CSN

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Judge is explaining decision. Pretty stark observation: He says NBC exec Matt Bond “has a great deal of experience but lacked credibility.”</p>&mdash; David Barron (@dfbarron) <a href="https://twitter.com/dfbarron/status/519956709121327104">October 8, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Judge Isgur sets following probabilities of further carriage beyond DirecTV, U-verse &amp; Comcast. These, of course, are his guesses only:</p>&mdash; David Barron (@dfbarron) <a href="https://twitter.com/dfbarron/status/519957899032788992">October 8, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>55% for no more carriage, 10% for Dish &amp; Suddenlink in a few years, 15% for Dish/Suddenlink immediately, 20% that Suddenlink only signs on.</p>&mdash; David Barron (@dfbarron) <a href="https://twitter.com/dfbarron/status/519958050287800320">October 8, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Valuation issue has been settled, but plan still has not been confirmed. It appears final hearing will not be until at least Oct. 21.</p>&mdash; David Barron (@dfbarron) <a href="https://twitter.com/dfbarron/status/519960520976506881">October 8, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Comcast attorney Goldblatt says he doesn’t know if Comcast will appeal valuation decision.</p>&mdash; David Barron (@dfbarron) <a href="https://twitter.com/dfbarron/status/519961128357879809">October 8, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>If so, he said, Comcast may appeal directly to the 5th Circuit.</p>&mdash; David Barron (@dfbarron) <a href="https://twitter.com/dfbarron/status/519961231843930112">October 8, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Love it. It really takes some balls to torpedo something then go back and ask for your share when others got it afloat and ready to ship out.

 

So is it over, is Root Sports Houston a real thing now?

 

I personally enjoyed the Matt Bond "lacked credibility" comment. Classic. Federal judges have the liberty to say things like that without worrying about getting voted out

 

No, the new plan still hasn't been confirmed.

 

No. Reorganization plan hasn't been confirmed. But it SEEMS to me like a formality at this point. Sounds like the votes among the creditors strongly favor confirmation.

I'd like to hear Refman's or CarlHerrera's opinion on that though.

 

Expectation is that there will be no issue.

DTV finally gets what it wanted, more than a year later.

 

So if I understand correctly, at the end of the day, each of the three partners came out worse as a result of the bankruptcy, yes?

Astros and Rockets didn't get paid for a season of media rights and are locked into a potentially lower deal than they could have gotten with FSSW on their own last year.

Comcast ends up stuck in a carriage contract at a high rate that they might not have otherwise agreed to, for a slimmed down channel with much less content.

 

I think Isgur has done a very good job thus far. The ruling today is fine by me as long as it isn't appealed successfully. This bankruptcy proceeding was a move in a game of chess with no real winner.

All parties involved pissed away a lot of money and goodwill
.

 

So now we wait until October 21st and hope Comcast doesn't appeal?

 

Seeing how the next court hearing isn't until October 21st, it's probably unlikely that Roots Sports Houston will be up before the start of the season, correct?

 

If all they're doing is showing games and have it running before the season starts I'm good with that. They can add shows and analysis stuff later.

 

From what I understand Root Sports isn't going to have very few shows and analysis stuff. They will show the games and have very little else other than infocommercials and other content not related to the Houston market.

 

That other stuff could come with time, they have to establish themselves first before spending money they don't have in order to appease an audience they don't have.

 

Of course DirecTV will only offer the games a la carte, right? Isn't that what they said Comcast should do? No. Every subscriber will pay for it, like it or not like we always do.

I'm joking obviously, but the Dodgers certainly have an argument since that's what DTV is trying to force them to do as well.

 

Dtv was saying at the price level csn wanted they needed to go a la carte. At reasonable carriage rates, dtv has demonstrated itself to be one of the most cooperative partners in television.

 

http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/...ces-of-attdirectv-network-for-astros-rockets/

...

Isgur will decide later this month, perhaps as soon as Oct. 21, whether to grant final approval to the reorganization plan. Comcast, meanwhile, may appeal Isgur’s decision Wednesday to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

While the case will not be wrapped up as quickly as the teams hoped and remains unresolved perilously close to the Rockets’ Oct. 29 home opener, Astros owner Jim Crane and Rockets owner Leslie Alexander were pleased with Isgur’s decision.

“I thought the ruling was correct,” Alexander said. “Judge Isgur is an intelligent, diligent judge.”

“We got the ruling we wanted,” Crane said. “We hope to get it confirmed and to have the Rockets on by opening day, which would be great for the fans.”

This week’s three-day hearing was focused on the narrow but crucial legal issues surrounding the value of Comcast’s contract to air CSN Houston, which it owns in partnership with the Rockets and Astros, on its cable systems. Comcast in 2012 extended a $100 million secured loan to launch the network, and the contract was a key part of its collateral securing the loan.

Isgur ruled that Comcast’s decision to place the network in bankruptcy on Sept. 27, 2013, and subsequent losses sustained by the network rendered the value of its carriage agreement to be zero. The teams are owed $116 million in unpaid rights fees but have not demanded payment in an effort to facilitate the sale to DirecTV and AT&T.

That ruling bolsters the chance that the AT&T/DirecTV sale will be completed, since the teams have agreed to pay whatever debts are owed to Comcast so the buyers can receive the network free and clear of liens.

...

He said the network’s decision to seek full payment of its entire loan on a deferred basis, which would have wrecked the AT&T/DirecTV plan, “is not designed to preserve value or obtain value for Comcast in the traditional sense but to defeat the efforts … of its competitors.”

Isgur noted that the entire value of the Comcast affiliation agreement is based on its rights to carry Astros and Rockets games. If the sale were not allowed and the network could not emerge from bankruptcy, “the contract will be valueless, because there will be nothing to distribute.”

The judge acknowledged the possibility that his decision could be reversed, and he said if the appeals court disagrees with his finding that the teams’ unpaid rights fees should be charged toward the valuation of the Comcast contract, “then I’ve made the wrong decision and I want to get reversed.”

But he added, “I don’t think I’m wrong” in his ruling.​

 

I think it is far from a formality. Today's ruling goes a long way, but the judge will have to hold that ALL requirements of Section 1129 are met. That is anything but clear at this point.

 

Got it.

So help me with some questions regarding the potential appeal of this decision yesterday:

1. First, bankruptcy is a court of equity...so I'm assuming judge had HUGE latitude to make this decision today, right? What's the standard for overturning it? Most of what he did was interpret facts; not law. So I'm guessing had huge latitude and they'd have to show something egregious to overturn him. Is that right?

2. Second, Comcast would have to post bond to appeal. How in the world do they value that bond? It can't be based on the $100 million number; I'm thinking it has to be based on what everyone else is going to lose during the period of the appeal. So media rights dollars and all the rest over that period of time because they're not on TV. If I'm anywhere close to right on that, I'm guessing Comcast doesn't appeal....but I don't know if my assumption is correct.

 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>This just in: Comcast has requested an 11:30 a.m. Friday hearing on appealing Judge Isgur's valuation decision to the 5th Circuit.</p>&mdash; David Barron (@dfbarron) <a href="https://twitter.com/dfbarron/status/520299977147695104">October 9, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Comcast will file a motion asking the judge to allow an appeal of his decision, which he said Wednesday he would grant if it were requested.</p>&mdash; David Barron (@dfbarron) <a href="https://twitter.com/dfbarron/status/520300204042776576">October 9, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Let me emphasize I think appeal will be to 5th Circuit, not district court, because that's what Comcast indicated it would do Wednesday.</p>&mdash; David Barron (@dfbarron) <a href="https://twitter.com/dfbarron/status/520300972980322305">October 9, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Notice of hearing doesn't mention the court of appeal, just that Comcast wants a hearing on permission to seek an appeal.</p>&mdash; David Barron (@dfbarron) <a href="https://twitter.com/dfbarron/status/520301113581789184">October 9, 2014</a></blockquote>
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