Courtesy the Dallas Morning News

(November 1, 2010) The long-rumored move of the Major League Baseball and NBA franchises to Comcast, which will launch a new Houston regional sports network, became official Friday. The Rockets will leave Fox Sports Houston in the fall of 2012 and the Astros in 2013.

The prospect of a Comcast RSN launch in Houston was, of course, the major reason Fox Sports Net was so eager to put up at least $1.6 billion for a new 20-year deal with the Rangers. That deal included considerable upfront money that allowed the Chuck Greenberg-Nolan Ryan ownership group to outbid the Mark Cuban-Jim Crane group. Fox was worried that Cuban-Crane would bundle the Rangers with the Mavericks and pursue their own RSN. That would have left Fox Sports Southwest with only the NHL Stars, Big 12 and high school programming.

Comcast is the largest cable provider in the nation. It is also in the process of buying NBC. The teams will own 70 percent of what will be known as Comcast SportsNet Houston. It will be Comcast's ninth RSN.

Among the programming Fox Sports Houston is expected to pick up to fill the void is the same Rangers schedule offered by Fox Sports Southwest.

blog comments powered by Disqus