With FCC's Delay On Merger Rulings, Dodgers' Carriage Issue For RSN Will Roll On

Dodgers fans "looking for a resolution in the long-running battle" over carriage for Time Warner Cable's SportsNet LA "will have to wait even longer," according to Meg James of the L.A. TIMES. The FCC on Friday said that it "was putting on hold its review of two media mergers -- Comcast's proposed takeover of Time Warner Cable and AT&T's planned acquisition of DirecTV." The agency said that it "needed time for a separate legal skirmish to play out in the courts." The news "was another strikeout for thousands of long-suffering Dodgers fans who had hoped the mergers would be completed in time for the start" of the new MLB season next month. SportsNet LA, "will be carried by only one major pay-TV company in Southern California: Time Warner Cable." The impasse is "now entering its second year." The FCC "was scheduled to complete its reviews of the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger by the end of March." The commission "did not say how long the review would be delayed" (L.A. TIMES, 3/14).