Even after introducing new streaming and over-the-air methods for watching Nuggets and Avalanche games, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment hasn’t given up on returning to Comcast.

CEO Kevin Demoff told the Denver Post that KSE is still trying to reach an agreement to bring Altitude Sports back to local Comcast customers before the start of the NBA and NHL seasons in October.

Altitude, the KSE-owned regional sports network, has been suspended since September 2019 due to a carriage dispute at Comcast. Nuggets and Avalanche owner Stan Kroenke named Demoff president of team and media operations in March to oversee KSE’s next steps, a triumphant half of which came Thursday with the announcement of Altitude+ and a selection of free games on local television stations Diploma.

The other half is still a work in progress. Not given up.

“I think what we set out to do in March was that we immediately took two paths. One of them was a path that included Comcast. One was a path that did not include Comcast,” Demoff told The Post. “Obviously we have been in a stalemate with them for over five years. It would have been irresponsible to say, ‘Hey, this is the only way forward for us.’ So you could say, ‘How do you make sure our fans can watch all the games if we don’t get a Comcast deal?’ That goes through a streaming product. This happens over the radio. And renewing our contracts with Charter (Spectrum TV), DirecTV and Fubo, which should not be lost in the process, ensures that this gets done.

“That was one way. The other way is to do a Comcast deal. We’re continuing to work on that. We had a constructive dialogue. I don’t know how I would rate it on a scale of optimistic to not optimistic. But I’m still hoping we have a Comcast deal by the start of this season. I don’t think that’s off the table at all.”

If a deal isn’t completed by then, Demoff remains “encouraged that we’re at least having conversations about the right things.”

The Avs have already begun preseason play and the regular season opener is scheduled for Oct. 9 in Las Vegas. The Nuggets will host Oklahoma City on October 24th to begin their regular season, but exhibitions against the Celtics begin on October 4th in Abu Dhabi.

“We’ve been talking to (Comcast) all along,” Demoff said. “Our goal was to bring a new approach to the discussion, so hopefully we’ve done that on the streaming and OTA side, and hopefully we can do that with Comcast.” If we do that, that’s great . If not, we have ensured that our fans are not tied to the conclusion of this deal in order to be able to watch all of our games.”

What about Altitude+ during the NBA and NHL offseasons?

The new streaming service will provide access to all Nuggets and Avalanche games not broadcast exclusively on national networks for a subscription price of $19.95 per month, KSE announced. Altitude’s college coverage of Colorado State, Air Force and the University of Denver is also included.

Since the NBA, NHL and college sports seasons roughly coincide on the calendar – professional basketball and professional ice hockey are particularly aligned – will subscriptions remain at the same price during the six months of the year without those sports?

“The goal is for people to have their subscription throughout the season. “We’ll see if we can develop content in Altitude’s off-season that’s compelling enough to keep people with their subscriptions during those months,” Demoff said. “We certainly know that, like most sports subscriptions, the likelihood is that people are likely to keep them during the season and may not keep them in the offseason. This is not unique to any of these streaming products.”