Houston Astros TV Channel to Shut Down, Team Seeks Ownership Rights

AT&T SportsNet channels will be shut down by the end of 2023, the company announced during a second-quarter earnings call last week.

But that doesn’t mean the TV rights to the Houston Astros are in trouble.

Per cordcuttersnews.com and other outlets, both the Astros and the Houston Rockets have been in negotiations with AT&T and Warner Bros. Discovery since March to acquire AT&T SportsNet Southwest, which would allow the two teams to run the channel and maintain their own regional television rights.

Earlier this year, Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns AT&T SportsNet Southwest and the regional broadcast rights to three MLB teams, announced they wanted out of the Regional Sports Network (RSN) business due to cost.

Warner Bros. Discovery informed the Astros, the Colorado Rockies and the Pittsburgh Pirates of their intentions in February. Instead of seeking bankruptcy protection, Warner Bros. Discovery sought to return the rights to those teams with the teams waiving the opportunity for further legal action.

By the end of 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery hopes to either transfer those TV rights back to those teams or help them find new partners.

Two teams — the NBA’s Utah Jazz and the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights — have already reached new deals to air for free on over-the-air television in their markets.

Astros games on television have remain unimpacted by the financials issues at Warner Bros. Discovery, unlike their in-state rival Texas Rangers, who have dealt with the bankruptcy proceedings of its television rightsholder, Bally Sports, which is owned by Diamond Sports Group.

The Rangers, along with two other MLB teams and the league, won a lawsuit against DSG in a Houston court in early June in a dispute over media rights fees. DSG hadn’t paid the Rangers their first rights fee payment for the year and paid up before a mid-June deadline that would have allowed the Rangers to take back their rights.

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