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A lot of Oregonians expecting to watch Scoot Henderson’s debut with the Portland Trail Blazers are in for a nasty surprise.
Two weeks before the opening tip of the NBA season, cable provider Xfinity announced it has removed Root Sports Northwest, the regional sports network broadcasting Blazers games, from its standard cable package and reserved it for a premium package that costs on average $18 more a month.
Xfinity is owned by Comcast, the nation’s largest media conglomerate.
In an announcement that attempted to spin the channel’s removal as a win for thrifty cable customers, Comcast said the decision was motivated by no longer wishing to pass along the high cost of regional sports networks to customers who don’t watch sports. It also appears to be part of hardball negotiations between the cable provider and the regional sports network as younger viewers continue to flee cable for streaming platforms.
Reached by WW, a Comcast Oregon spokesperson confirmed the move and issued a statement: “We’re happy to continue offering Root Sports Northwest to our customers and making it available on a package that includes the most sports content. We’ll also be providing credits to our customers on our digital basic package who do not receive the network.”
The spokesperson declined to provide further information on the record.
A Root Sports Northwest spokesperson said the network’s brass wasn’t happy about the decision. “We are disappointed that Xfinity has moved ROOT SPORTS to the Ultimate package. The timing is less than ideal as the Kraken and Trail Blazers are heading into the regular season, and we feel for the teams and their fans.”
Nationwide, regional sports networks are in dire financial trouble, in part because cable companies don’t want to shoulder the expense that comes with producing games and securing broadcast rights. In its initial report on the decision, The Seattle Times offered useful context: “Providers such as Xfinity have felt the pressure from cable ‘cord cutters’ ditching cable TV bundles and moving to streaming packages that are largely sports-free and tend to be cheaper. As a result, they’ve taken increased steps to lower those costs during harder-than-usual negotiations when contracts come up for renewal.”
The Comcast move is bad news for the Blazers franchise, which produces an in-house broadcast in partnership with Root Sports Northwest. The team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.