Don't Expect to See the LHN on Time Warner Anytime Soon

UT is dropping its local agreement with Time Warner and Texas-based Grande Communications is now the official cable & internet provider for Longhorn Sports.

I guess negotiations with Time Warner and ESPN over the Longhorn Network must be going swimmingly.

Grande, based out of San Marcos will provide services to all Longhorn athletic facilities and will be the official sponsor of the Neighborhood Longhorns Program, which provides additional help and educational opportunities for Austin middle-schoolers. They will also have signage rights in UT athletic venues.

This points to a couple of things:

Grande was the first local provider to pick up the LHN. Time Warner, the largest cable provider in Texas, has been a holdout from the start. ESPN reportedly is asked for for the LHN to be on the basic cable tier and to get 40 cents per subscriber.

Secondly, Texas is trading in a national provider - with over 14 million subscribers, including 2 million in Texas, for a regional company that has approximately 200,000 subscribers in Texas.

I'm guessing the rights fee check Grande Communications cut isn't quite as big as the one Time Warner wrote.

Grande has partial coverage in 9 Texas communities.

Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Midland/Odessa, Waco and San Marcos.