Charter Communications "plans to soon begin offering" the Dodgers' RSN -- Time Warner Cable SportsNet LA -- in Southern California, "breaking the year-long impasse that has prevented thousands of baseball fans from watching their favorite team on TV," according to Meg James of the L.A. TIMES. Charter President & CEO Tom Rutledge said, "We want the Dodgers on every outlet and we are committed to making that happen." Charter yesterday morning announced a $56.7B takeover of TWC, which "has been the only major distributor in Southern California to carry SportsNet LA since it launched" at the start of the '14 MLB season. Rutledge said that the company "will have to take a hard look at the channel's finances and its contract." Charter "has nearly 300,000 subscribers in the region," and its decision to carry SportsNet LA "could put pressure on the other providers to pick up the channel" (LATIMES.com, 5/26). In California, Michael Lev writes there are "no guarantees" that Charter picking up SportsNet LA will "be the Dodgers channel changer we've all been waiting for." But this "feels different," and it "just might be." Charter adding SportsNet LA would ideally "put pressure on other distributors to fall in line." That is "the best-case scenario, but it also feels like a long shot." Although Charter carrying the channel is "obviously great news for Dodgers fans living in Long Beach, San Bernardino, Burbank, Pasadena, Glendale, Calabasas and other locales, its subscriber base of about 250,000" represents only 5.6% of the market. Lev: "Charter is a domino; it’s not the domino" (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 5/27).
NOT NECESSARILY POSITIVE NEWS: In L.A., Bill Plaschke writes Charter's impending carriage of SportsNet LA "still leaves more than half of Los Angeles without the games, and the Dodgers with even less motivation to make them available." The company's decision to carry the RSN is "a brilliant public relations move by Charter, and a temporary life preserver for a Dodgers ownership group drowning in community scorn." But "cut through the rhetoric and realize, while the fans' options are now much greater, so is their potential hassle or cost." While Charter "wins, and the Dodgers can act like they win, many Dodger fans must still pay to win." It is a "solution for some, but just another problem for others, a headline-grabbing answer that still begs the buried question." Plaschke: "Why can't the Dodgers just fix the unworkable, industry-scorned 25-year, $8.35-billion deal with Time Warner Cable?" (L.A. TIMES, 5/27).
