This is never getting done. I'm convinced I'm not gonna be able to see all my rockets games again. I'm just hoping we get a lot of national games
This is so odd. So the Astros and Rockets are negotiating without Comcast. It's July 2nd. If they have some semblance of an idea in place, why do they need another month before even telling Comcast any details? They should at least want to get feedback to see if this is going to be workable or not. And what are the odds that Comcast makes any decisions between July 31 and Aug 7? Even if they are considering it, they probably need more than a week to decide, so it seems that it would just set up yet another delay.
Longer, Chron version of the story above: http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/...ion-granted-in-csnh-case-to-review-new-offer/ 30-day extension granted in CSNH case to review new offer Posted on July 2, 2014 | By David Barron As the Rockets rolled out the red carpet for free agent Carmelo Anthony, and new Astros phenom Kiké Hernandez launched his first major league homer Wednesday afternoon, the teams’ attorneys opted for the status quo, for the moment, in the Comcast SportsNet Houston case. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur granted a second 30-day extension to allow attorneys to continue work on a reorganization plan for the bankrupt Astros-Rockets-Comcast partnership, a decision that will take the case into an 11th month with no resolution. Isgur closed the courtroom to the public for 30 minutes as attorneys for the Houston Regional Sports Network partnership discussed what he later described as a new offer being considered by the network. He ordered attorneys to make details of the offer available to Comcast by July 31 and set another hearing in the case for Aug. 7. The judge did not give details of the offer in open court, and Astros owner Jim Crane also declined to elaborate on what he described as a confidential negotiation with an undisclosed party or parties. CSN Houston, which is in no more than 30 percent of Houston’s 2.2 million television households, has been unable to reach carriage agreements with DirecTV, Suddenlink, AT&T U-verse and other carriers and owes tens of millions of dollars in unpaid rights fees to the Astros and Rockets. Bankruptcy proceedings began last September and have continued through a second Rockets season and now a second Astros season without the teams’ games being available on systems subscribed to by most area viewers. The Rockets and Astros were in favor of the delay requested by attorney Henry Beckham of Haynes and Boone, the Houston law firm appointed to represent the network. The motion for another delay was filed less than a half-hour before Wednesday’s hearing at which attorneys were expected to discuss CSN Houston reorganization plans. Isgur spoke of the offer only in generalities, instructing network attorneys to make details of a “term sheet” or other documents available to Comcast corporate officials. The hearing followed what Comcast attorney Craig Goldblatt described as a day of “long and difficult discussions.” Beckham said it would be potentially damaging if details of the latest negotiations were made available to the public. Rockets CEO Tad Brown, who attends most CSN Houston court proceedings, was absent because he was meeting with Anthony, the New York Knicks free-agent guard who is negotiating with the Rockets, Chicago and Dallas, among others. Crane, meanwhile, wiled away time before the hearing awaiting updates on the Astros’ game against Seattle. The Astros lost 5-2, but one of their three hits was a solo homer by Hernandez, who was called up this week from Oklahoma City as the Astros’ youth movement continues. Earlier Wednesday, EnTouch, one of a handful of smaller cable and broadband service providers in the Houston area that have carried CSN Houston since its fall 2012 launch, asked that Isgur dismiss its request for a hearing seeking assistance from Isgur in getting out of its contract with the network. The company said it will seek alternative remedies against Comcast in state court once the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case is resolved. Isgur, however, said EnTouch must eventually submit its grievances to the bankruptcy court, or they will be moot once the Chapter 11 case is resolved. “We would prefer a settlement whereby EnTouch is released from the contract or allowed to drop the channel to a sports tier or other pricing mechanism that allows us to bill only if customers desire to subscribe,” the company’s president, J Findley, said in a note to the court. “Viewership (for CSN Houston) is poor concerning our customer base.” CSN Houston’s pricing has been sealed by court order, but similar channels that offer games from two or more major league teams typically charge carriers more than $4 per month per subscriber in their central coverage area. EnTouch’s rate is believed to be higher than that paid by Comcast cable in the Houston area because Comcast has a most favored nation clause allowing it to pay the lowest rate of any carrier. EnTouch is a privately held company, founded in 1995, that services several thousand customers in master planned communities and businesses in Katy, Sugar Land, Missouri City and the Cypress area. Finley said several weeks ago that despite its high cost, CSN Houston ranks 68th among 199 channels in viewing among enTouch customers over the last six months, the company said. EnTouch says it is entitled to drop CSN Houston if either party to the contract enters bankruptcy but that Comcast has refused to live up to the contract’s terms.
Does anybody else think Judge Isgur like being the center of attention and this is the reason he keeps delaying things?
OK But this has gone on for over a year now. When does judgement day come? A year from now? 5 years from now? 20 years from now?
And in the meantime, the already-bankrupt network has accrued over $100MM in new unpaid liabilities over the last year. At what point does this end?
The 3 parties involved keep asking him for more time. On the surface it seems the Rockets and Astros might have found someone to buy them out and are working on the details. Maybe the details include concessions from Comcast or Comcast getting bought out too to make this happen, who knows.
This is my point. By Judge Isgur dragging this thing out, somebody is going to get screwed out of a lot of $$$$. Probably some little guy.
Chapter 11 cases progress slowly. The larger the case, the slower it can move. That isn't always the case, but the nature of this case (potential new offers providing a new possibility to reorganize) lends itself to progressing slowly. The parties requesting additional time to propose a plan is fairly common. In short...when Comcast filed the bankruptcy petition, this was going to be the result. When the judge signed the order putting CSN into bankruptcy, several of us mentioned that this was going to be protracted. With the new development of an offer, this has just begun.
Oh absolutely - I understand slow progress. But I don't feel like there's been any progress for much of this time. Maybe now there's a new offer that popped up in the last month or so - but that still means that nothing at all was accomplished from Sep 2013 to May 2014. While we can hope something comes of this new offer, I'm not sure it should have gotten this far - none of the parties involved, owners or lenders, seem to have benefited from any of this (and that's the whole purpose of bankruptcy).
Your far more knowledgeable than me on this subject. But I think this is a key component to getting a deal done. Why has Hughes ruled? IYO
