Yesterday's Dodgers-Padres game was the first Dodgers game to air exclusively on Time Warner Cable's SportsNet LA, marking "the end of being able to watch every Dodgers game on television somewhere," according to Steve Dilbeck of the L.A. TIMES. For the "vast majority of Los Angeles-area residents, the blackout begins," bringing on an "outrage that figures to only grow with each passing non-televised game, and the Dodgers are keenly aware of that." Dilbeck: "At what point does this really start to hurt? At what point do the villagers storm the gates of power, remotes in one hand and fat cable bills in the other?" The net has "been up and running for over a month now," but if "you use DirecTV, Verizon, Charter, AT&T, Dish or Cox or anything else other than Time Warner Cable as your provider, you wouldn’t know." It may be the first week of the season, "but it feels later in all these negotiations," which have "apparently been exclusively between TWC and the other providers." It is "time for the Dodgers to become more directly involved in these discussions, to get this done." Dilbeck: "If fans actually had been given a choice of a record team payroll, complete with an inflated cable bill, or more modest improvements with status quo TV coverage, how many would have signed on?" (LATIMES.com, 4/1). In L.A., Bill Plaschke writes, "In treating the team like a trendy boutique, the Dodgers have failed to realize that their fans loved it like a neighborhood bar." Championships are "great, but don't try to win one at the expense of a daily connection." Plaschke details his attempts yesterday to find SportsNet LA at a local bar or restaurant, which turned out to be "an exercise in futility" (L.A. TIMES, 4/2).
