Zero.Point.Zero

[revo]

It's not only Mr. Blutarsky's GPA, but also the local Nielsen ratings of Monday Astros' home game against the Angels. According to CBS, there are 579 active Nielsen boxes in the Houston area tracking local TV use, and not a single one was tuned to the Astros game. And this is the 2nd time in the last two weeks of games (dating to last season) when an Astros game registered a 0.0 rating. Wowza.

[joncarlos]

How many of those boxes actually have access to the game? Aren't they having some kind of cable dispute?

[cavebird]

How many of those boxes actually have access to the game? Aren't they having some kind of cable dispute?

The thing said 500K households had access. There are 5.5 million people or so in the Houston metro area.

[Sour Masher]

What an epic screw up this is. You'd think with so much ad money being lost in this conflict, there you would huge incentive to figure this out pronto.

[james33]

What an epic screw up this is. You'd think with so much ad money being lost in this conflict, there you would huge incentive to figure this out pronto.

Agree. And it isn't just the short-run ad money, as big as that is. Longrun deterioration of fan base. Yeah, many will come back when the Astros start to win, but will they be loyal if the Astros again hit hard times? Or did the Astros just create a Marlins-like situation?

[Bob Kohm]

I truly don't understand why we don't hear more about getting that team out of there. Charlotte or Raleigh-Durham would likely give more support, maybe Nashville or Salt Lake City or even Norfolk where they'd pull in everything from Richmond to the RTC area, plus the Navy. Houston is in theory a huge market (#10 in the nation) and you hate to lose that, but the Astros already effectively have. Pull them out then put another team in Houston 7-10 years down the road and start over with a sense of excitement.

[Hornsby]

Mike posted something about this last week...there's a dispute between the old cable network and the new one, as a result, there is no Astros TV offered in something like a 500 mile radius. it just went to court, so hopefully, they can work something out soon. I don't think that there's going to be a problem putting people in the seats once they can actually see the games...it's a team that has a lot going for it in the future.

[Kevin Seitzer]

What an epic screw up this is. You'd think with so much ad money being lost in this conflict, there you would huge incentive to figure this out pronto.

The bankruptcy judge (mostly) doesn't care about the ad money being lost, at least not in the short term. Comcast is getting their money and not having to pay rights fees, so they don't have incentive to get it out of bankruptcy, either. The Astros are not legally allowed to go fix this unilaterally.

[Kevin Seitzer]

I truly don't understand why we don't hear more about getting that team out of there. Charlotte or Raleigh-Durham would likely give more support, maybe Nashville or Salt Lake City or even Norfolk where they'd pull in everything from Richmond to the RTC area, plus the Navy. Houston is in theory a huge market (#10 in the nation) and you hate to lose that, but the Astros already effectively have. Pull them out then put another team in Houston 7-10 years down the road and start over with a sense of excitement.

That would be incredibly stupid.

How would moving to a much smaller market and starting over with a new fan base and a losing team fix a legal dispute over the RSN? You can't hurry the legal system, much as I wish it would be resolved now. Those markets you suggest would all have major viability issues. Houston has no such viability issues long term. Making a rash decision because of a short-term blip would be very dumb.

[bryanbutler]

average attendance at utah jazz games is almost as much as astros games. just sayin'.

[Bob Kohm]

Actually, it has nothing to do with this short term screw up, Mike. It has to do with the awful history of the team and its lackluster fanbase-- the current screw-up is merely emblematic of the franchise's recent history. Houston appears to have lost its taste for this team, so move them out and start over in a market where they'll draw. The "much smaller market" thing is so overdone at this point-- Houston is the #10 market in the country as measured by Nielson, Miami is top 15 and is actually much larger in reality as it draws in the other South Florida markets, etc.-- yet look at these teams as opposed to well run teams in markets that are measurably smaller but have the demand. The Carolinas/VA Tidewater would add another team to the under represented South and would draw in markets like Charleston, Charlotte, Raleigh/Durham and Norfolk. More importantly, perhaps, it would be one of the few games in town, as it were-- there is less competition for the professional sports dollar there. Ditto SLC-- put a team there and you are effectively the only game in town with the Jazz season not terribly overlapping-- and the Utah demo dovetails nicely with MLB's targets.

Houston should follow the MLB model for DC or the NHL's in Minneapolis, albeit on an accelerated timeline-- pull the Astros, let people miss baseball for a while and then move in another team 7-10 years down the line. It's not like MLB is getting anything out of the "large" Houston market. Besides, Mike, living in the Crolinas is a hell of lot nicer than living in Houston

[Moonlight J]

I watch the games each day on mlb.tv. Astros are always one of the games on the quad box on the 2nd monitor

[cavebird]

Actually, it has nothing to do with this short term screw up, Mike. It has to do with the awful history of the team and its lackluster fanbase-- the current screw-up is merely emblematic of the franchise's recent history. Houston appears to have lost its taste for this team, so move them out and start over in a market where they'll draw. The "much smaller market" thing is so overdone at this point-- Houston is the #10 market in the country as measured by Nielson, Miami is top 15 and is actually much larger in reality as it draws in the other South Florida markets, etc.-- yet look at these teams as opposed to well run teams in markets that are measurably smaller but have the demand. The Carolinas/VA Tidewater would add another team to the under represented South and would draw in markets like Charleston, Charlotte, Raleigh/Durham and Norfolk. More importantly, perhaps, it would be one of the few games in town, as it were-- there is less competition for the professional sports dollar there. Ditto SLC-- put a team there and you are effectively the only game in town with the Jazz season not terribly overlapping-- and the Utah demo dovetails nicely with MLB's targets.

Houston should follow the MLB model for DC or the NHL's in Minneapolis, albeit on an accelerated timeline-- pull the Astros, let people miss baseball for a while and then move in another team 7-10 years down the line. It's not like MLB is getting anything out of the "large" Houston market. Besides, Mike, living in the Crolinas is a hell of lot nicer than living in Houston

I am not sure what market wouldn't be lost by a team that has lost so many games multiple seasons in a row. There wasn't a problem when they had good teams. I don't think there is any issue there that getting the TV mess fixed and winning games wouldn't resolve. It sure sounds like your plan is more based upon your relative like of the areas you discuss.

[Kevin Seitzer]

I am not sure what market wouldn't be lost by a team that has lost so many games multiple seasons in a row. There wasn't a problem when they had good teams. I don't think there is any issue there that getting the TV mess fixed and winning games wouldn't resolve. It sure sounds like your plan is more based upon your relative like of the areas you discuss.

Exactly. The team doesn't have an awful history or a lackluster fan base. It has had a very rough 6-7 years, and that is in the process of getting fixed. From the early 1990s through about 2007, Houston was a rocking baseball town. Was it Boston or the Yankees? No, of course not. But neither are about 25 other franchises.

[umjewman]

When I was 25, I had a Nielsen box in my apartment. I always wondered what kind of havoc I caused on the ratings when I would pass out and leave the TV on all night.