I don't understand posts like this. Business plan didn't work. If lower rates than business plan worked for all partners, it would be in business plan. Crane exercised rights to get media rights back.
Unless letting the Rockets be lead negotiator goes hand in hand with them buying out the Astros this next month is going to be a big fn waste of time if Crane has to approve the deal.
No most of us are realists. It just seems that way because a few posters seem to only post negativity towards Crane and give him full blame for everything that is going on. I personally don't think he is completely innocent, but he isn't the great Satan that Granville would have you think he is either. What it boils down to for me is that you have three different entities looking out for their own bottom lines. Their motives don't completely line up, so you get a stalemate. Non-Astros Rocket fans have been quick to blindly lay blame on Crane for vetoing the DTV deal, without considering any impact it would have on the Astros. They don't care they just want to blame him for not being able to see the Rockets. I think Crane would have loved a deal initially that would make him money (Duh). Comcast only presented 2 offers both with carriage fees so low it would have resulted in huge losses for him. Comcast was okay with the deal because they make up for the low carriage fees paid by others with having their own fees lowered. The Rockets were okay with it because their Media rights agreement is already one of the highest in the NBA and their losses would be less because they have a lower stake in the partnership. At this point Crane has 2 options, take a deal that loses him significant amounts of money, or take no deal and wait. He chose door number 2. Then summer rolls around and actually presents a new choice. CSN-H fails to make payments on their purchase of the Astros Media Rights. This opens the door for him to get out of a bad situation and move on alone. Which is probably okay for the Astros because they offer more games and ultimately more advertising opportunities than the Rockets. However, before that could happen Comcast files their bankruptcy suit and has us where we are today. IMO had Crane been able to walk I think the Rockets would be on TV now somewhere, whether with CSN-H or some other channel. So there is some potential blame for them too, however, I fault them for acting in their best interests to save multimillion dollar profits, as much as I fault Jim Crane for acting in the Astros best interests to avoid a deal that would bring him multimillion dollar losses.
Not if what was tweeted earlier holds, that there are 2 potential deals in negotiations already. Although my gut feeling agrees with you that I don't hold much hope for a deal. I think if there is little progress between now and the next meeting, we'll see it get blown up (and I know you and I don't agree on the last part there)
What are you talking about? Jim Crane is claiming that they have the money to pay the Astros. The Astros exercised a breach of contract clause for non payment. He can't get out just because the rates came in to low and get his media rights back. Explain the not in the business plan out clause.
With as much heat as Crane has taken combined with his enormous ego there is no way that he lets Alexander take credit for closing those deals. I doubt a deal is anywhere near close to closing. I would have preferred they blew it up today over another month of this. If it is blown up by the time the fire sale is over and creditors get paid Crane won't get anywhere near his initial investment back.
So Jeff Balke isn't a realist? He pretty much lays this out as several of us are and did it in print. He had the balls to go out and publicly state the obvious. And if I blame Comcast and the Rockets for anything it is for covering for Crane when Jeff broke the story last fall. What about MattJ, he doesn't keep it real either?
I would put Jeff squarely in the category of Rockets fans that want to blame Crane as stated above in my post. I respect what he did for the Rockets, but on this I disagree with his opinions on the matter.
I never said I didn't like the Astros. I actually didn't disagree with Crane over the Dierker thing. However, I don't like what he has done to the team. the way he has spoken to fans and it pisses me off that he is going to use this mess to be a cheap ass owner from here to eternity. Oh...and Jeff was vindicated when it later became obvious that Crane was a liar.
The thing is Crane is trying to play the part of the poor gullible owner who was duped by Uncle Drayton and Comcast as evidenced by the lawsuit he filed. It appears the only reason he didn't name the Rockets in the lawsuit is because it would have been a public relations nightmare making him look even more like a douche. It seems to me he CREATED the scenario where the Astros don't get paid their media rights by not okaying the only carriage deals offered to the partnership thus keeping CSN-H from having the money to pay for the media rights. Yes Comcast only had two offers for carriage deals apparently much lower than the business plan, which is proof that the ridiculous figure in the "business plan" was / is unobtainable thus setting the true market rate of a carriage deal. I can't see how anyone can fault Comcast for only getting two carriage offers. They can't force other carriers to pay the amount that was in the "business plan"rather they can only get what the market dictates. Perhaps the market would be higher if the Astros had a team that was marketable but they actually had a game that nobody watched this year, which is truly amazing to me. As for me, I was a lifelong Astros fan up until last year with very fond memories growing up listening to Milo and the Wrangler on KTRH. I was at the last Astros game pitched by Nolan Ryan in the Astrodome(although no-one knew it was his last game at the time). The American League move hit me hard. I just don't understand why MLB forced the move. I absolutely detest the DH and personally believe it is one of the stupidest things in sports. I hate the DH so much I could care less to ever watch the Astros ever again. I could never root for another team so basically, I am not currently a baseball fan at all other than the Lamar Cardinals. With that said, while looking at the whole CSN-H mess as objectively as possible, I just can't see where anyone else is more to blame for the fiasco more than Crane. I just don't see how he can expect to get carriage offers more than what the market dictates. Now that he had his had as lead negotiator, the only thing to come out of it was another lawsuit claiming he was lied to about the value of the carriage deals. I just can't see how anyone with a brain could believe they would get $3.40 per subscriber.
I have been saying that from the moment the lawsuit was filed. You are too wrapped up in your own bravado to understand that.
That isn't what happened. They may have the money to pay him, but they did not pay him. That non-payment contractually provides him with an out. He intended to exercise that out. Comcast three it into bankruptcy to get a stay so he couldn't exercise that right. Nowhere was it said that the rates being too low in and of itself are why he was leaving. Where do you come up with this stuff?
I know it's not what happened and that's my point. JJ was way over simplifying what actually happened. Crane being a stubborn jackass is the main reason the company didn't have the money to pay his media rights fee payments. Some of you think Crane doesn't have a fudiciary responsibility to make the Network work. Crane doesn't give a **** if Comcast is paying above market rates and are artificially supporting the Network since it came on the air. Comcast loaned their partners a lot of money and are paying way more in carriage fees than they should. Crane is in effect taking advantage of the MFN clause by purposely not signing carriage deals because right now it's Comcast with their 22% share that is taking most of the losses. Crane likely feels that that the DTV deal lower fee along with the MFN kicking in puts him near the same in regard to profit. Yeah, the business plan numbers didn't work. No kidding.... That doesn't mean that you don't regroup and come up with another plan. It was way past time to formulate a new plan based on reality (here's where I snicker at the Crane side claim to be realists) or sell off your interest in the Network if that plan didn't work. Deliberately being a jackass to the point you wreck a business until it can't pay you and has to file bankruptcy isn't excersing rights. It's obvious that Crane can't afford to be in the TV business at the current market rates. So those of you pretending that Crane is looking out for his business. He's in the TV business and he sure as hell isn't looking out for that business or his partners in that business. So when CML750 laid out the scenario they way he did and got that "I don't understand comment" from JJ. JJ is right, he doesn't understand that's why he came back with a very simplistic response that makes it seems that in a business that you don't have obligations to your partners. Crane has done nothing but hold on to unrealistic projections, business plan or not. Since you cats are keeping it on the real.... Why don't any of you weigh in on the job the "White (over) Knight" guy did the last 6 weeks? He did nothing but prove everyone else's point. The market is the market. Once he figured that out, he went to plan B which is more excersion of rights ,I guess, which was dream up a lawsuit. Surely some of you have to be a little disppointed in the guy.
Astros not paid. They have option to get media rights back. I need to see where Crane said CSN-H had money, but didn't pay. I must have missed that one.
The clear winner in all this mess was Drayton McLame..... Never trust a man who goes around selling himself as your uncle when he is just interested in getting your money. I still remember the joint venture to replace the Astrodome with another venue that would house the Oilers and the Astros. And out of the blue McLane states that the Astrodome was perfect for him. As soon as the Oilers agreed to leave, McLane demands a baseball only facility. Bud Adams scenario would have saved the city of Houston hundreds of millions in retrospect. But he got villanized, while the people who pushed him out the door were lauded as heros of the Houston sport scene.
