aaahh...kinda like TNT/ESPN's halftime shows.....minimal details about the game in progress and lots of commercials...and no postgame shows.. that would suck majorly... say what you will about the crew doing the Rockets broadcasts now, but at least they cover the details of the game instead of doing fluff pieces at halftime about the darlings of the NBA like the Lakers/Heat/etc . hopefully, produce doesnt mean what we would expect with this.. I guess we find out tonight for sure...
As usual, the Rockets still have no mention of this on their website. The Astros wasted no time making the announcement on theirs.
Remember this line.......cause most FSN officials feel FSN Southwest's territory is to big to accurately cover all bases with all the teams they agreements with. Thus is some cases, they would have to lose some games to other "on air providers" cause they have other "obligations." So given the high annual rights fee FSN will be paying both the Astros and Rockets, FSN will not want to lose any of there games due to the fore mentioned situation above. If the Houston area were grouped as one market, in situations were both Rockets and Astros play at the same time, all FSN would have to do is to put one game on the alternate feed. If you have DirecTV, you see this all the time. The Astros would play on FSNSW and the other game, say the Mavs for instance, would play on "RSNA," or Regional Sports Network Alternative. Under the current setup, there's no way this could be done cause there are simply too many teams in this region. So don’t be surprised if this happens by next year.
FINALY FSN is gona pick up the Rox games! I didnt change my intier dish system for nothing u know! Im soo happy now
as a DirecTV/League Pass subscriber, I think this is great news.. looking forward to the Rockets being on more.. tonight's game is on NBA League Pass channel 8,but not sure now if it will be a Rockets or Grizz cast - - either way, the prospects of an FSN Houston, is not only possible, it seems logical - - there are already existing FSN Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh etc - - and that's w/out the burden in those markets of a lot of pro teams in those states - - as mentioned earlier, the Texas FSN/SW is overloaded - - i used to love turning on HSE at 11:59 a.m, waiting for their programming to start at Noon.. ahh, the glory days.. MISL indoor soccer, etc.. dave, springfield, mo
The current fluff pieces on the Rockets' Tux and Tennies events, power dancers or Scott Padgett's favorite color aren't much better, in my opinion. Watching that boring crap and listening to Cynthia Cooper attempt to break down the first half isn't what I'd call captivating television.
CRAP!! Well, I was mostly just hoping and thinking positively to try and will the Rockets to be shown here, so it's not too much of a letdown.
Why don't they just go ahead and move the radio broadcast to sattelite radio while they're at it. I mean, let me see if I have this right. They whine and threaten until they get us to pay for most of their new arena, they sell most of the good seats to corporations who barely use them and could largely care less, they jack all but the crappiest seats out of the price range of a lot of us, and finally they leave us the option of paying $500.00 a year for the privilege of watching them on television. They have priced out some of their most rabid fans. Am I crazy for thinking that teams with publicly funded arenas owe the taxpayers at least a few free broadcasts a year?
A-f#&@*#-men. The only thing that will keep me following the team (watching the games) from here on out is BitTorrent. But you KNOW they're fully aware of such blatant copyright infringement and it's only a matter of time until they try cracking down on that, too.
I bought into the BS about the RSNA programming thinking I would get Rockets Games up here...I was pissed. Even when the Rox played the Spurs, the normal FSN was blacked out. No Dest Dumb sports show or anything. Face it, as long as we're in DFW, anything Houston is considered the scourge of Texas. Fox in Irving feels this way too, so if there is a FSN-Houston, it will be on a much lower scale w/a lower budget than FSSouthwest. For us up here-this means less Astros games because 52 up here will not be able to carry them this year due to this agreement, and they'll be blacked out on Fox.
The Rockets do not own the rights to any broadcasts that extend beyond 30 miles from the arena. That is NBA policy, which means they cannot move to satellite radio until the NBA strikes a deal with satellite radio. The Rockets have nothing to do with that decision. Taxpayers did not pay "most" of the bill for Toyota Center. Hotel and car rental taxes paid for apprpoximately $130 million of the $230 million total. The Rockets footed the bill for the rest. The city also receives about $1 million per season in naming rights revenue as well as all of the revenues from the parking garage during non-arena events meaning that, factored over the 30-year term of the deal, the taxes the city collects from hotels and car rentals are paying the same or slightly less than the Rockets for the building. As for free broadcasts, keep in mind that the Rockets were rejected by every broadcast network in Houston other than 51 and 55, both of which have transmission problems and issues with satellite subscribers. There were TONS of complaints about the reception of both channels and the single biggest complaint viewers had was that they couldn't keep track of which channel the game was on. A majority said they would prefer if they were all on one channel. I understand being irritated by the use of cable over local broadcast means, but the quality for a large percentage of people was bad on 51 and 55 and none of the other decent networks in town was willing to put the Rockets on instead of network programming.
Do you rent cars or stay in hotels in Houston? If not, you are NOT a taxpayer who is paying for this arena. Les & co. have provided us with spectauclar talent year-in and year-out for the last 10 years, and the most a lot of us "rabid" fans have done to "support" the team has been: a.) continue to watch all their FREE broadcasts on local TV, that most teams did away with in the 90's. b.) come to this FREE site to cheer on the Rockets... with the emphasis being that if we had to pay monthly for the clutch BBS, most of us vets would be long gone, and c.) vote for a new arena that would not effect the taxes of the voting population at all, unless they're renting cars or staying in hotels. I know fan support can't simply be measured by attendance and $$, but you have to realize that how would the Rockets know how much fan support they really have if the only reason people follow this team is because everything is free? If you want a team that has been putting the bare minimum out there in terms of talent and competitiveness, you have every right to the free broadcasts and cheap ticket prices. But, if you're want a team that has gone all-out every year since 92-93 with the drive to try and win a championship, one that currently will have two young players making max contracts in order to keep them around, and one that has been very involved with the community... they're going to have to make ends meet somehow.
There will be very little halftime to deal with. Cynthia will still be on the pre-game but the Hagedorn / Cooper days are over. There will still be some pregame stuff, feature, etc...but this is a FOX deal and Mike A. in Dallas is running things. Cynthia was initally thought to be losing time but she'll still be doing stuff. Hagedorn will do some sideline stuff.
I feel bad for Jeff. He is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet and very good as a broadcaster. I hate lame FSN broadcasts because they eliminate cool things like the interviews after the game. One of my favorite things was the combination of the "outside the locker room" interview with one player and the press table interview with another. I'll miss that.
I agree if it wasnt for Jeff being next to Coop, GOD knows what would happien. I'v allways enjoyed his presence as a broadcaster these last 2 years. Broadcasting seems to come naturaly to him and he isnt to uptight he just goes w/ the flow.
