Carriage disputes happen in sports television. You’d be hard-pressed to find a market that hasn’t been affected by one.
But they’ve been rare in Chicago. The last time a cable or satellite provider dropped a local sports channel was when Dish Network dumped NBC Sports Chicago in October 2019. I remember it well because shortly after, I dumped Dish Network for Comcast’s Xfinity cable. I don’t mess around.
The next year, Comcast delayed picking up Marquee Sports Network, but the effect on Cubs fans was minimal. They missed a few weeks of spring-training games before the pandemic put the season on hold.