There was a dark time when Blackhawks home games were not televised

Most fans were unable to watch Chicago Blackhawks games on television this season. Some of it was by choice, but for most, it was being stuck in the middle of an ugly negotiation.

The team's new regional sports network, CHSN, was not available on Comcast's Xfinity, the largest cable provider in the Chicagoland area. Now, those fans could have used the antiquated technology of rabbit ears to get the over-the-air signal. However, a poor product on the ice and the access issues led to ratings declining (subscription required).

Negotiations between CHSN and Comcast dragged on throughout the entire season.

Thankfully, that dispute has been resolved, and CHSN is available on Xfinity's highest-tier package. Fans with Xfinity will have to pay extra to get Blackhawks games, but there was a time when home games were not even allowed to be televised.

Then owner Billy Wirtz, Dollar Bill as he was infamously nicknamed, feared televised home games drove fans away from attending in person. He simply would not allow home games to be aired locally.

It was outdated thinking

He completely ignored drawing in more revenue and growing a fan base.

Wirtz was more interested in making his money off of tickets sold, parking revenue, and concession sales. The problem was that not everyone could afford a ticket. That eventually caught up with him.

When the team was good, his policy worked.

Fans flocked to the old Chicago Stadium and the United Center after it was built to replace the Madhouse on Madison.

The Hawks were a draw when they were consistently making the playoffs back in the day. They also had players worth watching like Denis Savard, Eddie Olczyk, Steve Larmer, Doug Wilson, Jeremy Roenick, Chris Chelios, Tony Amonte, and Eddie Belfour.

The problem was that most of them were traded away the moment they dared asked for more money. Dollar Bill was not about to pay big money to keep his superstar players.

Instead, they were replaced with guys like Alexei Zhamnov and Jeff Hackett. Fine players, but they were never going to be superstars who were box office draws.

The team eventually sank to the bottom of the NHL standings at the start of this century, and attendance dropped. The Blackhawks became completely irrelevant due in part because they were bad and mostly inaccessible because Wirtz still refused to put home games on television.

He did briefly allow home games to be televised for a price. The Hawks rolled out HawkVision in 1992.

It was a pay-per-view service that got 20,000 subscribers during the 1992 run to the Stanley Cup. It was a short-lived run, and the idea was scrapped a few seasons later. After that, the only way to catch a Hawks home game until Wirtz's death in 2007 was to pay the high price for tickets or hope they made the playoffs so the game could be nationally televised.

One of the first things Bill's son Rocky did upon taking control of the team after his father's passing was to put Hawks home games on television.

The decision helped raise the Blackhawks to new heights of popularity and draw in new fans. Suddenly, the team was fully accessible. It was also great timing with the emergence of Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, and Duncan Keith.