The Rockets own just 10% less. About right as they're probably worth at least 10% less than the Astros. Both teams have enough invested in this to be unified. Rockets are making a boat load of cash on the deal as well.
I'm talking about the CSN Houston division not the entire company. I'm pretty sure they have their own separate balance sheet of profits and losses. If they aren't pulling their weight and aren't giving a positive revenue stream its only a matter of time before big brother will cut them out. Its only a matter of time, and if there isn't pressure now they will have it at some point in the near future. The one question I have is, if CSN Houston shuts the doors and files bankruptcy, are the Astros & Rockets still contractually obligated to receive their cut of the agreed upon tv deal?
And I'm saying that comcast is big enough to absorb the losses on behalf of the local network. They don't want to see any of their regional networks fail. I don't think any of them have, and they've played the waiting game with all of them. Only way the channel goes under is if the teams back out of the ownership deal. Given that they are both making more money on this deal than their previous ones, I don't see that happening in the neat future. The Astros and Rockets still get paid a hefty rights fee no matter how the channel does.
Already am. Jim Crane is a huge douche bag, I can't imagine why anyone would go to a Lastros game. It's obvious he doesn't care about the franchise or winning. He's gutted the team and still makes money since a bunch of yahoos still attend and watch on CSN. I have no idea why would anyone support that guy?
It's obvious how oblivious you are to this process called rebuilding. I'm not overly fond of Jim Crane, either.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130826&content_id=58520138&vkey=news_hou&c_id=hou Reading between the lines, it seems like the Forbes' numbers are largely based on the previously-stated payouts from CSN Houston -- ones that I highly doubt are happening in reality due to the carriage issues. In short, the Astros would be that profitable if they had the TV deals done to their expectation -- but they aren't at the moment. Forbes has the cart before the horse.
Ok, lemme try asking this again in a different way: Last season, toward the end of the year, we managed to have a pretty reliable VLC Stream for each game that was in HD and was actually very good, watchable quality. Now, the question I have is this: CAN we somehow use our PC's to capture that stream and then have it recorded, on the PC, so that we might watch it at a later time, or rewind and watch certain plays over again, or skip to later parts, etc etc. You know, kinda like a.. DVR? In other words, CAN WE DO DVR FUNCTIONALITY ON THE PC FROM THE VLC STREAM? If so, how exactly? I am not particularly interested in paying for League Pass and then having to go through a bunch of rigmarole just to be able to watch what I PAID for. If I have to do all that crap, I am not paying the NBA (and consequently Crane, Les and Comcrap) a single DIME. I'll just stick with the VLC streams until they take it away. So, anyone? Bueller? Anyone?
Been doing my research on this. Looks like its down to NBA League Pass with VPN to bypass restrictions or a site called BallStreams, which is a new one ran by the same people who have been running the oft-praised HockeyStreams since 2007. Apparently its 720p HD will minimal delay, no blackouts, and DVR/archive capabilities. It costs $60 for the season. I am considering Ballstreams because Hockeystreams gets pretty good reviews and even with VPN to bypass local blackouts with NBA League Pass, you will still have 20+ national Rockets games blacked out (I dont have cable service at all anymore). On top of that, I would most likely choose the 5 team package and would end up picking teams like the Heat, Thunder etc who are also on national TV a lot. Either way, I will most likely be getting a Roku player so I can watch whichever service I choose TV. It has an NBA LP app, and Ballstreams has a channel you can add relatively easy. I'm hesitant with NBA LP because I've seen a lot of bad reviews, especially regarding their customer service (specifically, their lack there-of). It will probably come down to when preseason starts and I am able to do a trial period on NBA LP and purchase a day pass on Ballstreams to compare.
Because they are rebuilding. The Astros are racking up prospects who are in the minors right now. In 3-5 years, the Astros will be stacked at every position. Give it time. Crane has the right idea.
Not exactly sure how to capture m3u8 (vlc) streams but I'm almost positive that loophole will be closed. It came from somebody at NeuLion. They do the content delivery for international league pass. I'm almost positive someone who works there is a member of r/nba on reddit and began distributing links.
Just bought the $59 "donation" package for BallStreams.com YEAR membership. JUST FYI: It's $59 until September 1st, and $89 after September 1st. Get it you guys, my friends have been using hockeystreams.com for a couple years and love it. So the NBA streams shouldn't be any different! I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED FOR THIS NBA SEASON!!! <iframe src="http://www.metacafe.com/embed/4034626/" width="440" height="248" allowFullScreen frameborder=0></iframe> <iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/XrObV84tD8g" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
They finally beat me. Today is 30 days away from training camp and I couldn't take another year of watching steams and buying asian downloads. I switched to comcast because I don't want to watch anymore low quality video. Good luck to everybody still holding out, I hope the streams are better this year or a deal gets done sometime soon.
There are video capture downloads. Some have more features than others and ease of use varies. EZVid is a free download and should do everything you require. Except it has a limited record time and might not be long enough for a complete game? Most have a free try-it-now period, so you can play around with it and see which works for you.
Oh I understand the rebuilding process, it's not my point, My point is that Crane is in no hurry to field a competitive team or reach an agreement in this mess. There is no urgency on his part because he is making so much money selling such a poor product. As long as clowns are willing to pay to see that train wreck of a team, he'll continue making money. Therefore he has no incentive to get a deal done. I still have no idea why anyone would go to watch such a s#!%%y team run by an obvious douchebag, further lining his pockets. But I guess if you're into that sort of thing....
He isn't making money from people going to watch the games. Most of the money the Astros have made has come from the TV deal with CSN. And what do you mean Crane is in no hurry? What do you want him to do? You do not want to bring players up before they are ready. First off, it's only been a couple years since they blew it all up. Secondly, the Astros are STACKED everywhere in the minors right now. In 3 years or so, all of those players will be on the Astros, and the Astros will be a solid team. You don't rebuild in a year. It could take 5 years from the start of the rebuild before they are competitive again. And yes, the Astros are making money right now... but that money will be used in the future to pay big money to players when they are ready to make some real moves. When their prospects all mature around the same time and are ready to play in the MLB, the Astros will then go out and get big-time players so that you have a team of great young talented players and proven all-stars. Crane could have kept the team mediocre for years and years. But he said no... he's going to blow it up and suck for a few years and rack up young talent, then strike when the iron is hot and sign free agents and call up the prospects in hopes of winning championships. He doesn't want to just be above average like the Astros have been for so long. He wants championships. You have unrealistic expectations. That is your problem. Rome wasn't built in a day.
