Direct TV and ATT buy CSN Houston

rhino17 · Oct 1, 2014

Root sports is such a garbage product, thats what we have here in CO. CSN had some high quality stuff on it, sucks they are basically letting everyone that works there go too

Surfguy · Oct 1, 2014

Has the following part happened or is it holding everything up still? From the companies' statement:

"Once the proposal is voted on by the creditors and approved by the court, DIRECTV and AT&T look forward to providing this great sports programming to Astros and Rockets fans throughout the region."

MadMax · Oct 1, 2014

Surfguy said: ↑

Has the following part happened or is it holding everything up still? From the companies' statement:

"Once the proposal is voted on by the creditors and approved by the court, DIRECTV and AT&T look forward to providing this great sports programming to Astros and Rockets fans throughout the region."
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Hearings on that are next week, I believe

HTownTmac1 · Oct 2, 2014

What about time warner.... can we view games?????

GMNot · Oct 8, 2014

Update: http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/...-value-remains-an-issue-for-bankruptcy-court/

CSN Houston’s present value remains an issue for bankruptcy court
Posted on October 6, 2014 | By David Barron

Initially valued by the Astros, Rockets and Comcast at $700 million, Comcast SportNet Houston’s value has dwindled to a fraction of that amount as it faces a potential bankruptcy court-administered sale to DirecTV and AT&T, a financial analyst testified Monday.

Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur will hear a second day of testimony Tuesday on whether he should confirm the sale of Houston Regional Sports Network, CSN Houston’s parent company. If Isgur approves the transaction, which is supported by the Rockets and Astros and opposed by Comcast, CSN Houston could become Root Sports Houston in time for the Rockets’ regular-season opener later this month.

DirecTV and AT&T U-verse have pledged to pick up the network if the sale is approved, but in return the teams agreed to lower rights payments over the life of the 20-year agreement, and 96 of the network’s 141 employees will lose their jobs. If Isgur does not approve the plan, network attorneys said the company will be liquidated and all employees will lose their jobs.

Most of Monday’s testimony was devoted to what Isgur described as the core issue – the value of the assets that secure a $100 million loan Comcast granted the network in 2012. The teams want Comcast to receive only $16 million to $23 million; Comcast, which earlier this year backed off an earlier pledge to buy the network, is seeking the full amount.

Since the teams have agreed to pay the Comcast loan as part of their agreement with DirecTV and AT&T, the deal could fail if Isgur sets the Comcast loan’s value at a level higher than the teams are willing to pay.

“We would be back where we were when Comcast walked off the playing field in March – no new carriage and liquidation,” said Rockets attorney Alan Gover. “That is their goal.”

Steve Zelin, senior managing director of the Blackstone Group, an investment and advisory firm retained by the network’s attorneys, spent most of Monday’s hearing on the witness stand discussing the diminished value of CSN Houston’s assets.

Based on a document displayed in court, Zelin said the network’s total enterprise value has declined to about $138 million. But when considering the $100 million-plus in unpaid rights fees for which the Astros and Rockets have agreed to forego immediate payment so the AT&T-DirecTV deal can go through, plus other commitments to debtors, its net enterprise value is only about $22 million, according to the same document.

Comcast is likely to suggest a higher value when its expert testifies Tuesday. Comcast attorney Craig Goldblatt noted in his opening statement that the Comcast affiliation agreement alone will produce $470 million in revenue over the next 18 years.

“There is no network without this (Comcast) agreement, it is a simple as that,” Goldblatt said.

Goldblatt also questioned Zelin at length over his asumption, for valuation purposes, that DirecTV and AT&T would be unable or would find it difficult to line up carriage agreements with Dish Network and Suddenlink, among others.

Zelin said Dish Network has “has shown no willingness, no desire” to carry the channel and Suddenlink said “customers aren’t asking for the games, and we can’t justify adding” the network.

Comcast is expected to counter Tuesday with testimony by company executive Matt Bond, who joined Suddenlink officials last year in a City Hall meeting arranged by Mayor Annise Parker in an effort to broker a carriage deal, regarding interest in the channel.

“Nothing has suggested that Dish and Suddenlink will give in to the pressure” to carry the network,” Zelin added.

david.barron@chron.com
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john_l · Oct 8, 2014

[Update] Morning session to host final arguments in CSN Houston case

Link - http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2014/10/morning-session-to-host-final-arguments-in-csn-houston-case/

On the heels of a marathon 12-hour session Tuesday, attorneys in the Houston Regional Sports Network bankruptcy case will return Wednesday for final arguments in a key element that could help determine the future home of Astros and Rockets game broadcasts.

Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur will preside over a brief morning session that will feature recorded deposition testimony in the Chapter 11 case involving the Astros-Rockets-Comcast partnership that owns Comcast SportsNet Houston, which has been in bankruptcy protection since last September.

The Astros and Rockets support a reorganization plan that would sell the network to DirecTV and AT&T, which would carry it under the name Root Sports Houston on DirecTV and U-verse in addition to Comcast, which opposes the plan. The teams and Comcast would lose their ownership interest in the network under the plan, and 96 of 141 employees would be laid off.

Attorneys then will return at 2 p.m. for closing arguments regarding the value of certain Comcast assets securing a $100 million loan that the company extended in 2012 for CSN Houston startup costs.

Under the reorganization plan supported by the teams, Comcast would receive only $16 million to $23 million. A financial analyst hired by Comcast testified Tuesday that the value of those assets, including Comcast’s carriage agreement, was $104 million.

Tuesday’s session included testimony by two financial analysts – Steve Zelin of the Blackstone Group, hired by the network, and Leon Szlezinger of Jefferies and Company, hired by Comcast, regarding the value of the Comcast assets.

Isgur, who worked as a chief financial officer at a Houston real estate firm before becoming a lawyer and judge, spent much of the day questioning estimates and projections, quizzing both analysts from the bench about projections and hypothetical forecasts, and said he has fundamental issues with the positions of both parties.

He said he hopes to decide after Wednesday’s arguments whether the value of Comcast’s assets as of September 2013, when the network entered bankruptcy, are “inconsequential” or “not inconsequential.” If he decides the latter, he said, he hopes to have a definitive figure by Friday.

It was not immediately clear when Isgur might have a final ruling on whether the sale to AT&T and DirecTV will be approved. The teams hope the new network will be in place by the Rockets’ home opener on Oct. 29.
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GMNot · Oct 8, 2014

... and this: http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/...-to-host-final-arguments-in-csn-houston-case/

Morning session to host final arguments in CSN Houston case
Posted on October 7, 2014 | By David Barron

On the heels of a marathon 12-hour session Tuesday, attorneys in the Houston Regional Sports Network bankruptcy case will return Wednesday for final arguments in a key element that could help determine the future home of Astros and Rockets game broadcasts.

Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur will preside over a brief morning session that will feature recorded deposition testimony in the Chapter 11 case involving the Astros-Rockets-Comcast partnership that owns Comcast SportsNet Houston, which has been in bankruptcy protection since last September.

The Astros and Rockets support a reorganization plan that would sell the network to DirecTV and AT&T, which would carry it under the name Root Sports Houston on DirecTV and U-verse in addition to Comcast, which opposes the plan. The teams and Comcast would lose their ownership interest in the network under the plan, and 96 of 141 employees would be laid off.

Attorneys then will return at 2 p.m. for closing arguments regarding the value of certain Comcast assets securing a $100 million loan that the company extended in 2012 for CSN Houston startup costs.

Under the reorganization plan supported by the teams, Comcast would receive only $16 million to $23 million. A financial analyst hired by Comcast testified Tuesday that the value of those assets, including Comcast’s carriage agreement, was $104 million.

Tuesday’s session included testimony by two financial analysts – Steve Zelin of the Blackstone Group, hired by the network, and Leon Szlezinger of Jefferies and Company, hired by Comcast, regarding the value of the Comcast assets.

Isgur, who worked as a chief financial officer at a Houston real estate firm before becoming a lawyer and judge, spent much of the day questioning estimates and projections, quizzing both analysts from the bench about projections and hypothetical forecasts, and said he has fundamental issues with the positions of both parties.

He said he hopes to decide after Wednesday’s arguments whether the value of Comcast’s assets as of September 2013, when the network entered bankruptcy, are “inconsequential” or “not inconsequential.” If he decides the latter, he said, he hopes to have a definitive figure by Friday.

It was not immediately clear when Isgur might have a final ruling on whether the sale to AT&T and DirecTV will be approved. The teams hope the new network will be in place by the Rockets’ home opener on Oct. 29.
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ipaman · Oct 8, 2014

rhino17 said: ↑

Root sports is such a garbage product, thats what we have here in CO. CSN had some high quality stuff on it, sucks they are basically letting everyone that works there go too
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loved to have both games and content but after the last 2 years i'll take games only. there's enough good local coverage and content from other sources to fill that need.

theogcasey · Oct 8, 2014

ipaman said: ↑

loved to have both games and content but after the last 2 years i'll take games only. there's enough good local coverage and content from other sources to fill that need.
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Agreed. CSN Houston is great, but getting the product out to the entire city should be the first, and foremost, priority. On FSN, there was only one weekly Rockets show that I, and most others, hardly watched. I think we would all survive with Root Sports at the helm.

GMNot · Oct 9, 2014

2 updates:

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

Judge’s ruling boosts chances of AT&T/DirecTV network for Astros, Rockets
Posted on October 8, 2014 | By David Barron

A federal judge removed a potential roadblock Wednesday that could have delayed or prevented the sale of Comcast SportsNet Houston to DirecTV and AT&T, boosting chances the new channel could be available to several hundred thousand additional households in time for the Rockets’ first local game broadcast Oct. 29.

Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur ruled that Comcast’s decision to place Houston Regional Sports Network, the parent company of CSN Houston, into Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September 2013 combined with subsequent events, including more than $100 million in lost rights fees to the Astros and Rockets, rendered a key Comcast contract to be without value.

The teams support a reorganization plan selling the network, which will be rebranded as Root Sports Houston. The teams will lose their equity, and 96 of 141 CSN Houston employees will be laid off, but the sale would ensure carriage on DirecTV and AT&T U-verse, which do not carry CSN Houston.

Isgur will decide as soon as Oct. 21 whether to approve the reorganization plan. Comcast, meanwhile, may appeal Isgur’s valuation 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, 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 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 will pay certain debts owed to Comcast so the buyers can receive the network free and clear of liens.

Comcast argued that its collateral was of sufficient value to secure the loan. Had Isgur decided in their favor, the prospect of a large payment to Comcast could have cooled the teams’ interest in the proposed sale.

During closing arguments prior to Isgur’s ruling, Astros attorney Paul Basta, said Comcast was “trying to leach” off the teams by sharing in benefits from carriage on AT&T and DirecTV. Comcast said in September 2013 it would bid to buy the network out of bankruptcy but said in mid-March it would not do so.

“Comcast didn’t do anything to get us to the other side of the river,” Basta said. “… They want to ride the coattails of the sacrifices the teams made.”

Comcast attorney Craig Goldblatt said the value of the Comcast contract should be measured as of when the network comes out of bankruptcy. Over 18 years, he said, Comcast will provide more than $470 million in carriage fees.

However, Isgur, who was chief financial officer for a Houston real estate development company before becoming an attorney and judge, said the petition date was the correct time to determine valuation.

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 said 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 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 reasoning.

Launched in the fall of 2012, CSN Houston’s inability to obtain widespread carriage limited its ability to pay $100 million in annual rights fees to the teams. Comcast put the network in bankruptcy when the Astros threatened to retake their broadcast rights for nonpayment.

A spokesman for the NBC Sports Group said, “We are disappointed with today’s ruling and considering all options as we study the Court’s findings.”
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...and

http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/...to-appeal-judges-decision-in-bankruptcy-case/

Comcast starts process to appeal judge’s decision in bankruptcy case
Posted on October 9, 2014 | By David Barron

Attorneys for Comcast served notice Thursday they will seek permission to appeal a critical decision in the Comcast SportsNet Houston bankruptcy case to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

A hearing on the Comcast request will be held at 11:30 a.m. Friday before Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur, who is presiding over the Chapter 11 case involving the Astros-Rockets-Comcast-owned network.

Isgur said Wednesday he would if asked allow Comcast to appeal his decision that Comcast’s affiliation agreement to carry CSN Houston on its cable systems was rendered without value by the September 2013 bankruptcy petition and subsequent financial losses suffered by the network.

The judge is scheduled Oct. 21 to continue a hearing on a plan that would take the network out of bankruptcy by selling it to AT&T and DirecTV, which would carry it on DirecTV and AT&T U-verse in addition to Comcast.

The teams and Comcast would lose their equity in the channel, and 96 of 141 employees would be laid off.

If Isgur certifies his decision for appeal, Comcast would have 30 days to appeal to the 5th Circuit, which would have the option to accept or decline to take the case.

Lydia Protopapas with the Houston office of the law firm Winston & Strawn said if Comcast files an appeal before the scheduled Oct. 21 confirmation hearing, the hearing could be delayed if Comcast meets the standards for a stay.

Those grounds include whether the lack of a stay would result in irreparable harm to Comcast, whether the potential harm to Comcast outweighs the potential harm to the teams, the likelihood of Comcast’s success on appeal and whether the public interest would benefit from a stay.
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bj83gc · Oct 10, 2014

anybody have comcast w/ x1 cloud services?? I hear it works like a built in slingbox, anybody know?

Amir's Johnson · Oct 10, 2014

I finally got a Ballstreams account! I'm so ready for this season!

Captain Hook · Oct 10, 2014

Amir's Johnson said: ↑

I finally got a Ballstreams account! I'm so ready for this season!
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Isn't ballstreams compatible with Roku? Also, how much does it cost?

Haymitch · Oct 10, 2014

Captain Hook said: ↑

Isn't ballstreams compatible with Roku? Also, how much does it cost?
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Yes it is compatible. That's how I always watch.

It was $60 for me, but that might be because I was an early adopter. I think it's $100 for a year for newbs, or around $60 for a 6 month subscription.

Captain Hook · Oct 10, 2014

Haymitch said: ↑

Yes it is compatible. That's how I always watch.

It was $60 for me, but that might be because I was an early adopter. I think it's $100 for a year for newbs, or around $60 for a 6 month subscription.
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Nice. Is it good quality?

Dubious · Oct 10, 2014

bj83gc said: ↑

anybody have comcast w/ x1 cloud services?? I hear it works like a built in slingbox, anybody know?
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I can log in to the Xfinity ap and watch almost anything I can get on cable if that's what you are asking. I haven't looked to see if I can access my recorded programs but you can get most of the episodes on On Demand.

Amir's Johnson · Oct 10, 2014

Captain Hook said: ↑

Nice. Is it good quality?
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HD quality

clutch citizen · Oct 10, 2014

So I should hold off on that ballstream account? Or will this appeal drag this thing out again?

moestavern19 · Oct 10, 2014

I have a feeling it will be until next year until this is finally resolved.

bj83gc · Oct 10, 2014

Dubious said: ↑

I can log in to the Xfinity ap and watch almost anything I can get on cable if that's what you are asking. I haven't looked to see if I can access my recorded programs but you can get most of the episodes on On Demand.
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Well i wanted to see if you could watch CSN without being at home like a slingbox

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