Anyone know how many away games will be on TV in the Houston area

I'm pretty sure that UPN 20 (KTXH/Houston) will broadcast games as usual. The other games will be split up between FOX Sport Southwest, TNT and ESPN. Here are the first six cable games.

Nov 15 Fri @ Phoenix 9:30 pm -- ESPN
Nov 21 Thu @ Dallas 6:30 pm -- TNT
Nov 29 Fri @ Seattle 9:30 pm -- ESPN
Dec 18 Wed Indiana 8:00 pm -- ESPN
Jan 17 Fri L.A. Lakers 8:30 pm -- ESPN
Jan 21 Tue @ Dallas 7:30 pm -- FSSW

For more, check out http://www.nba.com/rockets/schedule/

 

The Rockets have yet to announce who will be carrying the games locally. The best guess is they will either stay on 20 or move to 51.

Regardless, getting cable/satellite is a worthwhile thing. Les has always been very good about making sure everything regular season not covered by a league blackout ends up televised (ie: not PPV) in this market.

 

If the Rockets sign with 51 it is going to suck. 51 is the only channel that does not come in clear with cable or an antenna.

 

Very good question to raise.

We're currently in negotiations regarding our TV deals, and hope to have more news on that front soon.

Our goal will be to make sure every game is televised, just as we've been doing for years.

Tim McDougall
Vice President of Marketing
Houston Rockets and Comets
timm@rocketball.com

 

WHOA there are rockets staff checkin this board out..... ehhh hmmm. I wonder if they decided to change the Uni's cause of the constant complaining in here lol. Hmm we clutch bbs members do have power!!

 

As long as they stay away from 55 KTBU and PAX 49/33 it's fine. Alot of cable providers dont carry 55, 49/33 and 51 for that matter. I hope they resign with UPN 20 but I hear they're comitted to a certain amount of mandatory UPN programming they have to fulfill now (like the situation when the Rockets left WB39 years ago).

 

The last I heard, it was down to 51 and 20. The problem with 20 is that they may not be willing to broadcast every game because of their committments to UPN programming. Channel 51 is probably offering the moon because getting the Rockets to add to the Astros would probably be very significant for them considering they are a struggling network.

It will probably come right down to the wire.

 

could be a deal in the works that could surprise some folks...

The Rockets I believe are locked up until 2006 with FSSW for home games...

 

Yup. This would only be for away games.

 

Last season I saw some home games on 20. Is this going to change this season? (I don't have cable !)

 

ok what are the call letter for 51 i just got the dish network<i got sick of time warrner allways going out >i hope i can get it only think is if it is the chanel i think it is i have to get a 2nd dish :< good think thay say thay will do it for free

 

Unlike certain football teams back in the day when they couldn't sell out the dome.

Gotta hand it to the organization..if nothing else, we have been able to depend on all the games being on tv. I know I appreciate it since I miss quite a few while at work or school....Thank God for VCRs.

btw: Hows the unis coming along?

 

Tim:

Any chance the Rockets/FSSW will have one or more games in High-Def this season? I'm guessing Cuban would be more than happy to provide HD.net's services, all of the significant local channels are expected to have their digital stations on-line before the start of the NBA season.

 

That would be great. Would absolutely love to see the Rockets/Steve/Yao/Griffin in HD. Unfortuntely the quality of the cameras, etc... on Rockets games hasn't been very good so far.

I really wish they would update/calibrate their equipment so we can get a higher quality picture when filming at the Summit.

Some away games look great, just wish ours was as good.

 

Channel 51 is KNWS.

 

Rockets in true HD would be awsome! They'll killing me in anticipation.

Fox has 3 stations on Timewarner in HD. Fox Atlantic, Central and Pacific. Why can't we get Fox SW in HD?

And I don't want to see upconverted signals...that is more than useless. I want pure 1020i signals.

 

To the earlier question: the uniforms are coming along fine. But remember, they will be for the 2003-04 season, not the season that starts in a month.

As for TV broadcasts ... we're still in negotiations; these things tend to slow up a bit right before the holidays, but everybody is back now. And to answer Trader Jorge's question, we don't have any pre-existing agreements with FSSW or anybody else at the moment. We try to make sure that all of our TV deals come up at the same time, since it makes negotiations easier to deal with.

Tim McDougall
Vice President of Marketing
Houston Rockets and Comets
timm@rocketball.com