Not partisan 'political', but the 'strategy' of defending self-benefitting policy against the general public interest by spinning public relations with dubious claims and paying lip service to 'negotiation' while privately refusing any compromise. It's the same game, it's just a different venue. The only true belief of the financiers or advocates is making money, the partisanship and public opinion are played for effect. I don't hate anybody, I'm just commenting on the game and the similarity of of how it's played, I assume, because of the shared background of the leadership i.e. lawyers, MBA's and Public Relations people..
I don't think this will end up like Portland because CSN will eventually cave. 60% of the market can't see the games and it looks like U-Verse, Direct TV and Dish aren't feeling much pressure from subscribers. The reality is the Rockets and Astros need the extra eyeballs more than the providers need CSN. The fact anger over not being able to view the Rockets marshaled mostly against CSN and not the other providers is telling. From my standpoint, observing the pathetic and contrived "I want CSN Houston" campaign proves who has the leverage. Bribing people with free tickets for signing on to the online petition was a sign of desperation. The recent clumsy PR push by CSN & Jim Crane with the Astros season on tap has further shown how impotent their position is. I think an agreement will be reached this coming November shortly after the Rockets season begins.
I am not so sure that this will get resolved soon. I hope I am wrong, but I tend to be a pessimist. I disagree wholly regarding Crane's comments. His comments regarding their position seems to fit with the half truths and outright lies promoted by the ad campaign. He is clearly following the company line, which is to get people to switch to Comcast in hopes that such movement benefits their partner while forcing the carriers to agree to a high price to avoid further market share erosion.
I don't know about that. I view Crane as the guy that is holding everything up. It doesn't make sense that he would make a deal right after baseball season is over. It seems more likely that he would make a deal at the beginning of the baseball season.
I don't particularly like Les, but I don't think he is dumb enough to just let Crane handle these negotiations and just deal with however it works out. I think Les is just as involved as Jim. The difference, Crane loves to spew comments to the media, Les has always been a behind the scenes kind of guy, never has been very public about anything.
Comparing this to Portland is difficult for many reasons. Portland has the Trailblazers and that is it for major professional sports teams. So the stakes there are higher. The size of Houston makes this very different also. Look at it this way, Houston has a metropolitan area population of just over 5.9 million. 40% of that would be 2.36 million. So the population that does have access to CSN Houston is larger than the metro population of the following NBA/MLB cities Portland, Pittsburgh, Charlotte, San Antonio, Orlando, Sacramento, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Memphis, Oklahoma City, New Orleans, Salt Lake City So even with only 40% having access, that is large enough to survive until the other carriers cave, even if that is a few years On your last point, I know people in negotiations will say things that might not be reality, but those comments would be aimed at building support for their side in the big picture. How can Crane telling people "if you want to watch you can switch to comcast" and "we aren't going to blink, once thousands switch the others will fall in line" . . .how could that possibly be a part of the negotiations, how can those comments help build support for the Astros/Rockets/CSN side of things?
I think one big reason why this isn't like Portland is Paul Allen. He's got super deep pockets and doesn't have to agree to anything if he doesn't like it. I think at some point the teams have to budge because they're going to hurt their brands in a significant way over time.
Both Les and Crane are ungrateful POS's for doing this to the fans who paid for both of their stadiums. so what do we get for paying up for their fancy homes, we lose a year's worth of games and counting and eventually a higher cable bill... FU and your ****ty channel!!! Real fans will have to watch when they can and follow via other media thanks to you.
Valid point but since nobody will give a care about the Astros as the baseball season goes on, they are irrelevant. I'm saying the most likely time for an agreement centers around the start of the next Rockets' season. Barring that, sometime around opening day 2014 is the next likely time. But if the Astros remain worthless trash, forget it and the next possible breakthrough time becomes Oct/Nov 2014. CSN's desperation is already showing. They will cave before sacrificing another Rockets season.
I am now starting to get very angry at the guy who's doing the CSN commercial blaming other carriers. He needs to wear a mask, there may be one crazy out there who sees him in public and might cause harm. I'd probably lol.
I think the comments are intended for the carriers...not for the fans. The parties negotiating are Comcast (including Rockets/Astros) and the carriers (UVerse, DirecTV, etc). This isn't about building support amongst others. It's very typical in negotiations to see that sort of posturing.
The Astros aren't irrelevant. The media territory footprint is a ton bigger for the Astros than it is for the Rockets. We're talking about just getting coverage of the Rockets in the Houston area. The Astros have been broadcast across 5 different states for the last 25 years or so. The deals with the carriers include making sure CSN Houston is accessible in places like Little Rock, Shreeveport, and Oklahoma, in addition to the Houston area, Austin, Waco, San Antonio, etc.
This. The Astros are actually the biggest reason this deal will get done and not become a Portland situation. There's just so much to lose if they concede television in this state and region to the Rangers. A 43,000-seat stadium with 81 home games per year isn't going to come close to filling itself, even if the team wins more, just from the Houston market. Baseball is a traveling sport, and in general, it captures larger geographic regions than the NBA because it has to. The Rockets, while certainly not in ideal shape, could survive a few years with an ongoing CSN Houston dispute. In terms of tickets sold, the NBA skews urban and corporate. Large chunks of both of those groups are unaffected by all this. In terms of geography, they're fairly limited anyway -- Spurs to the west, Mavs to the north and Pelicans to the east. (With Portland, it's kinda the opposite, but a similar principle applies -- considering there's no other NBA team, or even professional team, in the region, Paul Allen knows the fans are likely to always be there.) With the Astros, the impact of a limited media footprint would be crushing. That's why I don't see this dragging out. My personal opinion is that this latest ad campaign and Crane's comments about a willingness to hold out are a last-ditch leverage play. Once Tuesday gets here and/or passes, they know they would likely have to wait years to get a better offer. I think there's too much to lose in the meantime for them to do that.
And what makes you think Les and the Rockets will just fold? Rockets have already lost a whole season becuase Crane refused to budge. Les has nothing to lose now. It would be funny if Les declines; in fact, I want him too. Crane deserves it.
You would rather get Crane with a "Got-You-Back" then getting to watch our beloved Rockets and Astros? Thats crazy talk. I don't really like Crane, but I'm sick of these streams!
For one, the Astros are the largest stakeholder, so they inherently have the most leverage. Second, I doubt they're willing to wait years themselves.
Les may have less stake but his product is trending upward. The Rockets are now a top road draw in the NBA. They will get twice as many national TV games next year and their season ticket base is growing once again. Les can wait.
Also posted in the Astros section but.... <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23Astros">#Astros</a> owner Crane said there were talks today in attempt to reach @<a href="https://twitter.com/csnhouston">csnhouston</a> deal in time for Tuesday's game vs. Rangers.</p>— Brian T. Smith (@ChronAstros) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChronAstros/status/318851599105683457">April 1, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23Astros">#Astros</a>' Crane said there were conference calls between sides for @<a href="https://twitter.com/csnhouston">csnhouston</a> negotiations.</p>— Brian T. Smith (@ChronAstros) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChronAstros/status/318852499308154881">April 1, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23Astros">#Astros</a>' Crane on @<a href="https://twitter.com/csnhouston">csnhouston</a>: "I know there was a couple conference calls late this afternoon so maybe something will work out by ...</p>— Brian T. Smith (@ChronAstros) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChronAstros/status/318853504670240768">April 1, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>...(Tuesday). I know they can switch (the station) on fast. So we've got to get 'em to cut a deal that will work for us."</p>— Brian T. Smith (@ChronAstros) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChronAstros/status/318853656457920512">April 1, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23Houston">#Houston</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23Astros">#Astros</a> owner Jim Crane says talks ongoing as deadline nears for CSN Houston resolution <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23Rockets">#Rockets</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23Dyanmo">#Dyanmo</a> <a href="http://t.co/I7XkwF1Dzd" title="http://sulia.com/my_thoughts/f0f151b7-a25e-441b-87ed-cdb31e98ff58/?source=twitter">sulia.com/my_thoughts/f0…</a></p>— Brian T. Smith (@ChronAstros) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChronAstros/status/318857421185503232">April 1, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> #Houston #Astros owner Jim Crane says talks ongoing as deadline nears for CSN Houston resolution #Rockets #Dyanmo Astros owner Jim Crane said Monday there were a “couple conference calls” in an attempt to resolve long-stalled CSN Houston carrier negotiations and avoid a three-team blackout in 60 percent of the Houston-area TV market. The Astros play the Rangers at 7:10 p.m. Tuesday. If a deal isn’t reached by then, the Astros, Rockets and Dynamo will be unavailable on major carries such as DirecTV and Dish Network. “Maybe something will work out by (Tuesday),” said Crane, following a charity softball game between Rangers and Astros ownership groups at Minute Maid Park. Astros president George Postolos and Crane have said in the past they believed a deal would be reached in time for the start of local Astros broadcasts. But the Rockets have been unavailable in the majority of the Houston TV market since the 2012-13 season began and, as of Sunday, there was little momentum heading into the final 48-hour window. “I know they can switch (the station) on fast, so we’ve got to get them to cut a deal that will work for us,” Crane said.
