I find the Chicago sports landscape to be lackluster. Many do as well.
In October of last year, perhaps we were being treated with something amazing. The Chicago Sports Network took over for NBC Sports Chicago. And they announced that it would be available with an antenna. As long as you had half of a brain, you could get the channel. I already had an antenna as backup. For an entire season, I was able to watch the Blackhawks and Bulls for free. I finally cancelled my cable after all of these years. I never thought that would happen. Between my home and business, I saved about $300 per month not having it. I got an antenna for both places and started watching those games as well as the Bears.
What was really great about it is that I realized that Comcast had a major delay of live broadcasts of almost one minute. It never was that way until about 2020-2021 when I realized it. I realized it watching the Super Bowl a few years ago and noticed about a 45-second difference. That is absurd. Again, never was that way. It was maybe five or ten seconds a the most compared to an antenna.
But then, all of the dumb fucks started complaining. First, it was “I shouldn’t have to setup an antenna!” Then, it came “I only hear audio!” “WHY WON’T YOUTUBE TV HAVE IT???” All of this was fucking stupid and asinine. CHSN was in chaos for the idiots. While myself and others were having no problem.
First, it’s very easy to setup an antenna. Then, the ones who had only sound on the channel had a TV as old as they were. And last, YouTube TV has zero interest in carrying any local sports channel. Then everything started going downhill.
On the main channel in Chicago, it was broadcasted in beautiful 1080p HD. The picture was crisp and even better than NBC Sports Chicago. Because so many dipshits complained that they couldn’t get the picture because their TV was made in 2008, CHSN downgraded their picture to 720p to make it available. And trust me, it wasn’t even that clear. It looked very much like standard definition. But hey, it’s free, right? I still wasn’t really that pissed.
Then came the drama from, you guessed it, Comcast. This dipshit named Jason Coyle, who was the top guy at CHSN, released a statement that the goal of this network was to make it available to everyone. And to his credit, it truly was. People who have Comcast could have easily bought an antenna. OR, make the switch to something like DirecTV. It wasn’t that difficult. I made the switch within a day or two.
So here is Comcast causing this ruffle. Then came the news this past week. CHSN became available on Comcast. BUT, it would be on one of their more expensive tiers. In exchange, CHSN agreed to get rid of the free option on an antenna. So just like that, 500,000 or so viewers who got it on an antenna in Chicagoland are shut out for the cable subscribers who are flocking away in mass amounts.
Why even tell us that we will be able to watch the games on an antenna for the long run only to take it away after eight months? I know we aren’t entitled to shit. But this is fucking bullshit. And no, I am not going to go back to Comcast to have a 45-second delay. I have plenty of websites where I can watch the channel for free that do that. I want my games actually live on an antenna to avoid those delays.
CHSN tried to get on Comcast last November/December. They offered it very cheap and Comcast said no. Right after that is when CHSN should have told them to go fuck themselves. Instead, six months later, they cave in. And they fuck over the fans. Again.
All of these antenna users won’t go back to cable. They also won’t pay $30 for this fucking channel direct. Neither will I. There are several websites to watch the channel for free, albeit on a 45-second delay. That will suck. I also have plenty of sites to watch the NBA and NHL packages that may have about a 15-25 second delay. This is what we will do because as mentioned earlier, Comcast has that same 45-second delay. And I am sure the feed they sell direct from their site has the same one.
So I might as well watch it for free.
Jason Coyle, Jerry Reinsdorf and Danny Wirtz could have all prevented this from happening. They could have told Comcast to go fuck themselves. Instead, they chose revenue that is quickly diminishing over the fans. Shame on these three.
Fuck CHSN.
Fire Ryan Poles | Fire Ben Johnson 
June 8, 2025 at 12:54 pm
Fro, is that that station that’s on over-the-air channel 62.2? If it is, my experience has been that signal was very weak, and it was a crap shoot as to whether that station came in at all. You might be better off watching on your computer anyway.
I’ll tell you about what pissed me off, and still does to this day. I was when the goddamned Ricketts Crime Family decided to create “The Marquee Sorts Network”. Those greedy motherfuckers took the Cubs away from WGN, a network they were associated with since I think the 1940’s and moved to fucking cable! Not even winning the World Series can make me forgive these money-grubbing cocksuckers. Goddamnit to hell, these assholes have enough fucking money!!! I one that gives me comfort is the fact that cable is basically on life-support. Streaming has emerged as the next big thing, the cable TV of the late 70’s-early 80’s. And it won’t recover! I have two TVs in my bedroom, one hooked into a roof antenna, the other has a Roku system built in from the factory. It’s really cool. I can stream all the stations from cable through YouTube TV, so I’m pretty much set. And the streaming thing is really cool because I can pause the feed if I have to take a leak or something. Hell, I can even record entire programs if I want to. I don’t know, maybe it’s something to consider…..
June 8, 2025 at 11:55 pm
It is indeed, 62.2. And I know others have had trouble getting the channel. I had to move my antenna around a couple of times to pick it up (and still do for other channels).
It’s just how TV reception is these days with antennas and digital channels. It isn’t like the “old days” where moving it around until it comes in perfect.
And I know all about how shitty it was to not have games on WGN anymore. Even when I lived further away and couldn’t get it growing up, the horrible greed kicked in when they cut the amount of games from 150 or whatever it was to 92 back in ’96 or ’97. WGN got fucking greedy themselves by becoming a WB affiliate (which later became CW). They also cut the amount of Bulls games back then if I recall.
And even worse, they became the CW affiliate again this past Fall after eight years of being an independent. So even if they wanted to get local sports back on there, it would have to be limited. Such a clusterfuck. WGN sucks now.
I actually have YouTube TV as well. A friend and I split the monthly bill there. It’s just they refuse to carry any local sports networks. I am just thankful for the free websites where I can watch CHSN (or even Marquee) for free despite the delay.