I've given up on Comcast ever doing anything good for Houstonians. As I said in another thread (I think): With Howard on the team, we're going to have a LOT of nationally-televised games on TNT and ESPN. In addition to this, pirate game streams are increasing in quality with technology, access, and bandwidth. Last season was the first season when I ever saw freely-available streams with HD-level quality. I expect that they'll be even more prevalent and more reliable this season. And, as another option, there are ways to fool League Pass regarding your location. Lastly, full high-quality downloads of complete NBA games are getting more prevalent on torrent trackers. It may not be live, but it's still the whole game, and they usually go up not long after the game's ended. To all these things, add the fact that the majority of televisions now have inputs that match the video outputs on most computers. I can now get a free HD stream, plug my computer into my television, and nothing has changed from the good old days with FSSW (except the stream may have slightly better quality). Comcast, like most old companies, considers themselves at a competitive advantage with other cable providers. They may have that advantage in that arena. Unfortunately for them (and fortunately for the rest of us), the competitive field is much wider than just cable providers - they're also competing against the entire ****ing internet. They might win the first contest, but they can't possibly win the second. I will never ... never ... pay Comcast for anything. They've basically been urinating over the heads of Rockets fans for two years straight now. **** them, **** their company, and **** their future. I hope they go belly-up. ...and I'm still gonna be watching all the Rockets games.
Yeah, he pretty much just pulled everything I wanted to say from my mind and put it on the internet. PLus my mother loves him for some reason.
This thread is so long I didn't have time to see if this article has been linked. Not a hopeful picture at all. 2015??
Tad Brown got ripped by the second caller on that interview. Ouch!!!!! He could not counter the callers argument.
Thoughts on the article I linked... When players get traded everyone says, "It's a business." The player feels the real pain, but fans go about their lives -- easy to say when it's not you. Now that many fans can't watch the team that could fulfill their long-felt aspirations, it again comes down to "It's a business." But now fans have a better appreciation of the pain. No matter the sentiments expressed by Tad Brown, fans are caught in a crossfire of money. Complicating the issue is the triumvirate ownership of CSN Houston. If it were just the Rockets dealing with carriers we could be more optimistic. With 3 joint owners the picture isn't so optimistic. I said quite some time ago in this thread that the Rockets had shot themselves in the foot; they just hadn't realized it yet. The bottom line in professional sports is almost always money. We're getting a painful reminder of that now. I have also tried to point out that if the owners of CSN Houston are realistic, they are going to have to be more like Amazon.com when it first began. Their best course is to sign a 2 year deal, with DirecTV, Dish, etc., at below their expected rates. Then let the market either confirm their expectations or not. If they are right (which, with the Astros, for sure, they currently are not) they will be in a position to negotiate a deal closer to their current demands. But for now, they have only projected hopes that, as in the Astros case, is a Pollyanna perspective. The harsh reality of a bird in the hand, as far as Providers see it, can't be brushed aside by any arguments CSN Houston partners make to the contrary. At this point it's still like vaporware. Les Alexander may feel in his heart for all the devoted fans who have stuck by the team during the hard-luck Yao/McGrady (and post) years, really wanting to bring the Howard/Harden era Rockets to all those fans. But he is hamstrung now by the other partners in this debacle of an adventure. Similar to admitting that it was a mistake to letting Jeremy Lin go, it might be time to admit the mistake and find some way back to Fox Sports Houston -- if that is even a possibility. Let the Astros and NBC sort out the mess they have by themselves. Something is better than nothing. Controlling one's own destiny is preferable to unequal partners trying to reconcile that difference. The history of the major partner projects the least to offer for future prospects in viewership. Even if one is optimistic, things aren't looking up for the Astros nearly as fast as they are for the Rockets. If that isn't practical or possible... Message to CSN Houston: Bite the shorter term bullet and get your team(s) on the air in as many homes as possible and let the market decide your product's worth. (Or does that prospect frighten Crane? Confidence in a product is demonstrated by good "trial" offers and by an ironclad money back guarantees. And providers have a history of viewership for predicting income.) Isn't that how business/capitalism is, ideally, supposed to work? If your investment was sound to begin with it will prove out in the end. If not? Cutting one's losses comes to mind.
Awesome stuff by that caller, definitely gave him a good ripping. Too bad he made that point about the subscriber tier because that gave Brown an opening to refute that and ignore his other great points.
Excellent post. I would rep you if for some unexplainable reason I had not lost my privilege to give rep. I agree with you that it would be better to sign a short term deal to prove it is worth it. The problem however is that the Jim Crane really holds all the cards by owning the largest percentage. The Astros would have trouble being competitive in the minor leagues right now so their viewership would be very low, not to mention fans like me who absolutely detest the American league move regardless of their piss poor talent. I highly doubt a deal gets done until the Astros become become a true major league team again. I will continue to watch internet streams of the Rockets. I will never watch the Astros as long as they are in the AL even if they do become competitive again(I just happen to think the DH is a stupid rule and really can't stand it). I live in the Beaumont area and have no access to Comcast whether I wanted to switch or not. I hooked up a media computer to my TV which made the streaming games more bearable.
The reality is that there is no reason why the decision to accept an agreement for carriage would have to follow ownership percentages of the station. Given the comments from Tad Brown, and generally understanding that Comcast is negotiating carriage rights deals all across the country, I doubt seriously that the decision making structure for those agreements is based such that the Astros can trump the Rockets on every occasion. Honestly, I don't believe the Rockets management or ownership is that stupid to have agreed to something like that knowing that Drayton was in the process of selling the team to a stranger.
I think many people believe that Crane holds all the cards here because Crane has shot off at the mouth about it. Les has sat back and not said a word regarding the situation. So Crane gives us ammunition to think he is responsible, Les doesn't, so most blame Crane.
Crane speaks when he shouldn't. Les never speaks... Even in the days of Bud Adams moving to Ten, Drayton threatening to move to Virginia, and the Rockets exploring Louisville for which Les said nothing (unlike the other two). The Rockets are very much involved in the situation. They've got a lot riding on this.
I blame Crane after I read this article from earlier this year. http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2013/01/astros_blocked_csn_deal.php
Both sides came out and said that story was nonsense. It certainly skewed some people's thoughts on this debacle, but it wasn't factual. And like others have said, if Alexander agreed to a deal where the Astros had final say, he isn't as smart as we would think.
You can believe whatever you want to believe, and I'll believe what I believe. I don't particularly believe everything that Crane, or Tad Brown, or anyone associated with this mess says publicly. The article may have been accurate, but no one may have wanted to confirm it. I also don't necessarily believe Morey when he says Lin and Asik aren't on the block.
You do realize there is no way any involved party would confirm this. Doesn't mean it isn't true. Accepting their denials as truth is pure naivete. Maybe it's true, maybe not.
