I realize a lot of my friends on Facebook have no idea whats happened in Houston with our SportsNet. If youre interested, Ill try and explain in the quickest way possible. Two years ago we launched Comcast SportsNet Houston. Our Network was made up of a four member board. The members were one each from the Houston Astros, Houston Rockets, Comcast, and Houston Regional SportsNet. When we launched, we only had distribution to 40% of Houston on Comcast Cable. To succeed, we would need carriage on all cable providers. The board would need to agree on a carriage deal with the providers. The business plan was set so that all carriage deals had to be a unanimous decision of the board. Thats where the business plan failed. Providers wanted a lower rate to carry us, and if all four board members didnt agree to that rate, there would be no distribution deal. This was fought, argued and battled out in court for two years. All the while we continued providing the best possible sports broadcast to the 40% with Comcast. The 60% who couldnt watch the Astros, Rockets, and Dynamo were angry, and rightfully so. All they wanted was to watch their teams. After a year, the financial responsibility required to continue became too great to continue. Without distribution, we were losing hundreds of millions a year, and there was really no solution in sight. The business plan was too damaged to fix so the board began looking at options to get out through Chapter 11, Sale, or Liquidation. Direct TV Presented a plan to purchase the troubled Network, and launch as Root Sports Houston. That plan would guarantee carriage on Comcast, Direct TV, ATT UVerse and others. Basically, the plan would ensure the fans in Houston would get to watch their teams. This plan would come with a huge loss to the Network. 75% of the Employees would lose their jobs. And thats exactly what happened. So, last night was the final show as Comcast SportsNet. Im one of the few who will walk into an empty building today and realize that our friends, coworkers and talented reporters and anchors will not be returning. And that really sucks worse than being Rocky Dennis. If youve read this far, and wonder how this affects you... What just happened in Houston has been carefully monitored and studied by just about every television Network on air today. This will be a case study, and probably taught in Law Schools for years to come (The 4 Member Board included 78 Attorneys with over 2 million pages of legal documents). What happened here was a learning experience, and I hope that what we just went through for the past two years will prevent the same thing from happening in your markets, to your teams, and to any of you in this business.
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 12:54:56 +0000
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