CSN Updates

Satellite companies scrambling while Comcast makes its uber-network. AT&T might as well put its bandwidth/fiberoptic lines up for grabs and see if Comcast bites.

 

That's my opinion on the Extra Innings no blackout thing Crane is floating. You lose leverage and I don't think it can be done without CSN H's approval.

 

The irony is they'll argue they're paying for the media rights exclusivity...but of course, they're not paying at all for the media rights at this point. Enter bankruptcy, though.

 

Do you think the intent wasn't for exclusivity?

 

It really depends on how it was written. Exclusivity against anybody else trying to broadcast games on an RSN? Clearly. Exclusivity against MLB rebroadcasting via a package sold by MLB. Much less clear. The devil is in the details.

It very may well grant exclusivity against MLB or it may not. It just depends on how it was written and the specific rights bargained for.

 

My best guess is that the intent was exclusivity.

 

I'd say intent is clear, reality is far murkier.

 

As usual, Jim Crane is the only one talking. MLB is silent on the subject. My opinion is that even if they could do lift the blackout legally is that they wouldn't. Mainly because it would weaken leverage for more teams than just the Astros if it became that any deal for MLB media rights wasn't exclusive to the RSN purchasing them.

 

Yeah, we know they're not ENTIRELY exclusive. I mean if you're out of the geographic area and you've paid for it, you can stream Astros games through MLB.com.

It just comes down to geographic exclusivity.

It just strikes me as funny because the Astros and Rockets were supposed to be compensated for CSN's exclusivity, and neither has been paid for it. Absent bankruptcy proceedings, CSN couldn't begin to make the argument that they should get the exclusivity they haven't paid for.

 

I tend to be in agreement. I feel like it is all talk on Crane's part, but we'll have to wait and see. Even though Bud Selig owes us, he isn't going to do that unless a majority of the owners back it, and I don't know why they would since they benefit so much more from local revenue streams.

 

I hear ya...but at this point, whether they allow streaming here or not, I don't believe it's going to affect CSN's carriage in the Houston market one iota. I don't see that changing, regardless.

 

Correct, that's because these are Regional Sports Networks. CSN H paid for regional exclusivity.

I get what you're saying but it's a moot point since that's not how the law works in this situation. No use rehashing why the Judge ruled the way he did.

 

Yeah, I didn't mean it as a rehash at all. Even if the judge hadn't ruled yet at all, the automatic stay would prevent any movement otherwise. Just ironic that the rights they'd be holding fast to are rights they didn't pay for.

 

http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastro...representatives-to-discuss-carraige-solution/

Federal judge to meet with CSNH representatives to discuss carraige solution

Posted on March 27, 2014 at 6:08 pm by David Barron in General

Six months and one day after the court filing that plunged Comcast SportsNet Houston into federal bankruptcy court, a federal judge will meet on Friday behind closed doors with a group that includes Rockets owner Leslie Alexander, Astros owner Jim Crane and Comcast executive Robert Pick in an effort to seek a solution to the troubled network’s tangled financial woes.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes, who is hearing the Astros’ appeal of a Feb. 4 order placing the CSN Houston partnership under Chapter 11 protection, said in his order setting up the 10 a.m. meeting that he wanted “to informally discuss a resolution” with the three partners.

CSN Houston, which airs Rockets and Astros games, has been unable to reach carriage arrangements with such major carriers as DirecTV, Dish Network, AT&T U-verse and Suddenlink. The network has not made enough money to pay the teams’ rights fees since last summer, and four Comcast affiliates on Sept. 27, 2013, filed an involuntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in an effort to keep the Astros from reclaiming their broadcast rights, which would have effectively killed the network.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur granted Chapter 11 protection in February, and the Astros appealed that order to Hughes’ court. Hughes has not indicated when he will rule.

Regarding Friday’s closed-door conference, the judge said in an e-mail, “Everything I do is for the quick and just resolution of the disputes brought to this court.”

Alexander is expected to attend with Rockets CEO Tad Brown, and Crane is expected to be accompanied by Astros general counsel Giles Kibbe and Margaret Barradas, managing director at Crane Capital Group. Pick, Comcast’s senior vice president of corporate development, and Arthur Block, senior vice president and general counsel, will represent Comcast.

 

LOL!!!

 

Judge Isgur has been a joke... Neither he nor Judge Hughes wants to touch the situation. Isgur's claim he does everything for a speedy resolution is insulting.

 

I think it was Hughes that said that - he's the one that set up tomorrow's hearing.

 

Some folks just want quick. These Judges have to do what is right too.

 

I still say the judge should have invited DirecTV, Dish and Uverse in as well. I'm only half joking.