Cox Sports Television Drives Dish Deal

Pact Widens NBA Hornets’ Reach In New Orleans Area

By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 3/15/2008 7:53:00 AM

The New Orleans Hornets are having a stellar season on the court, vying for the top spot in the National Basketball Association’s high-flying Western Conference.

Cox Sports Television, which presents 65 of the club’s games, has received a distribution assist from Dish Network Corp., which reached a multiyear agreement with the network.

However, the regional sports network still has major holes in its distribution lineup as Charter Communications and DirecTV do not carry the service, which also covers three New Orleans Saints preseason games, eight New Orleans Voodoo contests and 10 New Orleans Zephyrs minor league baseball games, plus a bevy of college fare.

The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, makes CST available to Dish Network’s America’s Top 100 Plus customers within 75 miles of New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

Additionally, the agreement extends CST’s viewership to the Louisiana parishes of Jefferson, Orleans, Lafourche, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Terrebonne and Washington and the Mississippi counties of Hancock, Harrison and Pearl River. 

CST launched on Dish at channel 421 on March 13.

Owned and operated by Cox Communications Louisiana, LLC, CST counts nearly 2 million subscribers on cable systems in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Georgia, Florida and Virginia.

However, the regional sports network still has major holes in its distribution lineup as Charter Communications and DirecTV do not carry the service, which also covers three New Orleans Saints preseason games, eight New Orleans Voodoo contests and 10 New Orleans Zephyrs minor league baseball games, plus a bevy of college fare.

“We are deeply appreciative of the efforts of DISH Network, particularly its chairman and CEO Charlie Ergen and senior vice president of programming Eric Sahl, for helping the Hornets and their fans, as well as Cox Sports Television and its vice president Rod Mickler, who was willing to accommodate Dish Network," said NBA commissioner David Stern in a statement. “We hope that Charter Communications and DirecTV will be willing to step up for the citizens of New Orleans and the Gulf south region in similar fashion.”