Sources: Astros Blocked a Potential Deal That Would Have Brought Rockets Games to DirecTV

Because the Rockets have been a beacon of relevancy over the past few years!

An Astros rep just called me (thanks to using tickets given to me by bobrek!) to talk ticket plans. I told him I would be boycotting spending money on the Astros and Rockets until this was resolved, even though I have CSH. I threw in there that he needs to let his superiors know that I'm in the market for field box season tickets and that they can call me back the day that other providers start picking up the network. I know it doens't mean much in the long run, but I feel like I did a little bit for the cause this morning.

 

This is just my opinion.

I don't really see how the Rockets could be happy with a deal if the Astros are not happy with it. If the Astros hold out for more in the end the Rockets will also get more. For some reason I think the Rockets agreed to the offer knowing the Astros would turn it down. Making the Rockets look like the good guys to their fans while the Astros keep things going to get the better deal for themselves and the Rockets.

 

http://deadsp.in/rDNhYFa

Deadspin giving it some run.

 

http://www.chron.com/sports/more/ar...N-s-distribution-4208482.php?cmpid=sportshcat

yea so....

 

Of course they deny it; want to present a united front negotiating.

 

So the conclusion is that Les, his attorneys and NBA attorneys reviewed this deal and ok'd it such that Jim Crane and a MLB franchise now control the media accessibility of Houston's NBA franchise; a franchise they own NO interest in?

I have no doubt Jeff was told this....I don't know what to make of it because the implication of it seems so ridiculousy ridiculous. If this is true, then the front office of the Houston Rockets and the NBA itself is woefully inept. I mean seriously awful. It means the attorneys for the Rockets and the NBA are awful to miss this contingency entirely. To miss that the franchise's entire TV package is now in the hands of a Major League Baseball franchise who has to answer to its own investors. If that's the case, are we talking about a potential malpractice case? If my office failed to point out to a client that he was literally turning control over so much of his product to another group with its own competing interests, we'd be flat out sued. We'd be calling up the malpractice carrier.

If you arrive at this conclusion, you're left with a really really poor image of the capabilities of the Rockets management. A really poor image.

 

I bet there is some truth to what they are saying. They may not have had a deal in place because the Astros have a hard-line stance or something.

It is just one big mess now.

 

Now that the Rockets season is coming to a close and Astros season is just starting, the Rockets should decline a compromise. It wouldn't hurt the Rockets... the 'Stros on the other hand need all the money they can dig up.

 

Season Ticket Renewal time - the Rockets would kill to get the playoff push and first round on TV to build excitement/interest.

Crane didn't want to take money off the table just to help the Rockets in Nov. Now he's going to have to swallow the bitter pill that the Disastros aren't going to leverage his absurd $3.50/cust/mo demand. This is Longhorn Network all over again. Greedy imbeciles.

They need to either make it an opt-in premium channel ($5-$10) or drop the price to the $1.50-$2 range for one of the more basic channel packages. Can't have it both ways. They want the guaranteed subscribers via the non-opt in route but are asking for money that only a small handful of cable channels (ESPN, Disney, TNT) command.

 

Unfortunately, the Astros own the controlling share of the network, therefore negotiations are going to go in the direction that they want from this point forward. The Rockets can't and won't hold up a deal getting done. However, Jim Crane's greed certainly might.

 

Ah, yes. That is an important detail I forgot, haha.

However, I'll be dropping Comcast anyway [once the Rockets season is over].

 

**** you Jim Crane

 

Jim Crane doesn't recognize that his bargaining power is slipping away, because the games that viewers care about soon will be over. The Rockets season is about gone. The Rockets are further along in their rebuilding program than the Astros, and are, therefore, more interesting viewing. However, there are only six Rockets games remaining which are not carried on ESPN.

The Astros have some interest, because it is almost an all new team, and I would like to see the new players at the beginning of the season. There is of course a chance that the Astros will have instant success with their rebuild, like the Rockets did, but that would surprise me. There will be minimal demand for Astros games after they slide past 10 games out. Therefore, in my opinion public demand for CSN Houston may be gone in a month or two, and Crane will regret the loss of coverage.

I am considering starting a petition drive asking UVERSE, DISH, and DIRECT TV to hang tough so that they don't have to raise our cable rates as a result of a CSN Houston deal. There is no urgency anymore. Just get a deal by next October.

 

so i basically don't understand how allowing Comcast to have a monopoly over Rockets' basketball is anyone's fault other than the Rockets'. Yet many blame the Astros? I don't follow. If anyone can provide a clear answer to why blacking out Rockets games to a third of the city is anyone's fault other than the organization's please do so. I'm not being snarky, i actually want to better understand the issue.