Thank God for Time Warner Digital cable! Dish dispute leaves viewers out in cold By DAVID BARRON Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle The NBA season is under way, but the Rockets' television situation is as murky as ever. With negotiations ongoing between the Rockets and Fox Sports Net, the team has scheduled its first five games, including tonight's road game in Denver and the first three home games against Toronto, Seattle and Golden State for KNWS (Ch. 51). The first unassigned game, at this point, is the home game against Portland on Nov. 12. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn't be a problem. Given the continued inability of Channel 51 to settle its carriage disputes with DirecTV and Dish Network, however, it's a problem for the 42 percent of homes in the Houston market that aren't wired for cable. When the Rockets signed their over-the-air deals with Channel 51 and with KHWB (Ch. 39), the team stated flatly that games would be available on satellite by this week. That hasn't happened because of the Federal Communications Commission's delay in ruling on a request that would require DirecTV and Dish Network to add Channel 51. Station owner Doug Johnson also was counting on what he said was a promise from the chairman of EchoStar, which owns Dish Network, to add Channel 51 pronto. "We were encouraged a month ago when they said they would put us on, but they haven't done it yet," Johnson said. "The only time that they will move on this is if they hear from their customers. So we're asking people to call their satellite provider and insist on KNWS being added. I think they (satellite companies) would like to add us, but they have to get off the dime." Channel 51 also has filed a lawsuit in a Houston federal court against Dish Network. The suit claims Dish Network erred in not including Channel 51 on the "must-carry list" because of a dispute over the deadline to submit a carriage application. "EchoStar wrote us a letter waiving the deadline, and I don't see how they can avoid their obligation to carry us," said attorney Joe Holzer, who represents Channel 51. "For them not to carry us is incomprehensible." Meanwhile, a spokesman for Fox Sports Net said the network and the Rockets have made progress in talks on a new contract, but he declined to predict if a deal would be struck by Tuesday. A deal is likely at some point, although FSN is not averse to walking away. In New Orleans, it let the Hornets go to a new regional network owned by Cox Communications rather than match Cox's offer. Channel 51 can carry games that don't make it to FSN while talks continue, which is OK for cable subscribers but not good for satellite customers. So things could be worse for Rockets fans. Witness Los Angeles, where FSN is in the midst of stalled contracts with the Clippers. Unless the parties come to an agreement, Clippers fans will be limited to 25 games on an over-the-air station and 10 games on TNT or ESPN. Yao Ming's first regular-season game had a 4.1 Nielsen rating and 6 share Wednesday on Channel 51. That's in line with games during the latter part of last season but one-third under the average midseason rating on KTXH (Ch. 20).
