DIRECTV: Time Warner Cable Trying to Force Deal for Dodgers Cable Network

[dfergie]

A day after Time Warner Cable and DirecTV traded conflicting claims concerning the stalled negotiations for carriage of SportsNet LA, the new Los Angeles Dodgers cable TV channel, the only thing both sides could agree on was that there are no current talks and none are scheduled.
DirecTV spokesman Robert Mercer charged that Time Warner Cable is trying to force people throughout Southern California “to pay for their own $8.35 billion excesses.” That is a reference to the amount that the Dodgers will be paid over 25 years for broadcast rights to the new channel which they own.
According to Mercer, TWC must make those payments whether other area distributors sign on for carriage or not.

hollywoodreporter.com

 

[dfergie]

Time Warner Cable Risks Alienating Fans With Hardball Dodgers Negotiations

Brass-knuckled negotiations are nothing new in the TV business. But there has traditionally been an understanding that getting the best deal shouldn’t mean crippling the other side — not out of benevolence, but simply to leave the well viable for the day when you have to return to it.


Sports television has seemingly lost heed of this logic, putting greed ahead of practicality, and feelings of invulnerability ahead of common sense.

The protracted negotiations between the Los Angeles Dodgers’ SportsNet LA and DirecTV — which at press time has continued to balk (heh heh) at acquiescing to team partner Time Warner Cable’s asking price for the baseball-dedicated network — comes on the heels of an explosion of regional, narrowly skewed channels, sprouting up in the belief that live sports is a commodity no distributor dares be caught dead without.

variety.com

 

[mike123abc]

It would be nice to see these single team channels go out of business and we start seeing more realistic sports programming prices. I hope DIRECTV holds out.

 

[Mr Tony]

I hope EVERYONE holds out. I know it wont go belly up (ala Victory Sports 1 here in Minnesota a decade ago) but it should hurt them (SportsnetLA)

 

[texasbrit]

It would be nice to see these single team channels go out of business and we start seeing more realistic sports programming prices. I hope DIRECTV holds out.

Completely agree. The whole thing is getting out of hand.