Last year, Chicago Bulls and White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf partnered with Standard Media and Chicago Blackhawks ownership to launch Chicago Sports Network (CHSN), the new home for local sports broadcasts. Already, that partnership is under scrutiny.
The Bulls signed lead executive Arturas Karnisovas to a contract extension on June 18 in the lead-up to the NBA offseason, and CHSN naturally posted an episode of its By the Horns podcast reacting to the move. Within a few days, the episode had disappeared from the feed.
Chicago Sun-Times writer Jeff Agrest reports that CHSN confirmed it pulled the episode, but both the network and the Bulls told Agrest that the team had nothing to do with the decision to pull it.
However, Agrest found that the Bulls did, in fact, inquire with CHSN about the episode:
The Bulls did inquire with the network about the show’s format, such as whether it was going to be driven by opinion. The team was seeking information about the show, not questioning the show’s content. The Bulls monitor how they’re covered, and they were surprised to learn the episode had been removed because it wasn’t controversial.
Whether the mere question prompted CHSN to take down the show is unknown. The network wouldn’t explain its reasoning beyond saying it was an internal decision that wasn’t related to the content.
The podcast posted a new episode on Thursday during the NBA Draft with an episode covering the team’s selection of French forward Noa Essengue.
Under the previous iteration of local sports broadcast on regional sports networks (or RSNs), teams did exert influence over coverage. Now, that potential has ratcheted up. In most instances, teams own or have a stake in the replacement networks like CHSN and streaming services that have cropped up.
That is not say that the Bulls intervened with a request to remove this episode of By the Horns. But for staff at CHSN, even the appearance of a disagreement with the Bulls can lead to decisions like the one to remove the episode, in order to keep its team partners happy.
This is a line of thinking that’s been put forward by some fellow Chicago media figures since Agrest’s report went public.
🤣🤣🤣 https://t.co/MFnxmpC6Fj pic.twitter.com/b3evzNkO16
— Matt Peck (@Bulls_Peck) June 27, 2025
Unless the Bulls or CHSN issue a more specific public comment about the incident, fans and media will continue to run away with their own theories about the organization meddling in its home network’s content.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.