The Chicago Sports Network is partnering with Weigel Broadcasting to simulcast 10 White Sox games this season over-the-air on WCIU-Ch. 26, the network announced Thursday.
With opening day a week away, CHSN is gearing up for its first full season of broadcasting White Sox baseball on Comcast after striking a carriage deal with the market’s largest pay-TV provider last summer.
Under the terms of the Comcast agreement, CHSN abruptly pulled the plug on its free over-the-air broadcasts on local TV affiliates in Chicago, Rockford, Peoria, and Fort Wayne and South Bend, Indiana.
But for diehard fans who bought an antenna to watch the White Sox last year – or perhaps haven’t upgraded their Comcast subscriptions to the higher-priced Ultimate tier where CHSN and rival Marquee Sports Network now reside – there are some red-letter days to mark on your calendar.
The White Sox broadcasts will go old school for 10 games on WCIU, The U, from May through September, with the Cubs, Yankees and Dodgers on the free-TV schedule.
First up is May 8 versus Seattle, followed by all three crosstown series home games at Rate Field against the Cubs May 15-17. Other highlights include a home game June 14 against the defending World Series champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, along with one Crosstown matchup against the Cubs at Wrigley Field in August.
Several of the simulcasts will include CHSN’s Friday Night All-Access package, with mic’d up players, exclusive camera angles and behind-the-scenes glimpses into the team. All of the broadcasts will feature complete pre- and post-game coverage.
Last year, CHSN simulcast seven games on WCIU-Ch. 26, including the crosstown series with the Cubs, boosting exposure for the fledgling network.
A joint venture between the Sox, Bulls, Blackhawks and Nashville, Tennessee-based Standard Media, CHSN went live Oct.1, 2024, on pay-TV platforms DirecTV and Astound, and over the air on WJYS-Ch. 62. It soon added streaming service FuboTV and its own direct-to-consumer streaming app.
But CHSN was blacked out from the jump on Comcast, the market’s largest pay-TV provider, leaving the cable giant’s 1 million Chicago-area subscribers in the dark for the entire Bulls and Blackhawks seasons, as well as a significant portion of its inaugural White Sox season.
CHSN finally struck a carriage deal with Comcast in June, putting the sports network on the Ultimate tier, which costs subscribers an additional $20 per month. Marquee also shifted to the Ultimate tier at the conclusion of the Cubs’ regular season last fall.
The Cubs’ Marquee Sports Network, which launched in 2020, announced Wednesday its streaming package would be available in the Chicago market this season on two new platforms: Hulu + Live TV and Amazon’s Prime Video app.
The full 2026 White Sox broadcast schedule is expected to be released Friday.
rchannick@chicagotribune.com
