As expected, the Chicago Bulls, Blackhawks and White Sox are leaving their Comcast-owned regional sports network home, NBC Sports Chicago, and setting up new distribution, starting in October. 

The new channel, Chicago Sports Network (CHSN) will be launched in partnership with Nashville, Tennessee-based broadcaster Standard Media Group and reach what is described as an "expanded Midwestern footprint," with distribution agreements in place with "traditional cable providers, streaming services and be available via free, over-the-air broadcast." 

You can read the entire somewhat vague press release here. 

That expanded reach is described as "most of Illinois, and parts of Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin."

Also read: Bulls, White Sox and Blackhawks Set to Ditch NBC Sports Chicago, Transform Stadium Into Their Own RSN

Jason Coyle, a longtime executive for Bulls and White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf's media company, Stadium, has been named president of the new channel. 

“As we set out to design the network, we began and ended every discussion with the simple question: What is best for our fans?” said Coyle, in a statement. “What is the best approach to distribution? How can we push the limits of both in-game and studio production? We plan to serve our fans on as many platforms and in as many markets as our rights allow.”

CHSN will launch in October, in conjunction with the Bulls’ and Blackhawks’ respective NBA and NHL preseasons. The cellar-dwelling White Sox will play out the remainder of the 2024 Major League Baseball regular season, which ends in late September, on NBC Sports Chicago.

“We thank the White Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks for the long and collaborative partnership on NBC Sports Chicago,” said the Comcast-owned RSN in its own statement. “We look forward to producing quality coverage of the teams through the remainder of our partnership, along with continuing our extensive coverage of every local pro team in town on NBC 5 Chicago and Telemundo Chicago.”

If Comcast’s NBCUniversal unit doesn't seem heartbroken in its goodbye statement, that’s probably because it’s been marginalizing an RSN business that has enduring diminishing profitability in recent years amid cord-cutting and escalating team licensing costs. 

With the loss of Chicago, NBCU’s RSN holdings are down to NBC Sports Bay Area, NBC Sports Boston, NBC Sports California and NBC Sports Philadelphia. It also owns 8% of SportsNet New York. 

More broadly, Comcast is no longer pushing RSNs to customers who don't watch them in base tiers, forcing sports fans who want them to pay for premium video packages. 

This strategy is reportedly at the heart of the current carriage dispute between Comcast and bankrupt Diamond Sports Group, operator of the Bally Sports channels. 

ESPN continues to score with its documentary series The Last Dance, with episodes three and four averaging 5.9 million viewers across ESPN and ESPN2, according to Nielsen.

The documentary, which chronicles the Chicago Bulls’ last championship season in the 1990s, drew 6.1 million viewers for episode three and 5.7 million for episode four, said Nielsen. That compares to the 6.1 million viewers that tuned into the first two The Last Dance episodes last week.

Overall the documentary is averaging 6.0 million viewers across its first four episodes, making it the most-viewed original content broadcasts on ESPN since 2004, said Nielsen.

The ratings follow a record ratings performance from ESPN’s coverage of the NFL Draft, which drew more than 15 million viewers during its three-night run last week, according to Nielsen. 

ESPN's much anticipated sports documentary series The Last Dance, averaged 6.1 million viewers Sunday across its two episode premiere.

The 10-part documentary, which follows Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls' quest to win a sixth NBA title during the 1990s, drew 6.3 million for its premiere episode and 5.8 million viewers for episode two across ESPN and ESPN2, according to Nielsen. 

The two premiere episodes surpassed the 2012 ESPN documentary film You Don't Know Bo, which drew 3.6 million viewers. 

On ESPN alone, the two hours averaged 5.3 million viewers, with episode 1 delivering 5.7 million viewers and episode 2 delivering 5 million, said Nielsen. 

On Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, Last Dance posts from ESPN accounted for a combined 9 million engagements. Two pre-and two post-digital live shows combined for 3.5 million viewers and 2.6 million minutes, according to the network. 

It’s going to be a different baseball season at NBC Sports Chicago.

The regional sports network that started as a joint venture among Comcast, the White Sox, Bulls, Blackhawks and Cubs will not be airing Cubs games for the first time since 2003.

With the Cubs opting to launch their own network, NBC Sports Chicago is doubling down on the up-and-coming Sox, whose local games, like those of the Cubs, will no longer be on broadcast.

“We’ve got all the White Sox games for the most part,” Kevin Cross, general manager of NBC Sports Chicago, said. “This will be fun.”

Last year, televised 80 Cubs games that averaged a 4.1 rating, down 7% from the prior season. It showed 105 White Sox games.

Those averaged a 1 rating, up 25%. This year, the network will carry 161 of 162 regular season Sox games.

This season, there are high expectations for the White Sox. While the team was rebuilding, was showing minor league games to familiarize fans with prospects who would be coming up to the South Side.

RELATED: Marquee Sports Network Steps Up to the Plate

When the last baseball season ended, rebranded itself as the home of Chicago Sports. That means the network will still cover that team on the north side of town.

“The fan base in this market wants that and we still have to provide it,” Cross said.

Outside of baseball season, Cross figures will have a real advantage over Marquee Sports Network, the Cubs’ outlet. When winter sets in, will be carrying Bulls basketball and Blackhawks hockey.

“There won’t be a single week of the year where we don’t have live events and pro events,” he said. “That’s a great thing for us and I love where we’re positioned.”

The addition of more live White Sox games has helped NBCSC maintain affiliate fees even with the Cubs’ departure. And while some sponsors have moved to Marquee with the Cubs, “we’re off to a really good start from an advertising standpoint,” Cross said. “The community is buying into it. They know that the Sox have something going on and they want to get in early on.”

He added, “Our biggest selling point is that we’re a year-round network.”

According to Kagan analyst Adam Gajo, is expected to generate $207 million in revenue, with $168.7 million coming from subscriber fees ($4.29 per subscriber per month) and $35.6 million from advertising. It will earn $8.8 million in cash flow, according to Kagan.

RELATED: Outlook Uncertain for RSN Business Overall

To win the competition with Marquee, Cross believes his network needs to constantly innovate. This season the network will boast new, state-of-the-art studios, built by the folks who designed the studios NBC uses for the Olympics.

“It’s going to be a studio that allows us to create content in entirely different ways. And that’s what the fans want,” he said.

Beyond television, Cross said he wants to be strong on digital with written content, video-on-demand and fans engaged on social media. “We’ve got to be there for fans 24/7, he said.

ESPN Tuesday offered a video preview of its upcoming documentary on the 1990s Chicago Bulls championship dynasty, which premieres this June.

The 10-part series, The Last Dance, chronicles Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls' six NBA title run in the 1990s and features never-before-seen footage from the team’s last championship run in the 1997-98 season, according to the network.

The Last Dance features interviews with Jordan and other key figures from the Bulls’ championship teams, as well as with stars from the basketball and entertainment worlds including Charles Barkley, Larry Bird, Carmen Electra, Phil Jackson, Magic Johnson, Steve Kerr, President Barack Obama, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman and Justin Timberlake, said ESPN.

Comcast’s CSN Chicago said it will live stream the upcoing season's Major League Baseball games featuring the World Champion Cubs as well as the White Sox.

The games will be available to authenticated pay TV subscribers via CSNChicago.com and the NBC Sports app. CSN Chicago also will stream its pre- and post-game shows.

Baseball games were not previously available online because of tangled rights issues and legacy issues related to defining each team’s home markets. Last year, Fox’s regional sports networks made deals to stream games, and now the floodgates seem to be fully open.

“With live streaming currently offered for our Bulls [NBA] and Blackhawks [NHL] telecasts, the addition of MLB streaming further illustrates our commitment to provide our viewers with the most in-depth and compelling Cubs and White Sox content in and out of the home and on any device,” said Phil Bedella, VP/GM of CSN Chicago.

CSN Chicago is a partnership of the NBC Sports Group with the Cubs, White Sox, Blackhawks and Bulls.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

ABC’s NBA Finals Game 7 telecast last night drew more than 30 million viewers, making it the most watched NBA Finals came in 18 years, according to ABC.

The game, in which LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the defending champion Golden State Warriors to win its first NBA title and the city’s first championship since 1964, drew 30.7 million viewers, besting Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals between the Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz, according to ESPN.

 ABC’s Game 7 viewership peaked with 44.5 million viewers and a 22.5 U.S. rating from 10:30-10:40 p.m. (ET), according to Nielsen.

Overall, the series averaged 20,1 million viewers and an 11.3 U.S. rating for its seven games. The back-to-back Cavaliers-Warriors NBA Finals in 2015 and 2016 are the two-most-watched and highest-ratedNBA Finals ever on ABC, according to ESPN.

The game also drew a whopping 7.4 million Tweets from 1.7 million unique Twitter users, according to Nielsen’s Twitter TV Ratings. The game also generated 96.2 million total minutes streamed and an average minute audience of 598,000 viewers, which is the most for a non-World Cup event ever on WatchESPN, according to the network.