It has worked well for me. All dependent upon the Internet connection. Do you have an individual cable box in your office that no one else will be using during the times you'll be watching from home?
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2014/04/csn_houston_mediation.php Does No Progress in CSN Houston Mediation Effort Really Mean No Progress? By John Royal Mon., Apr. 14 2014 at 7:00 AM The Houston Astros, Houston Rockets, and Comcast gathered before federal district court judge Lynn Hughes on Friday. This wasn't a hearing, and no judicial orders were handed down. It was, instead, the third mediation session for the parties within the past several weeks. The dispute under mediation is the CSN Houston bankruptcy, but as has been the case since October of 2012 when the network went on the air, nothing was settled. I handled lots of mediations back in my litigation days. I was a big fan of mediation days. It was a day of easy billable hours that the client wouldn't dispute. The lunch was free and there were usually free muffins and donuts for breakfast with all of the free drinks one could desire. For me, this was back in the days before BlackBerrys and iPhones so a day at mediation was a day away from emails and constant disruptions from partners. It was bliss. The one issue with those mediation days was the whole mediation thing. Mediation works great in concept. It brings the parties together with a chance to air their side, give their position, with no consequences. The plaintiff gives its desired settlement. The defendant gives its position. The mediator puts the parties in different offices then shuttles back and forth, trying to get the two sides to meet somewhere in the middle. But for mediation to be successful, both parties must be willing to settle at some point between the extremes. I handled the defense side of automobile collision litigation. The client was technically the insured party driving the car that supposedly caused the accident. But the person calling the shots was always some person with the insurance company, and these people didn't want to settle. So we'd come into the mediation, the arguments would be presented, we'd go to our different rooms, and for the most part, the closest the insurance rep would get to meeting anybody in the middle was agreeing whether it was a nice day outside. It's doubtful this is how things are proceeding down in Judge Hughes' courtroom. From what I've been told, he's not much for putting up with guys like my old insurance reps who absolutely refuse to participate in the process. So it's doubtful that the only thing Jim Crane, or Les Alexander, or the Comcast reps have agreed to are deals with the weather. There's been no successful settlement yet, but here's the thing, I'm not buying into any talk or any suggestion that there's been no movement by the parties. "We didn't get anything finished," Jim Crane told the Houston Chronicle's David Barron Friday evening. "We just got to an impasse, and everybody is leaving. We're still working on it [and] will continue to work on it until we hopefully get a good solution for our fans." There are lots of big and little items that need to be handled for this CSN Houston mess to possibly go away. There's the whole thing about CSN Houston owing the Astros and Rockets money. There's Comcast putting the network into bankruptcy. There's Comcast trying to buy the Astros and Rockets out on the cheap, putting the network into bankruptcy so as to make a play to buy it, then pulling its offer. There's the whole management issue behind the network and who is going to run the thing. The Astros want out. The Astros want money. What's going to happen to the carriage. So yeah, coming to an impasse, as Crane says makes complete and total sense. And sure nothing's finished. And maybe I'm just reading too much into those words of Crane's, but it sounds like things are being accomplished, parties are giving in, coming off extreme positions. That leads me to take an optimistic view: the broad outlines of a deal are in place. It's a deal with either the Rockets or Comcast buying out the Astros ownership stake in the network. It's a deal that guarantees the Rockets and Astros get the money still owed to them under the media rights deal. It's a deal that gives the majority owner full control of the network with the ability to make carriage deals. But it's within the broad outlines of that deal where the parties have reached the impasse, that hasn't been finished because the specifics can't be reached. Specifics like dollar amounts and ownership stakes and whether the Astros will be forced to stay with CSN Houston or if Jim Crane will be allowed to shop the media rights to the highest bidder. It could of course, all fall apart because nothing's official about conclusions reached during mediation until the documents are signed and blessed by the court. Then again, it's possible I'm wrong about everything. It's possible the mediation's not progressing and that some version of one of my old insurance reps is just sitting in on the meetings, shooting down every single suggestion.
Houston Regional Sports Network, L.P. filed documents yesterday stating they have: $32,091.029.39 in assets and $131,121,698.80 in liabilities.
I'm guessing pretty much the entirety of the liabilities are owed to the partners. Rights fees for Rockets and Astros. Loan from Comcast.
Now that the basketball regular season is over and baseball has started, all the pressure is on Crane. The Rockets have already lost two seasons to this fiasco and the ALStros are just starting their second season of low carriage. This puts all the pressure squarely on Crane to get something done. Since he has been the main obstacle to getting a deal done, he is at his lowest leverage point now that his team and fans are the one getting screwed. Rocket's fans have already been screwed twice. Hopefully this will make Crane cave in some and help get a deal done.
Well from all the information we have been given, it is Crane who has blocked any deals. I am not saying they were not bad deals but it was Crane that blocked them not Alexander. The rest of the Rockets game this season will be on national TV now that they are in the playoffs. Alexander will not have to worry about getting the Rockets on TV until October. Crane on the other hand is at his lowest leverage point since it is his team that is not on TV now which was the point of my post above..
What deals is he supposed to accept to put the teams on tv? They tried to find deals, the Rockets tried to find deals; there are none to be had in the current iteration of the network. ComCast isn't buying them out and rights fees are unpaid. What magic is going to get this fixed? I'm not trying to be confrontational about it, I want to know what you think is actually going to get done. Crane isn't going to just come out and say go ahead comcast and make any deal you want. At this point he doesn't have to. Leverage wise he is actually not under the gun. The teams aren't on TV now because it is under litigation and until that is solved there is not going to be any movement. Basically it looks like the only 2 options, barring any changes, are to 1) blow it up or 2) have someone come in and buy sides out, with the latter looking like a very slim possibility.
It does not have to be a carriage deal, it could be a buy out deal. My point is that Crane is at his lowest leverage point right now. If he is ever going to accept a deal, carriage or buyout, it would be now. If we make it through baseball season without a deal getting done then there will undoubtedly not be a deal unless the court forces something to be done. IMHO, I see more of a chance for progress right now since Crane is at his lowest leverage point. Crane had little incentive to get something done during basketball season but now that it is HIS team with low carriage it hurts him the most. A deal is the fastest way to get his team on TV. It could take months or years to get things done in court. If Crane wants his team to be seen as soon as possible, he will be more open to any possible deals. Any deal would only need court approval to happen and I doubt the courts block a solution that helps fix the problem.
It didn't seem to affect things last season when they were in the exact same situation. What have you seen that says they've become more desperate to get wider coverage?
This was not in court last season. There was no danger of this being tied up in litigation for years. He already tried to get the team on the air through MLB Extra Innings but thankfully was denied. His only way to get the team on the air ASAP is to either agree to carriage deals or a buyout deal. I am not saying I know something others don't, rather just noting Crane is at his weakest negotiating point in that it is HIS team with the low carriage for the second straight season.
