I don't know if he's right, but Crane is saying they haven't been paid in a few months....and the Astros' attorney is saying that's not because CSN is insolvent...he says CSN has $7 million in cash. Their payments on the $100,000,000 secured loan are interest only quarterly payments at least though 2014. They're not being paid because there's a partnership dispute...and there have been settlement offers thrown out back and forth for a divorce. But instead, CSN had Comcast creditors throw the whole thing in bankruptcy.
Im sure les wants out as much as the pr nightmare and is happy to remain silengt while the nightmare does his thing.j
Are all operating costs for the network being covered by the above loan? Are the rights fees being covered by the above loan? It still screams of moving money from the left pocket to the right pocket. Astros are suffering losses as being a co-owner of a network that has zero coverage... but they still want to be paid their rights fees (for which payments are being diminished because said channel isn't making any money). I know Crane wants to be paid what he was told he would be paid... but I'm sure a lot of that was based on the company actually having coverage and generating cash-flow. Guess the courts will figure out who is right, and who should be owed what.
That 100mm has to include broadcasting rights. i wonder how much say so the rockets and astros have in those righfs from the statiln's standpoint. P
So as someone who wants 1)the astros on tv before next season,and 2) for them to get a deal that at least puts them in the middle class of mlb teams, what should I be rooting for in this bankruptcy case?
I think their best bet is to get bought out and let them get a lucrative rights fee package from an existing network... with the possibility of part ownership, depending on the network's success (similar to the Rangers with FSN). CSN will not work for the Astros as owners unless they get a similar carriage rate that other RSN's that are primarily owned by baseball teams get. Thus far, no company is willing to come close to that # that the Astros have in mind.
Agreed. Unbelievable that a top-class organization like the Rockets would want to attach their future to the dysfunctional turd that is the present day Houston Astros.
I actually like crane. im glad he is rebuilding the farm. i wish more fans would by into his into the concept of not wasting money on a team going no where. the texans have to start shedding cap but cant openly state that. in today's sports economic landscape you cca look to add winning pieces every year
They were in talks to form a regional network long before the Astros recent run of badness... and for most of that time, the Astros have had the "better run" organization, with more success at the turnstiles as well as in the standings/playoffs.
Sure, but you were asking why the Rockets would attach themselves to the Astros... and the answer is that they attached themselves long before the last 3 years. At a time when the Astros were far more popular in the city.
Even if the Astros were World Series winners, it would be a dumb thing to do. You don't cede control of those sorts of decisions over to entirely different entities who have different economics and goals.
And it's much more attractive for a group like CSN to have an MLB team on its programming than not. 162 games is a massive amount of programming to sell advertising around. Yeah, I know the ratings were awful this year, but these deals aren't made with one year in mind....they're lengthy agreements spanning decades. There's a reason why the Astros own a majority stake here in this thing...they have a ton of programming and less territorial restrictions than the Rockets do under NBA guidelines. The Astros have been on in 5 states for the last 15 or so years. That's a lot of programming over a very broad area.
It has nothing to do with the Astros being dysfunctional - it has to do with the fact that the Astros and Rockets' interests simply don't line up. The Rockets shouldn't expect the Astros to do what's best for the Rockets at their own expense.
