BIG NEWS: AT&T, DirecTV to take over Comcast SportsNet Houst

[texasholdem]

http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/20 ... t-houston/

AT&T and DirecTV Sports Networks apparently will become the sole owners of the network now known as Comcast SportsNet Houston under a plan of reorganization filed late Wednesday night with federal bankruptcy court.

The plan was filed about 12 hours before a 10 a.m. status conference today before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur regarding the 11-month-old Chapter 11 bankruptcy case involving the Astros-Rockets-Comcast partnership.

According to an investment agreement involving AT&T, DirecTV Sports Networks, the Astros and Rockets and signed by Astros owner Jim Crane and Rockets CEO Tad Brown, the Houston Regional Sports Network partnership will be reorganized as a limited liability company with 1,000 common shares – 40 percent to AT&T, 60 percent to DirecTV Sports Networks.

Those shares will represent “the totally outstanding equity interest of HRSN,” the agreement said. Accordingly, interests of HRSN owned by the teams and Comcast “shall be irrevocably canceled and terminated.”

In a statement Thursday morning, the companies said, “The Houston Regional Sports Network, along with the Houston Astros and Houston Rockets, filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston a proposal to transfer ownership to a joint venture between DIRECTV and AT&T. Once the proposal is voted on by the creditors and approved by the court, DIRECTV and AT&T look forward to providing this great sports programming to Astros and Rockets fans throughout the region.”

The involvement of DirecTV and AT&T as owners would indicate that DirecTV and AT&T U-verse would sign on to carry the Rockets-Astros network, helping ease the carriage crunch that has limited viewership of CSN Houston to no more than 40 percent of Houston area TV households.

[Mr. E]

This is a huge and very welcome development.

I'll be interested to see what details emerge over the coming days.

Thanks for posting this!

[texasholdem]

Wonder what the new name for the network will be. Don't think they will keep the CSN name.

This offseason has become less of a disaster now.

[spaceballer]

On the one hand, any resolution that may mean more people can finally watch games without the artificial embargoes is a good thing.

But this sounds like Les is being bought out. The Rockets and Astros are selling their ownership stakes.

That means the Rockets won't own their own channel like the Knicks do. That kills the hope of leveraging the extra income from owning one's own channel in order to generate extra profits to ameliorate luxury taxes or make management more willing to spend for a championship team.

I suppose even if the Rockets won't get extra money from owning their own TV station/channel like the Yankees or the Knicks, at least they can shoot for a lucrative contract like the Lakers have with TWC. Though the channel's owners might try to squeeze them with cheaper deals given the disparity in market size.

But this thing has dragged on so long that any resolution is a good one, if only for closure.

[jwise44]

Wait so does this mean now I won't be able to watch it since I have comcast?

Or will comcast still carry it just under a different name I assume?

[moofs]

Wait so does this mean now I won't be able to watch it since I have comcast?

Or will comcast still carry it just under a different name I assume?

Same question here.

[spaceballer]

Wait so does this mean now I won't be able to watch it since I have comcast?

Or will comcast still carry it just under a different name I assume?

Same question here.

From the article:

Comcast, however, presumably will continue to carry the network as part of its existing carriage agreement, although that element was not made clear in the documents filed Wednesday night.

If Comcast was eager to sell its ownership stake in a venture undergoing bankruptcy, I think AT&T/DirecTV would insist on Comcast maintaining the carriage agreement in return for bailing them out and assuming ownership. Since loss of carriage would affect the market value of the property, it would be in Comcast's interest to at least temporarily uphold existing carriage agreements between the CSN Houston channel that they're trying to offload and the separate Comcast cable system.

The duration of that existing carriage agreement and commitment has not been spelled out in the filings, but when the existing carriage agreement ends, there will be new contract negotiations. At that point, Comcast may decide to drop the CSN Houston (or whatever it might get renamed to) channel, unless they can get favorable terms. Or if AT&T/DirecTV decides at that point that an exclusivity deal of only offering the channel on AT&T/DirecTV suits their interests better as a competitive advantage in the paid TV market, or if they're asking for more than Comcast is willing to pay in carriage fees in a new contract.

For the foreseeable future, I would assume that CSN Houston (or whatever it will be renamed to) will be available across the board. It's only when the current carriage agreement is up for renegotiation that I can see things changing.

I do note that there is no definitive answer in the article, but it's assumed the existing carriage agreements will be honored. It's in both the buyers' and sellers' interests. AT&T/DirecTV because they want a larger market reach for their new investment. Comcast (and the Astros and Rockets) because devaluing a property by terminating existing carriage agreements means they will get a lower price when trying to offload their ownership stake in this investment property.

So everyone gets to watch Rockets games, I think...for now. It's up in the air when it comes times to renew carriage contracts and they haggle over carriage price. Of course, I could be entirely wrong when they clarify the details of the deal

[texasholdem]

Q: What will happen to Comcast SportsNet Houston?

A: Under a plan submitted to Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur, it will be replaced by Root Sports Houston, which will be owned by AT&T and DirecTV Sports Networks.

Q: Will the Astros, Rockets and Comcast sill own a piece of the new network?

A: No. AT&T will own 40 percent and DirecTV Sports Networks, which runs Root Sports channels in three cities, will own 60 percent.

Q: How soon could the new network be on the air?

A: The Rockets hope it will be on the air by Oct. 5 for their preseason opener.

Q: What happens in the meantime?

A: CSN Houston will continue operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Q: Could Comcast do anything to prevent the new network partnership from going forward?

A: Comcast, which earlier declined to submit a bid to buy the network out of bankruptcy, could submit its own reorganization plan if it wishes to do so.

Q: Will I still get the new network on Comcast?

A: According to the plan submitted to the court, the new network will be available on Comcast in Houston.

http://blog.chron.com/sportsupdate/2014 ... -resolved/

New channel is called Root Sports Houston. RSH. Guess it could be worse.

[moofs]

Wait so does this mean now I won't be able to watch it since I have comcast?

Or will comcast still carry it just under a different name I assume?

Same question here.

From the article:

Comcast, however, presumably will continue to carry the network as part of its existing carriage agreement, although that element was not made clear in the documents filed Wednesday night.

If Comcast was eager to sell its ownership stake in a venture undergoing bankruptcy, I think AT&T/DirecTV would insist on Comcast maintaining the carriage agreement in return for bailing them out and assuming ownership. Since loss of carriage would affect the market value of the property, it would be in Comcast's interest to at least temporarily uphold existing carriage agreements between the CSN Houston channel that they're trying to offload and the separate Comcast cable system.

The duration of that existing carriage agreement and commitment has not been spelled out in the filings, but when the existing carriage agreement ends, there will be new contract negotiations. At that point, Comcast may decide to drop the CSN Houston (or whatever it might get renamed to) channel, unless they can get favorable terms. Or if AT&T/DirecTV decides at that point that an exclusivity deal of only offering the channel on AT&T/DirecTV suits their interests better as a competitive advantage in the paid TV market, or if they're asking for more than Comcast is willing to pay in carriage fees in a new contract.

For the foreseeable future, I would assume that CSN Houston (or whatever it will be renamed to) will be available across the board. It's only when the current carriage agreement is up for renegotiation that I can see things changing.

I do note that there is no definitive answer in the article, but it's assumed the existing carriage agreements will be honored. It's in both the buyers' and sellers' interests. AT&T/DirecTV because they want a larger market reach for their new investment. Comcast (and the Astros and Rockets) because devaluing a property by terminating existing carriage agreements means they will get a lower price when trying to offload their ownership stake in this investment property.

So everyone gets to watch Rockets games, I think...for now. It's up in the air when it comes times to renew carriage contracts and they haggle over carriage price. Of course, I could be entirely wrong when they clarify the details of the deal

Thanks much! I figured it could be discerned, but didn't see the answer in the article or have time to do any research on it.

[OrlandoHouston]

Hell yeah! I can finally watch my team like a normal person

[Mr. E]

Hell yeah! I can finally watch my team like a normal person

Fantastic concept, eh?

Hopefully they get past any potential "hurdles" between now and the October 5th preseason opener.

Around town everyone is talking about it just being 3 weeks to football season. That's great and all, but more importantly we are just 8 weeks away from preseason basketball!