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Who has Rockets local TV contract this coming season??

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by TBar, Jul 19, 2002.

  1. TBar

    TBar Contributing Member

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    Last year UPN 20 televised the road games I think and Fox Sports did the home games. Who will have this coming season's Rocket games on the road?? Hopefull not UPN 20 or Channel 39. I can get the Fox sports here in Beaumont, but cannot get UPN or 39...
     
  2. Old School

    Old School Member

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    The deal has not been announced. Channel 51 has the Comets games so I guess they are in the running but who knows...?


    os
     
  3. Lil Francis

    Lil Francis Member

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    I sure hope not because sometimes its hard to see the picture on 51.
     
  4. Jeff

    Jeff Clutch Crew

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    The Rockets have not made a decision yet between what would appear to be channel 20 and channel 51. KNWS (51) has the Astros and the Comets. I can only guess that they are offering the moon to get the Rockets on their roster as well. Since they finally had to drop the all-news format due to just horrid ratings, they have used the Astros as sort of their main draw, but that isn't enough.

    The only problem with channel 20 (and this is really just a guess) is that they are a UPN station meaning they have a LOT of network programming to consider. They probably make more money as an affiliate than they would off of the Rockets who, if I am not mistaken, actually buy air time from the station.

    The bad part is that they aren't really close to getting a deal finished from what I've heard which means it could go down to the wire. Let's hope this isn't a repeat of 1997 when they got a contract signed only an hour before tipoff of the first game!!! :eek:
     
  5. A-Train

    A-Train Contributing Member

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    Channel 51 isn't The TUBE, is it? God, that was some of the worst reception I ever got for Rockets games...The Rockets even cancelled their contract with that station in the middle of the season because it got so bad...
     
  6. Bogey

    Bogey Contributing Member

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    I hope it's not on Ch 51. I don't think I can get that with my satelite dish (either that or 55). I barely get to see the Astros this season b/c of that (don't know if thats a bad thing or not).
     
  7. B

    B Contributing Member

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    Man, it was awful, please anything but the TUBE!!! Even the scrambled channels come in better than the TUBE.

    B
     
  8. rockHEAD

    rockHEAD Contributing Member

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    51 sucks.

    Reception is crap.

    Unless they up their broadcast wattage, this would be a HORRIBLE decision for the Organization. Remember the last time 51 had the Rockets? They switched back to UPN 20!
     
  9. edc

    edc Contributing Member

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    55 is "KTBU, the tube," and the Rockets are not considering going back there!

    51 is KNWS, home of the Astros and also the Comets. Their big negative is that they filed late, so DISH/DirecTV customers do not get thie as part of the locals package.

    20 is KTXH, affiliate of UPN. They worked out an equitable split before with regards to network programming (west coast road games + all weekend games on 20, the rest on FSSW), so they could presumably follow this model again. Being in the dominant position, I'm sure they are offering less money.

    Not that it matters, but my vote is that the stay on 20. Not only can DSS users receive it, but they also have their digital channel up and running, providing the best possible non-HD picture for those who can receive it...
     
  10. moomoo

    moomoo Member

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    I looked back at last season's local TV Rockets schedule, and it didn't quite workout this way. In fact, other than the fact that about half of the games were on FSSW with the other half on UPN20, the split looked random, at first glance at least.

    Anyone know how the split is actually determined?

    And it definitely was not "home games on FSSW and road games on UPN"; I taped lots of home games last season on UPN (I didn't have cable and still don't).
     
    #10 moomoo, Jul 20, 2002
    Last edited: Jul 20, 2002
  11. outlaw

    outlaw Member

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    UPN programming is Mon-Fri 7-9.
    They try not to pre-empt their network shows but sometimes they have to. This happened to Buffy at least once.
     
  12. Smokey

    Smokey Contributing Member

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    I'm all for staying on UPN 20.

    The picture and sound on 51 is better than 55, but not by much.

    Anyone who has watched an Astros game on 51, then watched it on TW 77 or KVC 13 here in Austin knows the quality is like night and day.

    The knocks on 51 are:

    1) poor picture and sound
    2) not available on satellite
    3) distortion by broadcast Ch. 2 on Time Warner (non-digital)
    4) pre and postgame specials produced by 51 for the Astros look like they were done by high school students
    5) commercials for crappy shows no one watches
     
  13. Jeff

    Jeff Clutch Crew

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    Personally, I agree with you on channel 20. I'd much rather it be UPN, but not everything you mentioned here is necessarily true.

    The poor picture only exists via antennae and I've never had problems with distortion on my non-digital cable version.

    And remember that the time is bought from the station, so all the commercials and pre and post game shows the Rockets currently have are set up by them, not by channel 20, so they will control those things on 51 as well. I can't speak for the Astros but the Rockets control all the commercials during their broadcasts and they also control the production of the pre and post game shows on channel 20. They look pretty good.

    The biggest hinderance for 51 is no satellite, which sucks.
     
  14. edc

    edc Contributing Member

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    Friday is actually designated as a movie night, and KTXH has no problem
    preempting that :)

    There were 43 KTXH regular season games last year. The ones that were on a Mon-Thu night 7-9 pm (central) were:

    Nov 15, Thu, LA Lakers 8pm
    Dec 1, Mon, NYK, 8pm
    Dec 13, Thu, Indiana, 6pm
    Jan 15, Tue, Phil, 7pm
    Jan 16, Wed, Toronto, 6pm
    Feb 20, Wed, Milwaukee, 7pm
    Mar 5, Tue, Toronto, 7:30 pm
    Mar 13, Wed, Minn, 7:00 pm
    Mar 26, Tue, Utah, 8:00 pm
    Apr 8, Mon, Orl, 6:30 pm
    Apr 16, Tue, Denver., 8pm

    So, it's not perfect. Still, 75% of the games on Channel 20 last year were west coast, or weekend. The distribution was not "random."
     
  15. moomoo

    moomoo Member

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    Not to be nit picky, but not all the weekend games were on UPN either. I counted nine weekend (Fri, Sat, Sun) games on FSSW last season. Anyway, who cares...

    What I really want to know is...ummm....you think Mighty Mouse could beat up Superman?

    :D :cool:
     
  16. edc

    edc Contributing Member

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    Yep, who cares. Besides, its not like KTXH needed any more games. I was surprised to count them up and find out they actually had more than half the broadcasts last year.
     

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