Avalanche Blackout Starting To Hurt Local Businesses

DENVER (CBS4)- At the Sobo 151 Bar and Grill in Denver, Avalanche game nights aren't as loud as they used to be. Thursday night the Colorado Avalanche took on the Boston Bruins (Game Recap), and headed into the game both teams were undefeated.

"This is our main time of the year. If there was a hockey game on TV tonight we would be full right now," said Petr Dunaj, general manager at Sobo 151.

The weeks-long dispute between Altitude Sports and the big three providers, Comcast, DISH and DirecTV, still hasn't been resolved. Dunaj says on some weeknights business is down almost 50%.

"And on the weekends, probably more than 50%. I would say even close to 70%-75%," he told CBS4's Dominic Garcia.

Altitude has carried countless Colorado Avalanche, Denver Nuggets, and other local sports teams' games over the last 15 years. It's owned by Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, which also owns the Avalanche and Nuggets.

Executive Vice President and COO of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, Matt Hutchings, said contracts with Comcast, DISH and DirecTV came up in September. Since then, the entities have been unable to come up with a new agreement.

"To the fans of the teams and the network, we're very concerned and we're sorry that a deal is not done yet," Hutchings said. "I can assure them that we have been very proactive in trying to put different offers on the table."

Local fans like Daniel Covillo say going to the game is their only option right now, but he won't be able to keep that up.

"We're not even five miles away from the Pepsi Center and we can't watch it on TV, like that's kind of ridiculous," he told CBS4's Dominic Garcia.