San Diego Mayor Bob Filner in a "tough-sounding letter" to Time Warner Cable execs is "urging them to end a yearlong impasse with Fox Sports San Diego that prevents about 22 percent of the county's pay TV households from watching Padres games," according to Matthew Hall of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. But it is "unclear from the letter or the mayor's response to questions about it exactly what the repercussions might be" if TWC ignores the mayor. Filner on Feb. 11 wrote, "I strongly urge you to reconsider your current decision not to provide your customers with Padres baseball this season, and act in a manner deserving of your customers' trust and continued business. Rest assured, I will continue to monitor this situation and am prepared to take the steps necessary to bring about a resolution prior to the 2013 baseball season." Filner's letter "expresses how 'closely' he has been following the TV impasse and his 'great disappointment' with Time Warner, especially that it is 'no closer to reaching an agreement with Fox Sports' after all this time." Filner wrote, "As Mayor, I will do everything in my power to ensure San Diegans around the region are able to follow and support our hometown baseball team." Hall writes, "So should San Diego be skeptical or stoked about the mayor's stated intention to get more involved in this TV tussle?" Hall: "I'm not sure yet, but I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt, and I hope he has something up his sleeve as he's previously suggested" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 3/1).
