Cox Communications appears to have “decided to get out of the sports rights business, opting not to compete with Fox Sports for the rights to the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for a long-term carriage deal with Fox’s regional sports network," according to sources cited by John Ourand in this week's SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. Sources said that as a result of the move, Fox was the “only serious bidder for the Hornets rights.” The rights are believed to be "in the low to mid eight figures." Fox has “not decided which of its RSNs will carry the Hornets, but it appears likely that Fox will launch a New Orleans feed off of FS Southwest.” Hornets games on Cox Sports Television “were available to only 37 percent of the New Orleans DMA.” CSTV had no deal with DirecTV, and Charter "charged subscribers an extra $5 for access” to the games (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 5/28 issue). In New Orleans, Jimmy Smith in a front-page piece cites a source as saying that the official announcement “of what’s expected to be a 10-year agreement with Fox is expected to come no later than the second week of June.” The new deal “does not include satellite-dish services, such as DirecTV.” Acquisition of the signal for those subs “would have to be separately negotiated, and the same would be in effect for cable subscribers in Biloxi, Miss., for example.” Smith notes the expected agreement “solves the team’s signal distribution problems, which is a huge advantage to the Hornets in terms of marketability in the area” (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 5/30).
