So then take your own advice and quit commenting on the subject because what Crane is saying is being disputed. I feel that the other side of the debate is far more credible and choose to support it. The market did change, Crane pointed to the Rangers 20 year 3 billion deal just the other day. That's not happening here. Crane is just now figuring that out and wants to blame someone. The rest of what I wrote in the post you quoted was in reference to Crane better educating himself on the potential profitability of the network. If he did those things, great. That would mean he could sue the providers too if they reneged on a promise to pay those ridiculous rates.
Both the Astros and Rockets are getting more money than in the past for their media rights (provided CSN H doesn't fold or not make payments to the team due to not getting carriage agreements in place). CSN H (Astros, Rockets and Comcast) would be deep in the red for roughly the first half of the 20 year deal based on the current provider offer and the most favored nation drop in rates for Comcast. Crane is bascially asking CSN H to continue to pay above market rates (current rate) when the other providers will pay significantly less even though the contract (that Crane claims he hasn't seen) doesn't allow for this. There has been no projection that I have seen for the profitability of CSN H over the length of the entire contract. From what has transpired, it looks Comcast and the Rockets want to ride this out.
So this is not a CSN update thread any longer, just the same **** as the last one with a lot of blocked posts. Needs to be locked. Most of us are coming here for UPDATES, not the same bickering that locked the other thread.
In theory, whatever carriage fees Comcast was paying to CSN H would be slightly lower than market. That's the bar that CSN H (which includes the Astros) was trying to set in the market place. It was a strategy that failed miserably. But that doesn't prove that Crane was promised anything.
actually its just a discussion. its an interesting discussion about a large business transaction the kind many of us are not privy to. the only to b****ers in the last pages are you and the rest of people complaining that we don't have any updates.
I'm not bickering...we're discussing it. Trying to decipher stuff. It's a discussion about the CSN issue.
I've made it clear that I don't know if Crane's allegations are true or not. It will be decided...or it won't because it will be settled well ahead of time.
I read your posts and very much appreciate our knowledge. Maybe I was wrong, but I see so many blanks like this below that it looks like the other thread that turned out so well. Sorry breh.
You'll never SEE that...it's proprietary and confidential. But current Astros reps; George Postolos; and a Comcast rep all testified that they'd lose somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 million over a 20 year period. I'm not sure there are any projections past that.
Yeah, right after I posted to you, I responded to bickering with some bickering. But that's not exactly unusual on Clutchfans, frankly.
Agreed.. I think that good questions are being asked too. I think more the people try to understand the issue the better that they can formulate an opinion on the state of things.
No problem guys. I haven't seen the rockets or Astros for two seasons due to tvmaxxx so at this point I'm just interested in the business dealings.
Could be wrong but the 200 million was approx the losses for half the term of the agreement. Nothing was said about the last 10 years.
I thought it was the full 20...because it was based on the idea that even if all the other providers offered the same deal on the same 20 year term, that's where they'd end up.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article/hou/jim-crane-elaborates-on-suit-against-former-astros-owner-drayton-mclane?ymd=20131122&content_id=64144632 Scroll down, you will see the 200 million 10 year comment. Crane went on to say that his equity would go to zero over that period. I'm presuming he lost equity to Comcast each time they covered the losses.
Got it...thank you I hadn't read this article before....saw this portion: "What they didn't tell us was in 2010, Leslie and Drayton cut a deal with Comcast where Comcast included inflated numbers in the business model in exchange for Comcast purchasing the network and Comcast getting a most favored nations clause," he said. "Comcast agreed to it, but told Drayton and Leslie the carriers would never pay those rates. But they didn't tell us." The discrepancy in the rates, Crane said, were discovered during a meeting in New York last December with the Rockets and Comcast. He said senior vice president of corporate development for Comcast corporation Bob Pick turned to Alexander and said, "I told you those numbers wouldn't fly." "I was sitting in the meeting and I couldn't believe it," Crane said. "They knew at that point the numbers were inflated. These misrepresentations have caused an enormous loss and hurt our fans and hurt our city of Houston. Because of these misrepresentations, we're stuck in a network deal that cannot get off the ground." I read the allegations..but I never read the detail he alleged.
That Pick statement is kind of an anecdotal observation on Crane's part. I have an extremely hard time believing that Crane wasn't made aware of the MFN and it's impact. If he truly found this out in December, he should have filed a lawsuit in December and included Alexander.
