After searching far and wide for a new broadcast partner that delivered the largest audience and broadest reach in Portland, the Trail Blazers reached a surprising conclusion:

It was the partner they had all along.

The team has agreed to a four-year contract extension with CSN Northwest to continue its longstanding, if controversial, broadcast partnership. CSN, which originally signed a 10-year deal in 2007, now owns the rights to broadcast Blazers games through the 2020-21 NBA season.

The agreement, which will no doubt rankle Blazers fans with satellite television subscriptions, ends months of negotiations and internal organizational debate about the direction the team should take regarding the future of its game broadcasts. Blazers President Chris McGowan and his executive team spent months exploring a wide range of broadcast possibilities with the goal of finding a provider that would deliver games to the widest possible audience.

Throughout the process, team insiders quietly expected the Blazers to end its partnership with CSN, in large part because CSN does not have national distribution agreements with satellite television companies DirecTV and Dish Network --a long-running public relations nightmare for the organization. For nearly a decade, a large population of Blazers fans have faced an undesirable proposition: choose Comcast or choose to go without their beloved Blazers games.

But in the end, the Blazers ran into that surprising conclusion: CSN, which reaches 55 percent of the Portland market, offered the broadest distribution in the region.

"Our motivation is to improve distribution every day,'" McGowan said. "We're happy about the new leadership at CSN Northwest and NBC Sports and think they are genuinely focused on improving (distribution) more than ever. The reality is that this is the best distribution scenario that we have in our marketplace. That's what we're working with."

At some point during their pursuit for a new provider, the Blazers, according to sources with knowledge of the negotiations, were focused on a unique alternative. McGowan and his team explored a television/internet combination in which games would have aired on local television affiliate KPTV and simultaneously streamed over the internet through a separate streaming partner. That would have assured that everyone in the market -- and beyond -- could access games. But that option ended, sources say, because the Blazers' potential streaming partners evaporated at the 11th hour.

When the hybrid option faded, the Blazers moved on to Plan B and ROOT Sports Northwest emerged as a possible new regional partner. RSN, which is partially owned by DirecTV, not only has distribution agreements with satellite providers, but also with Comcast. What's more, ROOT offered a longer deal worth more total money than Comcast.

But Blazers owner Paul Allen was not interested in securing the most lucrative deal. He wanted a partner with the widest reach. And that's where talks with ROOT fell apart.

ROOT's distribution agreement with Comcast will end soon and the Blazers were worried it might not be renewed, meaning ROOT could only guarantee distribution on DirecTV, which reaches 33 percent of the Portland market -- 22 percent less than Comcast. In the end, faced with the prospect of even worse distribution, the Blazers decided to take less money and fewer years and stay with CSN.

"When we went into this negotiation process, I thought there would be scenarios that would present themselves that would clear up our distribution problems right away," McGowan said. "We went through a very thorough process. We talked with everyone who could potentially accrue our rights. But it was apparent at the end of the day things wouldn't improve unless we stuck it out with CSN. I'm optimistic things will improve in the next five years."

And what makes McGowan so optimistic?

For starters, the Blazers included terms in their new contract that incentivizes CSN to expand distribution. What's more, by settling on a shorter deal, the Blazers have flexibility to reevaluate the broadcast landscape sooner, an enticing proposition in an era when technology is rapidly advancing and viewers are contemplating "cutting the cord." Also, McGowan said, he is encouraged by new leadership at NBC Sports, the parent company of CSN.

David Preschlack, President of NBC's Regional Sports Networks, joined the company in February and has an extensive background in negotiating distribution agreements. Before arriving at NBC, Preschlack spent 21 years at Disney/ABC, the final eight running its distribution group. Preschlack said CSN is -- and always has been -- determined to broaden its distribution and pointed to recent agreements with Charter, CenturyLink Prism TV and SONY Vue as examples.

From CSN's perspective, it will help that it is now the exclusive local provider of Blazers games. In past seasons, local affiliate KGW had rights to air up to 20 games, which will end when CSN's contract extension with the Blazers begins during the 2017-18 season.

"We are in these businesses to serve the fans," Preschlack said. "We're making huge investments in valuable content. In this case, it's the Trail Blazers. We want what everyone wants here. We're looking forward to continuing to engage with DirecTV and Dish and anybody else that doesn't carry the service. And we think those conversations will hopefully change a little bit now that we're the home of all the games. We are 100 percent committed to getting full distribution of the network. But in this case, whether it be DirecTV or Dish, we're going to need a willing partner to bring the games to our collective fans."

For Blazers fans fed up with Comcast and satellite television, SONY Vue offers an interesting -- and less expensive -- alternative. The online television service, which quietly started carrying CSN last Spring, features a surplus of channels -- and Blazers games -- at a fraction of the cost of cable and satellite (around $30). It features a free trial, does not require a contract and is accessible using PlayStation devices, Roku, Amazon Fire and Google's Chromecast. At the moment, it's the only pseudo streaming option for Blazers fans. But, during the 2017-18 NBA season, CSN has an option to offer 15 games a year via a streaming app.

Meanwhile, Blazers fans with satellite television can only sit back and hope the nine-year stalemate between CSN and DirecTV/Dish ends soon.

"I understand that there is a long history and there is a sense of frustration," Preschlack said. "I think we've improved distribution of the network over the last three years in a meaningful way. And we're committed now as much as we've ever been ... to get as much distribution as possible."

--Joe Freeman | jfreeman@oregonian.com 503-294-5183 @BlazerFreeman