gets all of our games on air. But I do think as we grow our reach and our scope with these teams and the fan bases, that we can help find younger fans. We can grow that next generation. I think streaming is a great way to do that.”