DODGERS The TWC/SPECTRUM NIGHTMARE Thread

Kasten says he feels terrible over SportsNet LA Impasse
by Matthew Moreno | Dodgers Nation — 3 hours ago

The Los Angeles Dodgers are 10 days away from taking the field for the first game of the regular season and the extent to the number of fans who will be able to watch them face the San Diego Padres remains a question mark.

It was reported Time Warner Cable recently engaged in negotiations with other pay-TV providers to distribute SportsNet LA, but to this point they appear to have been rebuffed. The feel-good story of the Dodgers having their own network turned sour last season as Charter Communications, DirecTV and a slew of others, were unable to come to terms with TWC.

Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten said at the Winter Meetings he believed SportsNet LA would be more widely available come Opening Day, which now appears to be a long shot. As the impasse continues to linger on, Kasten expressed his remorse over the situation, via Bill Plunkett of the OC Register:

“How many times can I tell people how bad I feel? Yeah, I feel terrible about it,” Kasten said Wednesday. “It’s the single biggest customer problem I’ve had in my whole career – and the one we’ve spent the most time on.”​

As for whether he may regret the record-setting, 25-year, $8.35 billion deal with TWC, Kasten said he does not:

“No, because this is such a good deal for the franchise, it has enabled so many good things to happen and will for the next several decades,” he said. “I don’t think we could have foreseen what has happened. I don’t think we could have foreseen two mergers simultaneously from the two biggest providers, that both would be acquired by someone else – no one saw that or knew that at the time.”​

The mergers Kasten touches on are of AT&T and DirecTV, and Comcast merging with TWC. General consensus has held they needed to be completed in order for significant progress in talks for SportsNet LA carriage to be made.

Should that be true, news of the FCC recently delaying their decision on Comcast taking control of TWC doesn’t bode well. After DirecTV refused to enter binding arbitration, TWC made the final six regular-season games available on KDOC, an independent station that is carried by all providers in Southern California and can be received with an over the air antenna.

TWC presumably would be willing to once more take matters into their own hands in order to reach a larger audience this season, though hope remains deals will soon fall into place.

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Dodgers Chairman Mark Walter says TV Deal is being worked on
by Vincent Samperio | Dodgers Nation — 90 minutes ago

The Los Angeles Dodgers had a sellout crowd of over 53,000 yesterday for Opening Day, but for those not in attendance, the game was largely unavailable.

After the 2013 season, the Dodgers signed a deal with Time Warner Cable for an exclusive channel; however, the cable company was unable to strike a deal with other providers and the channel was only available to those with TWC. About 70 percent of the Los Angeles market is without the Dodgers for the second season in a row.

According to Bill Plaschke of the LA Times, Dodgers chairman Mark Walter says the team is not standing by while the fans are blacked out:

“We are working hard behind the scenes, we really are,” Walter said. “Seriously, we care a ton that the fans can’t all watch it.”​

“Asked whether he feels he should apologize to Dodgers fans, Walter said, “It’s sad. I want us to be on TV. We feel bad for the fans and we’re trying to do everything we can.”​

Another wrench thrown into the negotiations is the fact that both TWC and DirecTV are in the process of separate mergers. Comcast and TWC, and AT&T and DirecTV are both in the process of mergers. Any deals would likely come once those are complete.

Walter agreed that a deal might not come until the processes are completed:

“I think so, yes,” Walter said. “We can get some stuff done before that, but … I think the mergers have more to do with it than anything else.”
​

Until then, the Dodgers will continue to play on and their fans will continue to wait for a deal. Despite the TV issue, the Dodgers have already surpassed three million tickets sold for 2015 and should lead the league in attendance again.

 

Commissioner Rob Manfred discusses Dodgers TV situation
by Vincent Samperio | Dodgers Nation — 2 hours ago



While the Los Angeles Dodgers have gotten off to a good start on the field, their situation off the field remains an issue.

The Dodgers cannot be seen by 70 percent of the Los Angeles market because of Time Warner Cable’s struggles to get other providers to carry the channel, SportsNet LA. This is the second year of SportsNet LA, yet most fans have yet to see a game on the channel. While the Dodgers and TWC are working towards making a deal, they have faced plenty of issues in their attempts.

Now, the commissioner of the MLB, Rob Manfred, is weighing in on the situation via Bill Shaikin and Mike DiGiovanna of the LA Times:

"I'm hopeful the merger issue gets resolved one way or another to create some flexibility that gets the Dodgers full distribution. I think it's really, really important for the fans in L.A. I've talked to anybody and everybody I can think of, including the mayor of L.A., about trying to get something done, but it's one of those issues where we don’t even have a seat at the table, so it's hard to effectuate a particular result."​

Manfred said he’s had discussions with LA Mayor Eric Garcetti, but they can’t do much for the Dodgers and their fans because of the impending mergers:

"I think it's not uncommon, when you have the kind of merger activity that you have there, that business issues can slow things down," Manfred told reporters before the Angels played in Seattle on Wednesday.
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Recently, Dodgers chairman Mark Walter said that the team is working hard for a deal, but that the mergers are making any deals difficult. It may take a few more months for the mergers to finalize, meaning the Dodger fans could have to wait a bit longer to see their team.