The NBA season is still a couple of months away, but Utah Jazz fans already have a big win under their belts — fans who subscribe to Comcast, that is.

The battle between Fox Sports Net-Utah and Comcast is over. Utah's largest cable provider will air all 40 Jazz games that FSN carries during the 2006-07 season.

"This is great news. It means more Jazz fans will get to see more Jazz games," said Randy Rigby, the Jazz's senior vice president of broadcasting.

"In the end, we're all pleased," said Tim Griggs, vice president and general manager of FSN-Utah. "I think Comcast and the Jazz and certainly FSN-Utah are really glad we worked everything out.

"These things happen from time to time in our business. It's not uncommon. People see things differently, and it takes a lot of patience and hard work and willingness on all sides to compromise."

"We are, of course, excited to have this worked out," said Comcast spokesman Ray Child. "And I'm most excited for our customers."

Financial details of the agreement to air the 13 additional games were not released, but a year ago FSN-Utah said it was a six-figure deal under discussion and Comcast said it was seven figures.

FSN-Utah and Comcast all but declared war on each other last season. FSN paid big bucks for the rights to nearly half the Jazz season but passed those costs on to cable and satellite providers by splitting its package in two — 27 games (the number it had prior to last season) and 13 games — with a premium charged for that 13-game package.

Comcast refused to pay that premium. And FSN-Utah ran newspaper and radio ads urging subscribers to complain to the cable company or switch to a satellite system.

"I wouldn't say it was a major problem, but it was a serious annoyance," Rigby said.

Talks between FSN-Utah and Comcast resumed early this summer.

"The Jazz were very patient and heavily involved... I don't think anybody wanted to go into the season without getting this done," Griggs said.

"I just strongly encouraged them to get together on this," Rigby said. "I didn't want this going on. This was a top priority ... so we could all sleep well."

And, after all the rancor between the two companies last season, Griggs sounded entirely conciliatory now that the deal is done.

"I think Comcast showed willingness to try to solve this," he said, acknowledging that part of the problem was that the negotiating began so late in the process a year ago and the added costs were not in Comcast's budget. "That certainly didn't help. You have to put yourself in the other folks' shoes.

"But it's great that there's so many games available now."

As was the case last season, 40 Jazz regular-season games will be telecast on KJZZ-Ch. 14, 40 games on FSN-Utah and two on cable — one each on ESPN and TNT. Five games will be simulcast on NBATV.

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