Again that mentality reminds me of the power outages that lasted weeks for some in Houston not that long ago. Some people never even lost power. Some lost it for a very short time and got it right back. And if you had power, of course you loved it. But if you ran into a friend that had been without power for weeks and still didn't have it and still couldn't get it, you probably wouldn't lead off by telling him how great it is to have it.
This is the problem. You and I may be willing to pay the extra. What about all of the people who have your provider who could give a flying tinker's damn about the games? They would have to pay the $4 a month too. Your provider has to consider whether they would be willing to pay the extra. Local games on a good night draw very low ratings. That means the vast majority of households aren't watching the games. You have to wonder to what extent the remainder of the customers should subsidize our enjoyment of the games.
I really appreciated all of Clutch's productive, level-headed ideas about what to do and requests for more. I wish I could contribute, in a level-headed fashion, to being part of the solution but when I think about it I get way too angry to write anything productive. I'm not sure I agree that everybody needs to just call their providers to encourage them to do the deal with Comcast; maybe they need to call Comcast in equal measure and suggest they find a compromise to get us the games. Because somebody's not budging. And that somebody is who really needs to get some calls. If Comcast is stuck on $3.90 per customer and the answer from all other major providers is no, the price that Comcast is asking is too high and they need to try $3.89 and so on until they hit a livable number for everybody. Everyone agrees this is an untenable situation, right? So why isn't anything moving? I believe the games we are missing are only indirectly Lex Alexander's fault now... indirectly because it's after the fact and I guess that for some reason he isn't able or doesn't want to influence the negotiations, though I think we all know he could have influence. The direct, present fault though goes to whichever side (Comcast) is trying to wait the other side out instead of budging, as Comcast and the Rockets suggest we contact the providers that together make up more than half of Houston households and tell them to buckle. Comcast is counting on that happening and it is happening and they love that it's happening. They love having Uverse and DirecTV and Dish and everyone over else a barrel. And those same providers must really love having to give away so much money to customers to make up for not having Rockets games. Those providers are motivated buyers but they're not going to submit to a mugging. So what we'd be doing on these calls to our providers in essence would be to complain that they won't do a bad deal even though we love watching the Rockets. In fact, the deal is bad enough that it's preferable to give away money to every single customer that calls to complain. That sounds like a pretty crappy deal. I'm a serial complainer. I've had every provider at one point or another and I've wound up in a fight with all of them (see D&D for evidence of my pugilistic tendencies) but there's one thing I just don't have the gall to complain to them about. And it's this.
I found this chart on dbstalk.com of the estimated subscriber fees. The left-hand column lists the fees for various sports networks while the right-hand column more importantly lists the fees for the RSNs. I will post the chart and then comment below. My provider is DirecTV so I can only comment from what I think their view of the CSN Houston situation is like. There is speculation out there that CSN Houston is asking for $3.40 per subscriber per month from the various providers to carry that channel. Based on the chart, that is extremely high-priced and I don't see DirecTV agreeing to that fee. I would guess DirecTV is offering in the neighborhood of $2.45, the same as Fox Sports Carolina, FS Tennessee and FS South. In my view that offer is a little low. I think there would be more eyeballs for CSN Houston over those channels. Looking at the chart we can see that CSN Chicago receives $2.75. I don't know which sports and what teams are on that channel, but Chicago is a much larger sports town than Houston. I would think CSN Houston would have to come in lower than $2.75 for any deal to be agreed upon. I think a fair price for CSN Houston would be in the $2.60 to $2.65 range. That's right where MSG Network and FS West are at. I would put CSN Houston on the same level as those channels. I believe Time Warner was asking $3.90 for its Laker channel. If I remember correctly DirecTV reached a deal with TW and the rumored agreed upon price was $3.40. That's the same as the asking price for CSN Houston. Even if the CSN Houston asking price drops $.50 like Time Warner, that will come out to be $2.90. That's two cents higher than FS Southwest. I don't see any way DirecTV would be willing to pay that much. If CSN Houston digs in its heels then we might not get the channel for a long long time.
I actually think $2.90 would be a much better offer and at least one major provider would take that, creating a domino effect. Fox Sports Southwest isn't what it use to be anymore. Btw, CSN Chicago covers all of Chicago's sports teams, so that is definitely a quality channel, with some high profile teams. CSN Houston should be more along those prices, IMO, but the asking price is already so high that I doubt they go down to $2.75 or below after negotiations.
David Barron said the closest number he could get was 3.40 per subscriber, which is exactly how much the Lakers got from DirecTv, even though they asked for 3.90.
I read somewhere that some basketball team from right here in Houston was going to be on live TV tonight! What a treat! I'm from Houston and now I get to watch a team from Houston play one game! Thanks, ESPN! You're a national network and you still find the time to care way more about Houston basketball fans than our local team owner does.
HOLY CRAP the rockets in HD and not blacked out on ESPN.. Are my eyes deceiving me? Nice to have the game on my TV for a change.
Fantastic post! This post boils it down to what the real scenario is. I am not being snyde nor sarcastic. I tried to rep this, but I have to rep others first.
I wish to thank ESPN for their successful effort to penetrate the invisibile dome over our fair city that prevents over 60% of us from seeing games on TV. I quite like this team. This "Rockets," is it? They are good and fun to watch. I sure wish I could see their next game! Oh, well. At least I got to see them once.
Yeah, I enjoyed watching it. The Rockets look like they have potential to get better and better. They make some dumb mistakes, but in spurts they look pretty good. Too bad I can't see most of the games.
I agree with your fear. The really big problem is that Comcast is acting like they have a product everyone is clamoring for. Unfortunately, we are still a minority. The channels at the top of that list either have marquee teams like the Lakers, Red Sox, etc. or they have LOTS of other programming with colleges, etc. that cover large areas. Right now, CSNHouston has neither. I hope they wise up and settle around 2.75 because the Rox and Astros alone don't have enough reach right now to justifiy much more. This really sucks for us.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-directv-sports-surcharge-20121210,0,453876.story DirecTV has quietly added a $3 per month surcharge to all new customers who have subscribe to multiple RSNs (like in LA where they have FSN and TWC). If they implement this to existing subscribers, it should be sufficient to immediately add CSNHouston to our area. So it looks like $3 is the magic number DirecTV will agree to. Anything under that and DirecTV is profiting from adding CSNHouston.
At the start of the season, I blamed both sides equally... now I blame CSN Houston, especially after I realized they blocked games that were supposed to be NBA TV. WTF were they going to do if the Rockets had gotten TNT or ABC Sunday games?
