L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti is "asking federal regulators to examine the stalemate between Time Warner Cable and other pay-TV operators that's prevented much of the region from watching Dodgers baseball this season," according to Meg James of the L.A. TIMES. Garcetti's request came late Monday in a letter to the FCC, which is reviewing Comcast's proposed $45B takeover of TWC. Monday was the deadline for people to "voice their opposition or support on the proposed merger to the FCC, which was deluged with thousands of comments." Garcetti "stopped short of asking the FCC to demand resolution of the Dodgers channel impasse as a condition for the government's approval of the deal." However, he did ask the FCC to "delve into programming disputes and 'determine why the problem has not been resolved already, and then ask Comcast to show that the merger would alleviate, and not exacerbate, problems of this sort.'" TWC remains the "only pay-TV operator in Southern California offering SportsNet LA, and it has been unable to get other pay-TV providers to carry the channel." There are only five weeks remaining in the MLB regular season, and "chances of a resolution are increasingly slim" (L.A. TIMES, 8/26).
