We are all to blame for not being able to watch the Astros and Rockets

The Wall Street Journal turned its lonely eyes to Houston and CSN today, looking at how sports and sports programming has changed, and why Houston is the battleground for how providers/subscribers interact in an era where technology and DVR has changed the way people watch tv. Hint: UVerse isn't just looking at how many people watch sports, but how intensely they're watching sports:

Over the past 18 months, cable and satellite tv operators have started looking more closely at sports-viewing habits, using data collected from set-top boxes. The data have given them a better sense for how often individual customers tune in to home-team games, and for how long. They have created algorithms to gauge this level of "engagement," and are now using the findings to make decisions about whether to add sports networks and pass on the fees to all subscribers. 

AT&T says it used such data in deciding not to carry the new Houston sports network, although it declined to disclose details about the data. 

So it's not just that people weren't watching, those that were watching didn't to it intensely enough. 

Click the link for more info, including the part about CSN Houston asking for 16% more than FSSW did when they carried the Astros, Rangers, Rockets, Mavericks, Spurs, and Stars.

Update: The link doesn't appear to be working - try this one.