HOUSTON, TX – The Houston Astros are alleging Comcast improperly filed a bankruptcy petition to keep it from severing ties with Houston Regional Sports Network, the legal name of Comcast SportsNet Houston.
Here’s the deal:
The Astros, the Rockets, and NBC Universal jointly own the Comcast SportsNet Houston network, which launched about a year ago.
The network has a media rights agreement with the HRSN to air the baseball and basketball games, but in a statement the Astros say HRSN hasn’t paid the media rights fees to air their games in three months and claim the team has been covering the cost to keep the network viable through the season.
A statement from NBC Universal, which owns part of the network, says the bankruptcy filing was necessary to preserve CSN’s ability to provide its valuable programming and reaffirm its commitment to serving the region and its fans.
All this stems from the blackout from certain area cable distributers since the network launched.
You’d think this is something the Astros, the Rockets and Comcast would have worked out before they made their own network.
