CSN Houston adds 3 new carriers

Today Comcast SportsNet Houston announced an agreement with three more cable TV providers in the state of Texas. Buffalo Cable, Ozona Cable, and Telecom Cable have all signed deals with CSN Houston and will be adding the channel in the coming weeks.

Agreements with these three providers, who deliver programming to smaller communities outside the Houston area, could signify the beginning of a trend. At least that’s what Astros fans are hoping.

Millions of fans in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Oklahoma have been unable to see Astros broadcasts since the team left Fox Sports and launched CSN Houston during the offseason. Failure to reach accords with the major providers has not only been an utter disappointment to the fans, it has also had a major impact on the network’s image. Matt Hutchings, President and General Manager of the Regional Sports Network released the following statement earlier today.

Our primary goal is to be the best regional sports network available, providing the highest quality coverage of our professional, collegiate and high school product. By providing the best coverage, we are confident that the customers of our affiliate partners will be pleased with CSN. Ultimately, our goal is to make our customers, the fans, happy and help our affiliate partners grow their business. As our region includes all of Texas as well as Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas and parts of New Mexico, we want to ensure that fans throughout our entire geography have access to the channel.

Ozona Cable will be launching the network next week in Ozona, Eldorado, Mertzon, and Sterling City. Telecom Cable has already added the channel in Fulshear and will soon be servicing Freeport as well. Buffalo Cable, servicing Grapeland, Jewett, and Kennard will begin carrying CSN on August 1.

Today’s announcement provides a glimmer of hope for Astros fans throughout the region that have stuck with the team through these difficult times. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the next announcement includes some of the major players such as A.T.& T. U-Verse and DirecTV.