# Sacramento Kings land Comcast Contract



## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

According to the 9/9 Sacramento Bee, the Sacramento Kings have landed a contract with Comcast to broadcast all 58 of the Sacramento Kings games that will not be aired on a cable network (i.e. ESPN, TNT) or local TV (KXTV-10). There is no word on whether or not it will be carried on either Dish or DirecTV, but DirecTV is definately interested in carrying the network. However, one DirecTV subscriber put it this way:


> Chris Woods, a Sacramento legislative consultant and DirecTV subscriber, said he's confident the satellite company will reach a deal to carry the new Comcast channel.
> 
> "I can't imagine the Maloofs shutting out a portion of their audience," he said.
> 
> If no deal occurred, though, Woods said he wouldn't switch to his old cable carrier. "We're happy with DirecTV - and to be honest, I don't know if (new Kings center) Greg Ostertag is enough reason to go back to Comcast."


The Sacramento King's previous cable contract was with Fox Sports Bay Area which had expired at the end of the 2002-2003 season. A cable contract was unable to be negotiated for the 2003-2004 season, resulting in more games being carried on KXTV-10.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

A followup article appeared in today's Bee. Supposedly, this will be available to all the cable systems (for a price) across the Sacramento valley, and would be regionalized.

No word on a name or a contract with Dish or DirecTV.


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## BFG (Jan 23, 2004)

Not that I care about the kings, but this comcast contract garbage has to end. This is ridiculous that all these teams are leaving well established RSNs and leaving them with no content and creating new networks exclusive to a cable company. Burn Comcast!!!


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

That's precisely my point and my feeling. Do we have to invent a new term called a T$N for "Team $ports Network"? Isn't it bad enough that E$PN and R$Ns charge a pretty penny for carriage and word the contracts so that it is carried on a basic channel tier so that everyone pays for it whether they watch it or not. If you remove a channel, expect outrage. Look at the griping because a New York cable operator and Dish Network refused to carry YE$.

Here is my e-mail response (and, unfortunately, I don't have a dbstalk e-mail address  ).


> This morning, I read your article about the new (and unnamed) Sacramento Kings channel. And, as a DBS subscriber, I am quite worried.
> 
> Comcast's programming policy has been "to do what's best for Comcast and screw everyone else". This is evident by Comcast's Philadelphia sports channel. In that area, the sports channel is available on neighboring cable systems because they do not compete against the Comcast cable franchise. However, there is a FCC loophole which says that if a cable channel is distributed by terrestrial means only, it does not have to be offerred to the DBS providers. Thus, both Dish Network and DirecTV are effectively locked out of being able to offer that channel in the Philadelphia area.
> 
> ...


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

I received a response back from the writer of the article. We won't have a Philadelphia problem here because the channel will be distributed by satellite. Now, it's just a matter of negotiating a carriage agreement.

This is going to get interesting considering that both Dish and DirecTV have a major presence. Considering the wide ethnic makeup of this area, I wouldn't be surprised if Dish has a slight edge with the international program offerrings.


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## Variant (Sep 16, 2004)

I'm trying to figure out if I will be forced to miss the gamess that are shown this channel during the season... it appears I will from this FAQ:

_*LOCAL RIGHTS*

If a local off-air broadcast channel (not ABC, NBC, CBS or FOX) or local cable system has the rights to broadcast a pro game in a certain region, customers in that area will be unable to receive that game through their DIRECTV® subscription(s)._

I live in Chico, CA -- approx. 90 miles north of Sacramento. I'm a three year subscriber to DirecTV and NBA League Pass. I've really enjoyed DirecTV's service, but my #1 goal is to see Kings games -- from my home  I'm trying to figure out if this Comcast channel will fall under the blackout rules mentioned above.

It's an off-the-air channel (not available via antenna), but it is available in my area. That makes it seem like the NBALP channel carrying the feed for the Kings game will be blacked out even though that channel is not available for me. However, from what I understand this Comcast channel is a for-pay channel: ie, not part of the base Comcast package. Are there special rules surrounding this?

Basically I am trying to make the decision if I should stick with DirecTV / NBALP or drop NBALP (I have a contract with DirecTV) and pick up Comcast for the duration of the NBA season.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

There are too many unknowns at this point. There is a on-line chat with the Sacramento Bee today.


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## BFG (Jan 23, 2004)

If you've been getting the games from NBALP before you will still get them in the pass. But if they've been blacked out on LP and you've watched on your RSN, then they will still be blacked out. The only difference now is that you probably wont see that blacked out game from the RSN channel on D*, cause it won't exist.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

There was an exemption last year in the league pass where Kings games were not blacked out due to the R$N situation. That exemption will not exist this year.

And, in reading the chat, there were more questions than expected about Dish and DirecTV carriage.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

According to the Sacramento Bee, the channel will be called "Comcast SportsNet West", and launch November 2nd with a Kings game. The status with the DBS providers?


The Sacramento Bee said:


> DirecTV spokesman Bob Marsocci said "it's a little premature to say" whether the satellite provider will strike a deal to carry SportsNet West.
> 
> "We will either have a deal shortly or we will not," Marsocci said. He declined to say what kind of rights fee Comcast is seeking for the network.
> 
> Marc Lumpkin, a DISH Network spokesman, said the satellite operator doesn't comment on negotiations, but repeated the company line that DISH would like to carry the new network for a "reasonable" rate.


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## nrholland (Apr 26, 2002)

We're still waiting for Altitude & Comcast Sportsnet Chicago on D*. You would that D* would have had a deal in place so that these two channels would be available on D* the day that they launched.


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## Guest (Oct 7, 2004)

nrholland said:


> We're still waiting for Altitude & Comcast Sportsnet Chicago on D*. You would that D* would have had a deal in place so that these two channels would be available on D* the day that they launched.


To me, there is no sense in carrying the channels until there are pro sports to be televised on them. Altitude and CSN-C don't have any regular season pro sports events until November, and they do have some college and preseason pro events currently.

If the NHL wasn't on strike, you would see a greater urgency to get things done since both areas are hockey markets and the NHL season would be starting within a week. All sides received extra time to negotiate with the NBA starting in November.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

From KXTV-10 website:

*Kings Fans Wait for Breakthrough in Cable TV Talks*

DirecTV, Dish Network and Starstream all tell News 10 there's nothing to report in ongoing negotiations. There's a glimmer of hope, however. Roseville-based Surewest Communications will carry Tuesday night's Kings-Lakers pre-season game in Fresno on channel 99. The game will be available to most Surewest subscribers in Placer County, Sacramento and Elk Grove.

FULL ARTICLE HERE


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

*SureWest, Comcast SportsNet West agree on Kings TV deal*

Preliminary Sacramento Bee


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

From Sacramento Bee:

*SureWest signs deal to carry the Kings
It's the first provider to add Comcast's new sports network.*

Kings fans who receive their television programming via SureWest Broadband can rest easy.

The Roseville-based company, with about 15,000 subscribers in the Sacramento area, announced Friday it has agreed to carry Comcast's new regional sports network, which will show 52 regular-season Kings games this season.

Spokesmen for Charter, DirecTV and Dish Network confirmed that talks are ongoing but declined to elaborate.

DirecTV and others may want to listen to customers such as McGuire and Quyen Nguyen. If DirecTV doesn't pick up the Comcast broadcasts, Nguyen wrote in an e-mail message to The Bee, "I will definitely switch to Comcast once my contract is over."

FULL ARTICLE HERE

Hell hasn't frozen over yet in Citrus Heights.


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## MrBean (Sep 29, 2004)

Mark Holtz said:


> From Sacramento Bee:
> 
> *SureWest signs deal to carry the Kings
> It's the first provider to add Comcast's new sports network.*
> ...


So in order to see Kings games as of right now, I would have to switch back to the crappy service I got from Comcast, or the even crappier service I got from Surewest (formerly known as Roseville telephone)?

No thank you. Sorry, but the Kings aren't worth taking away my sattelite. I have been a happy E* customer now for 3 years, ands this little gaffe with the kings won't make me that dissatisfied so I would leave them.

I am actually more mad at the Maloofs for striking this deal. They could have made the another deal with News 10 to broadcast the games to the local fans.

And does anyone know of a sportsbar here in town that runs comcast cable? All the one's I know of have either D* or E*. Going to make things kinda uncomfortable for them too.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

MrBean said:


> I am actually more mad at the Maloofs for striking this deal. They could have made the another deal with News 10 to broadcast the games to the local fans.


Not really.

All of the broadcast contracts were set to expire at the end of the 2002-2003 season. The local radio contract was renewed easily, albiet at a higher rate. The broadcast TV contract was actually ended early due to a breach of contract by KMAX during the pre- and post-game shows during the playoffs at the end of the 2001-2002 season, and KXTV-10 got the TV rights earlier than expected.

The regional $ports network contract was another issue. Because of clauses put in by the previous owners of the Kings when they were a bottom-of-the-barrel team, renewing the contract was nearly impossible because of those clauses. When a agreement could not be reached, KXTV-10 was able to carry addtional games, but has to get special permission from ABC to pre-empt programming. During last season, fans in the Sacramento Kings market who also subscribed to NBA league pass were able to watch the games without any blackouts because of the situation.

Not anymore. During a chat, there were a abnormally high number of Dish/DirecTV customers asking about channel carriage considering the Philadelphia situation. One of the clauses in the contract is allowing the channel to be offerred to other providers.

So, yeah, it sucks that they didn't renew with Fox Sports Bay Area. On the other hand, they will be able to cover other local sports in the central valley. Rivercat TV anyone?


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

From the Sacramento Bee:

*Mark Kreidler: Kings to control the Pacific; will Comcast control Kings?*

As of late last week, the Comcast deathstar was in gradually warming conversations with either the Dish Network or DirecTV, and there was the possibility of some good news with one or the other - perhaps both - this week.

As it is, the best I can do is to pass along the latest scuttlebutt, which is that, as of late last week, the Comcast deathstar was in gradually warming conversations with either the Dish Network or DirecTV, and there was the possibility of some good news with one or the other - perhaps both - this week.

FULL ARTICLE HERE


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

From the Sacramento Bee:

*Satellite firms not yet suited up for Kings games*

Watching the Kings on TV still isn't a slam dunk.

Even as Starstream Communications on Monday became the second small cable carrier to purchase Kings programming from Comcast, the major satellite players - Dish Network and DirecTV - remained on the sidelines on the eve of the team's season opener.

A deal with a third cable company - Charter Communications - is expected to be announced today.

But that may be the only additional agreement finalized before the season begins: According to two sources familiar with the negotiations, neither Dish Network nor DirecTV is expected to strike a deal today with Comcast.

That means the estimated 350,000 satellite subscribers in the Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto TV market are unlikely to get the opener - with DirecTV fans possibly facing even more missed games, as talks between that company and Comcast are said to have hit a snag.

Over the weekend, Dish Network's customer service department began sending e-mails to subscribers who had inquired about Kings programming; in one message, the company said it's "hopeful" that it can begin offering Comcast SportsNet West "within the coming week."

FULL ARTICLE HERE - Lots of good information here, but I've exceeded my "fair use". Suffice it to say the cost is $1.60 per subscriber with a 5% yearly increase. One community cable association said "Thanks, but no thanks."


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## Guest (Nov 2, 2004)

I've had enough of these political antics. There are thousands of Directv customers who want their Kings games. Come on now, the opening game starts in three hours. Comcast, just flip that switch.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

The Sacramento Bee is reporting that the Kings-Mavericks game will be carried tonight on Dish Channel 447 (but not DirecTV). However, a contract still has not been signed. Steve Caulk stated that Dish Network had no plans to carry Wednesday night's game against San Antonio unless the two companies reached a deal.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

From the Sacramento Bee:

*Cable deal blacked out in Tracy, Modesto*

Blame the zip codes for the blackout in Tracy and Modesto.


Sacramento Bee said:


> Comcast's new regional sports network got off to a rocky start Tuesday night when the NBA ordered a blackout of the Kings-Dallas Mavericks game in Modesto and Tracy.
> 
> The blackout order came late in the afternoon, apparently because of concern that Modesto and Tracy are considered an NBA cable TV market controlled by the Golden State Warriors.


And the current situation with Dish & DirecTV?


Sacramento Bee said:


> Satellite carrier Dish Network and Charter Communications, which serves West Sacramento and Dixon, were thought to be close to a deal, but none was announced.
> 
> Gonzales said Comcast also was negotiating with DirecTV, the nation's biggest satellite carrier.


And just to increase the pressure for the two DBS providers to accept the deal, they portray watching the Kings as a life-or-death situation...


Sacramento Bee said:


> Arnie Golub, a professor at Sacramento State, said he would switch from DirecTV to Comcast if the parties don't reach an agreement soon.
> 
> "It's important to see the Kings. It's the only reason I would switch," he said.
> 
> ...


FULL ARTICLE HERE


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

From today's Sacramento Bee, the Kings game will again be carried tonight on Dish on channel 447. No airing on DirecTV.

It is a sign of good faith and that Dish and Comcast are close to an agreement. However, DirecTV and Charter Communications are not near an agreement.


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## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

_Locking down thread for new thread. - *Holtz*_


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