http://blog.chron.com/ultimaterocke...er-free-view-to-cable-and-satellite-carriers/ [QUOTEOne day after the Rockets opened their season Wednesday night with one of the largest viewing audiences in Comcast SportsNet Houston’s brief history, the network is once again offering a “free view” opportunity to cable and satellite carriers. In a notice sent to U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur, who is presiding over a pending involuntary Chapter 11 case involving the Astros-Rockets-Comcast/NBC partnership, Rockets attorney Alan Gover said the partners had agreed to provide the channel free of charge to non-subscribing carriers for 45 days. That will provide access to 22 Rockets games, including Friday’s game against the Mavericks and games against the Clippers, Lakers, Knicks, Celtics and Spurs. “We think this (offer) will have a positive impact,” said Rockets CEO Tad Brown. “Our fans want to see the games, based on the (Wednesday night) ratings. There is a market, and we want to get moving. We hope the providers will take this great opportunity.” Wednesday’s audience was the largest in the network’s history, surpassing a 2.2 rating for Game 6 of last season’s playoff series against the Thunder and a regular-season high of 2.2 for a March 6 game against the Mavericks. Rockets games last year averaged 1.2 on CSN Houston. The Rockets’ win over the Bobcats produced a 2.5 Nielsen rating on CSN Houston, which is available in about 40 percent of Houston’s 2.2 million TV households, while competing for much of the evening against World Series Game 6 on KRIV (Channel 26). Extrapolated over the full market with full carriage on carriers like DirecTV, Suddenlink or AT&T U-verse, the game conceivably could have drawn a 4 or 5 rating, which would be among the largest local audiences for a Rockets game in nearly a decade and among the upper echelon of local NBA television ratings. The network offered a free view in May, early in Astros season, across a five-state area that drew interest only from a few small local systems and was ignored by the major providers, most of whom did not even acknowledge the offer. Suddenlink offered to carry the network free in the Houston area, but network officials did not accept the offer because Suddenlink did not want to show the channel across the entire five-state area. It was not immediately clear if the newest free view offer would have to be accepted by carriers for the entire five-state area or for the Greater Houston area. While Astros games are available across the entire service area, Rockets games are available only in Southeast Texas and parts of Louisiana because of NBA territorial restrictions. Gover, who represents Rockets owner Leslie Alexander, said in his letter to the court that the free view was requested by the Rockets and agreed to by all three network partners.][/QUOTE]
Last year, their motive was to put additional pressure on the carriers. This time around, that doesn't make sense given where we are now. Doesn't this bankruptcy case put this issue in a different phase than the CSN vs. carriers phase we were in at this time last year? What is CSN's motive this time around? Encouraged but confused.
I'm getting a tingling sensation down there. If they accept I might spend some time in the bathroom. OMG PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! Will be the best 45 days EVER!
Just in case they decide to pick up the free trial this time, everyone with DirecTV, U-Verse, and Dish better milk it while they can. Call one last time to complain about not being able to watch the games and get some more upgrades/discounts. I have Comcast, and I've been waiting for the other carriers to pick it up so y'all can see how great of a channel it really is.
Tried to see if Dish would offering the free preview. Couldn't find anything. I watched the game by watching the play by play on my phone.....it was awful. I hope they do. I need my Rockets.
45 days worth of good ratings isn't worth angering their whole customer base if they have to take it away. In fact, good ratings is a bit of a negative because it means even more of their customer base will be annoyed if they have to yank the channel. as justtx said, if they do accept the preview, it's a pretty good sign they are close to working out some kind of long-term agreement.
Last time out, we got a pretty quick answer. Hopefully this time it will be a yes but these companies weathered the No storm already.
I did the same and all of the sites sucked. I couldn't find proper play by play on NBA.com, ESPN and Yahoo sucks, so I just kept refreshing the score. I was kind of beyond angry, but my friends bud and beer helped to calm me down.
There's another side of it too though. Rockets and Astros have been taken away from non Comcast subscribers for over a year now...the consumer base wasn't angry enough to make them think twice about it. I do agree though that accepting a preview is a very good sign
Guess there is always the radio broadcast....that is going to be my next option since I'm living in the sticks for the moment and the internet doesn't stream live tv well.
610 called dish and directv on the radio and dish is going to show home games only, directv won't show any at this time. Not sure about Uverse yet.
