FSN Northwest Ends Rights Negotiations With Trail Blazers
By John Ourand, Staff Writer
Balking at the $12-13M annual price tag the Trail Blazers were dangling, FSN Northwest
has decided against renewing a rights deal with the team. “We’ve ended talks with
the Trail Blazers,” an FSN spokesperson said. “They are simply unrealistic about
the increase, and we do not believe it is in the best interest for us to continue
at that level for our distributors and consumers.” Sources close to the negotiations
said the $12-13M the Blazers were seeking was three times what FSN Northwest was
offering. The move leaves the Blazers without a cable partner for the ’07-08 season,
but also opens the door for Comcast to buy the team’s rights. The MSO has been
rumored to be launching a Portland-area RSN for some time. FSN Northwest is one
of the three RSNs that Fox is in the process of selling to Liberty Media. Comcast
is widely expected to gain control of FSN Northwest eventually. Five years ago,
FSN Northwest signed a deal for the Blazers’ rights after the team’s owner, Paul
Allen, unsuccessfully tried to launch his own RSN, Action Sports Network. In the
ensuing five years, FSN Northwest has seen ratings for its Blazers games drop
56%, from a 3.4 cable rating in ’02-03 to a 1.5 cable rating this year. The team
has missed the playoffs for the past four seasons. FSN Northwest’s other rights
include the Sonics and Mariners.
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