That's called negotiation..and it's to be expected. We have no idea what the actual offer was. We do know that local TV revenues are uber important to MLB franchises (with very little revenue sharing and no salary cap) while they're not as big of a deal to NBA franchises. The real problem is the documentation of this whole partnership to begin with. When you have partners with potentially competing interests, you address those contingencies going in...you don't want till they bite you in the ass. There was too much for both the Astros and Rockets to lose to not have their product on the air to justify turning over total control to the other party without some mechanism in place in the documents to force resolution.
http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/...-against-comcastsportsnet-houston/?cmpid=hpts Jim Crane: Astros will fight bankruptcy case against ComcastSportsNet Houston Monday, September 30, 2013 Astros owner Jim Crane said today that the Astros will fight efforts by creditors to drive Comcast SportsNet Houston into Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and the team’s chief legal counsel said elements of Comcast/NBC Universal have acted improperly by throwing partnership disputes into federal bankruptcy court. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur will hold a hearing this afternoon to determine whether an interim trustee should be appointed to oversee Houston Regional Sports Network, the corporate name for CSN Houston, which is owned by the Astros, Rockets, and Comcast/NBC Universal. Several Comcast/NBC affiliates filed Friday an involuntary bankruptcy petition seeking to reorganize the company and CSN Houston, which has been unable to reach distribution agreements with most major satellite, cable and telco carriers to show Astros and Rockets games. However, Crane and Giles Kibbe, the Astros’ general counsel, said in an interview today that CSN Houston is solvent, that the case does not belong in bankruptcy court and the Astros “are not going to let those folks (Comcast/NBC) bully us around.” “This is not a bankruptcy situation,” Kibbe said. “There are no creditors that are owed money at this point other than the Astros. This is a partnership disagreement over multiple agreements between the Astros and Comcast.” Crane and Kibbe said the Astros, in fact, are the wounded party in this case. The team has not been paid its rights fees by CSN Houston for three months and, under the contract with Conmcast/NBC, should have the right to get back its broadcast rights and arrange another way to get Astros games on TV on such carriers as DirecTV, Dish Network and AT&T U-verse. That transaction, however, is now blocked by the involuntary bankruptcy filing. Kibbe said the Astros will file a motion to dismiss the bankruptcy case, but a hearing on that matter will not be held for several weeks. The Astros’ season is done, but the Rockets begin their regular season in late October, and it is uncertain as to how the bankruptcy filling will affect efforts to gain carriage for CSN Houston. The Rockets have not commented on the involuntary bankruptcy filling. “We’re fighting for money to improve the team,” Crane said. “We’re not the bad guys here, in my opinion. We want to get what they (Comcast/NBC) told us they were going to give us. That’s enough.” Crane and Kibbe said they believe that the goal of Comcast/NBC, which owns about 20 percent of the company, is to gain full control of CSN Houston by wiping out the Astros’ 46 percent share of the company and, through bankruptcy court reorganization, tying the team to a lesser rights fee that Crane said would damage the Astros’ chances of making enough money to field a competitive team. Kibbe said the Astros will argue today that NBC/Comcast engaged in collusion with its affiliated companies to drive CSN Houston into bankruptcy and that the network has $7.7 million in the bank as of today. Other highlights of the Crane/Kibbe interview: - Comcast/NBC offered last week to buy the Astros’ equity in CSN Houston, but the Astros refused and made a counteroffer that Comcast/NBC turned down. The Astros made a second counteroffer but have yet to receive a response. – Crane said that if the Astros are able to receive their broadcast rights back from Comcast/NBC, he has a plan to have games fully distributed next season. He did not say who would be his partner or partners in this venture. – Comcast/NBC, Crane said, “is trying to get this (network) on the cheap, and we’re not going to let that happen. And the reason we’re not going to let that happen is that it would be detrimental to the franchise.” – Crane emphasized several times that the Astros “want fans to see the games. I’m going to do everything in my power, no matter what happens, to get the games on in some form or fashion.” – Kibbe said the Astros had to return 46 percent of their monthly rights fee payments for May and June to keep the network financially solvent and have not received any payments for July, August or September. – Crane said the team was scheduled to receive “in the $50 million range” for rights fees this year. Kibbe, however, said the team has received “in the teens” from CSN Houston and has been paid less money for TV rights this year than any team in Major League Baseball. – Crane, who noted that he inherited the CSN Houston partnership when he bought the Astros from Drayton McLane, said Comcast/NBC “told us they could hit their (business) plan, and so did the Astros. They (Comcast/NBC) haven’t executed.” – Kibbe said Comcast has never told the Astros that the network had creditors who were not being paid. “No one came to Houston Regional Sports Network and said this is an issue. This was a collusive, bad faith (bankruptcy) filing.” – Crane said the company rule requiring unanimous decisions on major issues, including affiliation agreements, was necessary because “otherwise w would have been outvoted and would have been down the road with a bad deal for the Astros.” Kibbe said the team “would be stuck in a 20-year deal that would put us in a situation to have one of the lowest payrolls in baseball.” – Crane said he is aware of fan discontent but that the team is sticking with its plan and believes the foundation is in place for improvement. He said signing free agents for the 2013 season would been a mistake because “I don’t think we could have spent enough to make a difference, based on where we were at the time. It would have been a big blow to sign three or four players for, call it, $40 million.”
Ugh... not rooting for either Crane or Comcast. Crane's comments reek of desperation for this to work... as the team (and himself) aren't financially capable of competing without it. Comcast IS trying to get the channel for cheap... because they can.
I loathe Crane with a passion. I loathe Comcast with a passion. I just want to watch my ****ing Rockets, you whiny little b****es.
Cant wait till the Asstros pack their $h!t and get out of town. Karma has bitten them on the Asstros and Im loving every moment of it.
What city is going to build a new stadium for the worst team in the history of baseball? "Three years of more than 100 losses? 0.0 Nielsen ratings? Oh, you MUST come to Indianapolis!"
not even close to being true.. you folks have such small picture vision its ridiculous.. if you dont understand baseball thats fine just dont pretend you do and make these blankest statements with no facts to back them up..
My "I Dream of Genie" wish is that Bud Selig, in a going away retirement ruling, will force Crane to sell the Astros to an owner who knows how to take the Astros out of "minor league" status and rid the Astros of the team's CSN / Comcast entanglements. That, in turn, should help the Rockets and their fans get a decent local television deal. **Rub ... rub ... rub.**
Except for the internet reference, this is true for this old man. For me, they disappeared when they moved to the American League. In all of my 50+ years I only followed the NL with zero interest in the AL. The Astros have not provided me a compelling reason to change my ways.
