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Why you may not be able to watch Bulls, Hawks games from home

Here come the Hawks. And the Bulls.

But when the Blackhawks drop the puck for their home opener Thursday night, and the Bulls tip off the regular season next week, millions of fans in the Chicago area won’t be able to watch from home.

With last month’s dissolution of NBC Sports Chicago after 20 years of broadcasting Blackhawks, Bulls and White Sox games, the teams’ owners on Oct. 1 launched a new TV home called Chicago Sports Network.

The new regional sports network, which kicked off with a two-hour introductory special called “Game On Chicago” hosted by Adam Amin, states it will air more than 300 Blackhawks, Bulls and White Sox games annually.

Along with game coverage, CHSN offers “The Chicago Lead,” a roundup of news, analysis, interviews and features on sports from high school to professional levels, and other programming.

However, the network has yet to reach a carriage agreement with Comcast, the cable provider serving approximately 4.7 million homes and businesses within the metropolitan area. Streaming services including Hulu, YouTube TV and Fubo also aren’t carrying CHSN.

The network is available on DirecTV and DirecTV Streaming (Channel 665 in both cases) as well as U-Verse Channels 1741 (high-definition) and 741 (standard definition). It also is available on Astound, the former RCN, on Channels 685 and 576 (HD) and 370 and 371 (SD).

CHSN also is offering free viewing on “over-the-air” channels. This requires the purchase and installation of a digital antenna, which the network said typically costs between $20-$40.

WJYS Channels 62.2 and 62.3 offer the new network in the Chicago area, the two channels accounting for more than one team playing at the same time.

An information page on the CHSN website, chsn.com/info/, includes a help line — (877) 828-8198 — that provides assistance in installing the antenna and scanning for CHSN channels.

Blackhawks and Bulls fans have been critical over social media regarding availability of the teams’ games after two decades of cable access on NBC Sports Chicago.

“Work out a deal with Comcast,” has been a common refrain.

That appears to be the plan.

On the Sports Business Journal’s Oct. 10 The Sports Media Podcast, CHSN President Jason Coyle said the new station will “hopefully be able to reach a deal that works for everybody in the near future.”

Coyle also noted an app will be introduced in weeks ahead, while highlighting the “free-to-air” component.

“By the time we’re done rolling everything out we fully expect to be in over a million homes beyond where we have been traditionally,” Coyle said on the podcast.

“We are not looking for people to cut the cord.”

CHSN is a joint venture between the Bulls, Blackhawks and White Sox and Nashville-based Standard Media, which touts “decades of experience negotiating distribution deals with cable and streaming services.”

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