Anyone notice all the Dynamo content they have been pushing out? Lots of articles and video. http://www.csnhouston.com
I highly recommend we give those guys a lot of hits over the next week to keep it going. Three articles yesterday!
Yea, me too. And there are a lot of CSN twitter accounts I've started following that tweet about the Dynamo.
They get negative points or demerits for having Ortiz on their talk show several times. But its the first time we've had a real local cable sports channel here in about 17-18 years. Fox seemed always to focus on Dallas. It would be good for the Dynamo to hook up with them, although I don't think they will ever get the regional reach that Fox had because the Rockets games are restricted outside of Houston and the Astros programming is worth nothing now outside of Houston because they suck so bad. Not sure if CSN Houston really has the slots for the Dynamo since they have Astros all season.
Me either right now, and I don't care yet because I don't watch the Rockets nor the Astros. I can still read their stuff though.
I think they can arrange time slots for both since the Dynamo are in the Eastern Conference (most of the games start at 6pm or 7pm) and the Astros are in the AL West (the games will start at 9pm).
I have a strong feeling that CSN Houston will pick up Dynamo games next season now that FS Houston is defunct. So here's hoping to DirecTV and other carriers striking a deal with the network sometime soon.
I really hope the Dynamo don't do a deal with CSN. Almost a 2/3 of Houston households don't have access to it and I don't have a lot of faith that will change anytime soon. As a Rocket's fan it's a huge pain to try to watch a game and a lot of fans are turned off by the situation. When a well established team in one of the big leagues is losing fans because of it I don't see why a team that can't really afford to lose fans would put themselves in that situation. If CSN actually gets deals worked out so people can watch it then I think it could be a very good deal though. I've also read that Tad Brown (an executive from the Rockets) has mentioned that CSN is trying to get the Dynamo.
CSN brought a reporter that was extremely interested in getting interviews with the players at the airport today. Everybody else took a freelancer, but they actually took their legit reporter.
The Chronicle had an article a few days ago about no one outside of Comcast and a few smaller cable companies carrying CSH Houston. Apparently they are asking $3.40 per subscriber per month and have it on basic or on sports basic. Like everyone else, they want Grandma to pay $3.40 per month whether or not she watches the channel. The problem for CSN is one of timing. The Rockets are just OK and the Astros flat suck. It's really not that compelling programming for many. I mean, the Astros payroll next year is going to be the lowest in the league by a wide margin, maybe in 2015 they will be interesting. Astros ratings sucked last year. FS is just going to put the Rangers on everyday. And all of the cable and satellite companies are locked into deals with FS Houston/Southwest where they pay a certain amount even if the Astros & Rockets aren't on there. So CSN is pure additional fees, nothing substituted. You could see this standoff lasting a long time. Channel 2 & 13 sent regular sports reporters to the game. They guy CSN sent (Sebastian Salazar I think) covered DC United for CSN. CSN has done a good deal of Dynamo coverage and the channel has good stuff. They've already taken almost all of the old FS Houston stuff like UH, Rice, etc. to try and make the channel attractive. Dynamo may end up with a deal in excess of what their rights are really worth to anyone else.
I do think they probably could carry a good number of the games, but they aren't going to want to eat into Astros pre-game for soccer. I know, Astros suck but since Crane owns like 40% of the network, Astros & Rockets will always have 100% priority. The Astros schedule is already out and most of the road games already have times on them. Figure on most of those weekends that the Dynamo will be playing at BBVA Compass so they could figure out how many games they could slot in. I think CSN Houston would do a great job in coverage, just don't know if they will pay the Dynamo a rights fee.
If they get a deal with directv and dish....won't be any more obscure than regional fox sports plus stations.
CSN carries MLS games in some other markets. Some of what I've seen has been pretty good. Their production quality generally looked major league to me. I know that complainaholics will gripe about something no matter what, but there are also a few things that a lot of people may find annoying. Personally, I hate how they shrink the screen with the game while they add another screen for something like a sideline interview. But overall it's not a bad broadcast. And the more games in HD, the better.
strangely enough, I couldn't find an email address on the website. Phone and snail mail. I sent a message through facebook.