DirecTV Chief Content Officer Dan York, who has been described by some as the "alpha male of the pay-TV pack," was the "ringleader in a campaign to ensure the cable channel owned by the Dodgers, SportsNet LA, would remain on the bench," according to Meg James of the L.A. TIMES. York allegedly "traded calls, text messages and inside information with his counterparts at Charter Communications, Cox Communications and AT&T to thwart rival Time Warner Cable, which had the rights to distribute SportsNet LA." TWC "struck out in its efforts to win carriage for the pricey channel." York has the "power to make or break cable networks by deciding which ones are available in the more than 25 million homes served by AT&T -- and how much his company will pay for the rights to distribute them." More than a dozen current and former senior industry execs describe York as "driven and brash." A veteran TV exec said, "We all negotiate hard to get good deals. But Dan mashes your face into the cement." Execs said that bargaining sessions with York include "shouting matches, all-nighters and occasional tears shed by those on the opposite side of the negotiating table." Refusing to carry the Dodgers channel, in effect, "saved DirecTV" more than $200M in programming costs the satellite TV provider would have had to "pay Time Warner Cable over the three years that SportsNet LA has been in operation." Sources said that the expense would have been "passed along to customers." But York’s tactics "may prove costly for AT&T." An antitrust lawsuit "could result in a steep fine and pave the way for wide carriage of SportsNet LA" (L.A. TIMES, 11/13).
