Astros, Rockets To Launch New TV Network Next Week

The Houston Astros and Houston Rockets are set to acquire their rights back from AT&T SportsNet Southwest this weekend.

The Houston Astros and the Houston Rockets announced on Friday that they are acquiring AT&T SportsNet Southwest from Warner Bros. Discovery effective September 30, 2023, a move that has been anticipated for several months.

On Oct. 3, the new network will launch and be called Space City Home Network. It will be the new television home of both the Astros and the Rockets.

Two weeks ago, Per a report at KHOU.com, the name was basically agreed upon a couple of weeks ago. The network was trademarked by a company called Houston Sports Network, LLC, which filed the trademark application in July. The home address for the LLC is the same address as the Toyota Center, the home of the Houston Rockets.

Both teams needed a new television home because Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns AT&T SportsNet Houston and the other regional sports networks (RSN) under its umbrella, are to be shut down by the end of this year. The parent company confirmed as much during its second-quarter earnings call earlier this year.

Warner Bros. Discovery gave each of its three MLB teams a heads-up at the start of the year that it was going in that direction, and the Rockets and Astros have reportedly been negotiating with the company to get their rights back. While that hasn’t happened yet, it has not impacted the broadcast of Astros games this season.

The Colorado Rockies and the Pittsburgh Pirates are the other two teams the net has deals with.

By the end of 2023, Warner Bros. Discovery was to either transfer those TV rights back to those teams or help them find new partners. In this case, the two Houston-based teams partnered to acquire this portion of the network.

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.