DODGERS The TWC/SPECTRUM NIGHTMARE Thread

We may not like the free market resolution considering the proposed Time Warner/Comcast merger and with Comcast doing the acquiring this all could get lawyered up and our contract spun off and not part of the acquisition leaving the possibility of an attempted bankruptcy exit by the entity left with the contract.

 

As much as I detest FOX, I think we could've re-branded Prime TIcket for a similar haul financially and still be watching games right now.

 

Retweeted by Bill Shaikin
Joe Flint @JBFlint · 2h
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler comes down hard on Time Warner Cable over Dodger TV fiasco. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-dodgers-fcc-wheeler-20140729-story.html …

 

Not according to the Big Media players...

Meanwhile I can watch all of the Cubs, Senators, White Sox, Blue Jays, Braves or Met's games that I can stomach... because they haven't made exclusive broadcast deals like the Dodgers did...

Dodgers GG boys thought that they found a way to overpay for a product and then get someone else to foot the bill

typical Wall St mind set...

 

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus-20141017-column.html

In the Game of Thrones that is the pay-TV industry, HBO has unleashed the dragons.
The premium network said it would offer an online streaming service next year, making its programs available for the first time to anyone with an Internet connection rather than a cable or satellite box.
It's an understatement to say that this will shake up the pay-TV business as we know it.
With one of the most popular networks circumventing conventional delivery systems, experts say we've taken a big step toward allowing consumers to choose some or all of their TV channels, rather than having fat program bundles forced on them by pay-TV providers.

"However, they're going to have to change their mind-set," he said. "There are probably a lot of conversations going on right now about how to shift their business model."
Verizon Communications said last month that it plans to offer its own streaming service next year, which will likely include small groups of channels as base packages and allow subscribers to fine-tune their programming with "custom channels."
The moves by Verizon, HBO and CBS suggest the shape of things to come for U.S. consumers.
The popular channels and networks will go rogue with their own online services, while the companies that dominate the pay-TV landscape now will try to retain customers with smaller, cheaper bundles and perhaps a smidgen of a la carte.
Would total a la carte be better? Of course it would. Consumers should never have to pay for products they don't want. And it seems as if we'll get there eventually as the pace of cord-cutting picks up.
In the meantime, the big networks will get bigger as they attract more online viewers, and the big pay-TV bundles will get smaller as cable and satellite companies adapt to changing times.
It's about time.

Not exactly something that is going to make Time Warner back off of Ala Carte and including it in a bundle at the asking price.

 

Glad to see things are moving in the right direction, the all-inclusive cable setup is archaic. Cox has been offering a package that is basically internet + HBO Go (I think local channels too), but no other cable. I'm guessing they knew this was on the horizon.

 

Sports should be bundled though. I know some fans would like to subscribe only to the channels they want, but if you have to seek out a channel and buy it to see your team, it eliminates casual fans and prospective fans who might cling to the team while flipping through channels. Not good. And yes, it would blow up the whole deal.

 

The following is presented as tick tock information and food for thought that deep pockets can can go away if you have to change pants.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/la-sp-dodgers-tv-plaschke-20150213-column.html
e latest news about the Dodgers television deal is tough to break, and difficult to grasp, so we'll put it in words that all Dodgers fans can understand:

It's like Clayton Kershaw. In October. In the seventh inning. Against the St. Louis Cardinals.

For a second consecutive year, it appears the Dodgers will begin the season in complete TV meltdown, their games hidden from 70% of their fans, their brand slowly wilting with no help in sight.

No, there is still no deal between Time Warner Cable and DirecTV. No, there is no resolution expected until at least the middle of the summer. No, the Dodgers claim there is nothing they can do about it.

Yes, their insanely loyal fans are rightfully furious.
"It's disgusting, it's just disgusting … but didn't I just say that last year?" said Brian Gadinsky, the TV producer and longtime reserved-level season-ticket holder who became a symbol of fan outrage against Frank McCourt. "Are we really having this discussion again? Seriously?"

Seriously. The most impactful collision of greed and arrogance in this town's sports history has resulted in wreckage that is still smoking in the middle of the freeway, looking like another six-month SigAlert, twisted metal everywhere.

The Dodgers still look greedy for doing a Time Warner Cable deal — worth $8.35 billion over 25 years — that priced their games far beyond what most pay-TV operators will accept.
Time Warner Cable still looks bumbling for believing it could sell that package to DirecTV, and failing miserably in the attempt, which has influenced other pay-TV operators to steer clear.

DirecTV still looks stubborn for refusing to agree to an independent arbitration that would force both sides to accept a fair price.

Everyone is arrogant, everyone is wrong, and everyone is now blaming the whole mess on a couple of slow-moving marriages that were supposed to clean it up, but have only made it worse.

The merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable has been stalled by regulatory hurdles and may never even happen. The merger between AT&T and DirecTV is still likely, but it might not happen until after the start of the season.
Executives with both groups want you to believe their hands are tied until the paperwork is completed. But industry consultants say there are still ways to put the Dodgers on television. Money could solve everything. But the Dodgers don't want to give it back, Time Warner Cable doesn't want to lose it, and DirecTV won't pay it.

"We're not talking about widows and orphans on the three sides of this transaction," Dodgers Chairman Mark Walter told The Times' Bill Shaikin last month.

No, we're talking about egoists and fools.

"Like it or not, the Dodgers are more than just a business, they are a public trust, they are essentially owned by the people of Los Angeles," Gadinsky said. "That they can treat fans like this is just terrible. But just they don't care."
There is a short-term solution here. It's already been used once with great success. With a chance of this blackout lasting another entire summer, why can't the Dodgers again nudge Time Warner Cable to allow the games to be shown on KDOC-TV Channel 56 until this issue is solved?

When the Dodgers appeared there during the final week of the 2014 regular season, viewership tripled from the miserably small numbers — about 55,000 per game — that watched SportsNet LA during the summer.

Such a move could cost Time Warner Cable leverage in future DirecTV negotiations. But that would be a price that both the Dodgers and Time Warner Cable could pay for agreeing to what DirecTV Chief Executive Michael White once said was "an unprecedented deal beyond any rational view of the market."
Let fans see guys such as Jimmy Rollins and Howie Kendrick in Dodgers uniforms. Let them see the first giant steps of Joc Pederson. And, goodness, let them begin the season with the national treasure that is the voice of Vin Scully, more precious by the season.

When I proposed the deal to the Dodgers, they maintained their stance of not commenting on the TV situation.

When I proposed the deal to Time Warner Cable, well, I never did, because they never responded to my request for an interview.

Of course, Gadinsky loved the idea, saying, "If they put it on free TV, I don't care what channel, I'm all over that, it would be awesome!"

That's the first time "awesome" has ever been used in conjunction with this awful story. It will probably be the last time.

In the meantime, many Dodgers fans are busy rigging their computers to bypass the local blackout on mlb.com so they can watch the games while feeling, once again, like hostages, pawns, the Invisible Blue.

Gadinsky was the first public face of the Dodgers fan revolution against McCourt when he refused the owner's invitation to a private lunch. He was briefly buoyed by the new ownership, but now says he purposely avoids Stan Kasten if the two cross paths during the club president's frequent walks around the stadium.

"It sounds like I'm trying to be Vin Scully here, but I do believe this is about a higher purpose, something bigger than dollar signs, a love affair that's been going on since 1958," Gadinsky said. "The Dodgers continue to violate that trust."

bill.plaschke@latimes.com

 

They need to broadcast these games over the air until an agreement is made on the merger. There is no leverage game to be played. There is no negotiations. Direct TV doesn't want this channel. Simple. So withholding the channel to put pressure on cable companies and direct TV isn't gonna work. We are past that. So let us see the games on KDOC or whatever.

 

FIFY.


and btw, "There ARE no negotiations."



Go ahead. Warn me. I double dog dare you.

 

I didn't intend for there to be an 's' at the end of 'negotiation'

 

KDOC is on DirecTV. If they broadcast the games over the air, then all the cable/dish companies will have Dodger games for free and they'd lose any sliver of leverage they have.

 

This whole money grubbing pass the buck scam was bullshit a year ago...

... now another year later NOTHING has been done... nothing will get done... the two huge egomaniacal corporations have so much money they don't care about it and who loses?

The Dodgers fans.


the whole bunch of them are @#$(^&@#&%(!@# ass clowns...