an impressive 0.0 television rating. Great start to the season, Jim Crane -- you still have not provided the fans the opportunity to watch on tv, you're playing games keeping Springer in the minors, and you've junked up the arches in left field with your advertising. Hell of a way to open what's likely to be the 4th straight 100 loss season. http://mlb.si.com/2014/04/09/houston-astros-get-0-0-television-rating/ No one watched the Astros’ loss to the Angels on Monday. No, really. According to Nielsen Company ratings, the Astros’ Monday afternoon game against the Angels, aired on Comcast SportsNet Houston, received a 0.0 rating in the Houston area. In other words, not one of the 579 TV set-top meters set up by Nielsen in the city to measure local ratings was tuned to the game, a 9-1 Houston loss. Ratings-wise, the game lost to its own pregame show, which got a 0.2, or roughly 4,600 viewers. Of course, that doesn’t mean that the Astros didn’t have any viewers Monday; CSN Houston reaches 500,000 households in the area, so the odds are that at least one of those TVs was tuned to the game. But it’s still a bad sign for both the team and the network, which is currently in the midst of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It should come as no surprise that the Astros aren’t exactly drawing eyeballs right now. After starting the season with two straight wins against the Yankees, Houston has gone 1-5 since. It didn’t help that in Monday’s game (which aired at 1:10 p.m.), the Astros gave up three runs in the first inning, or that the team more closely resembles a Triple-A roster instead of a major league team, or that Houston lost 111 games last year (and has dropped 324 combined games in the last three full seasons of play), or that there was a NASCAR race in Fort Worth that aired at the same time (Nielsen rating: 1.7). Put all those together, and you’ve got a franchise that isn’t exactly screaming for attention. The bad ratings are nothing new for Houston, either; last September, a day game against the Indians got a 0.0 rating, though that one aired opposite a Houston Texans regular-season game. But that 0.0 came at the tail end of a 15-game losing streak in the aforementioned 111-loss season. For the Astros to draw such miserable viewing numbers after only a week of action—when fan interest is usually at a high point—doesn’t bode well for the franchise. What’s even more worrisome, however, is the continued struggles of the team’s cable network. CSN Houston, which also broadcasts Houston Rockets games, does not have carrier deals with DirecTV, DIsh Network, AT&T U-verse, and other TV providers, thus cutting out a sizable chunk of Astros fans both in Houston and across the country. On top of that, the network recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. According to the Houston Chronicle, CSN Houston has failed to turn a profit since its launch in fall 2012 and has lost $29 million since it went under Chapter 11 protection in September 2013. It also listed a staggering $165.8 million of liabilities in that bankruptcy filing, including $27 million in rights fees that the network still owes to the Astros. With the future of CSN Houston in doubt, the Astros could find themselves facing an even bigger struggle simply to get their games on TV, much less getting people to watch. That makes Monday’s 0.0 rating less of a fluky worry and more of a major concern.
Of course people watched. There are 579 Nielsen boxes. Supposedly Comcast has 40% of the market so percentage wise only about 232 houses have the ability to even watch the game. Since it was during work hours and Houston has 94% employment statistically less than 20 of those 232 were even home to watch the game.
crane is a grade A scum bag... uncle drayton's last FU to the city of houston... bravo uncle drayton, bravo. you win.
I am not surprised the game got a 0.0, but I think this also points to a bigger flaw with the Nielsen rating system, which is extrapolates the # of viewers watching a particular show from such a small sample of viewers in a city. How can 579 meters represent the viewing habits of a city of >5 million people watching TV on a variety of TVs? I can't believe these ratings carry so much weight.
**** you Jim Crane. Its your fault most of Houston can't watch the Rockets. Hopefully Les Alexander buys Comcast Sportsnet and the Astros end up without a TV deal.
That's not true. It's the Rockets' fault you can't watch the Rockets. If that happened, then the Astros and Rockets would either both be on TV or neither would - just as it is now. The only way one could be on but not the other is if CSN-H was dissolved, which is what the Astros wanted and the Rockets didn't. The Rockets *want* to be connected at the hip to the Astros because they get more money that way.
Oh no, I wonder why no one watched a Monday afternoon Astros game. Wait! I got it! It's Jim Crane's fault that people have to go to work and school on Monday.
Yep, if Crane don't start getting me out of work (paid) I'm gonna have to find another team to root for
Yes, let's waste a year of club protection for Springer. If he had been called up, we'd be 9-0 and MMP would've sold out every game. I was there Sunday and the new sign location looks great. The new pennant placement is awesome as well. The park looks awesome and it was a very fun gameday experience.
I went opening day and it was awesome. Agree on sign placement too, some of the pics made it look like they blocked the arches but inside the stadium they dont
If we are waiting for the Astros to be good, they might have to remake this movie based on Springer's 40 year old MLB rookie campaign.
Why is that any of your business. Just wondering why someone who so obviously hates this franchise would continue to post in a forum dediciated to that team. My business is that I used to love coming here to read and talk about the Astros. And you've made this forum suck donkey taint.
