With Opening Day of the 2016 season around the corner, the impasse in wider distribution of Time Warner Cable’s SportsNet LA lingers on. The Dodgers signed the record 25-year, $8.35 billion exclusive rights holder agreement with TWC in January 2013.
The network officially launched on Feb. 25, 2014 and has faced resistance in gaining more distribution in the years since. At present time, the channel is available to Bright House Networks, Charter Communications and TWC subscribers; while AT&T/DirecTV, Dish Network and Verizon FiOS remain among the industry’s largest holdouts.
Time Warner recently offered the network at a discounted rate to other providers, namely AT&T/DirecTV, in effort to bring an end to the dispute. However, other networks have thus far refused to reach any sort of agreement.
According to Meg James of the LA Times, TWC has revised their proposal and extended a long-term offer to other pay-TV providers:
Time Warner Cable now is offering a six-year deal. The first year would be offered at the lower $3.50-a-month introductory price, with a slightly higher rate in subsequent years, according to one person familiar with the proposal who asked not to be identified discussing sensitive deal points. Time Warner Cable declined to discuss details of its latest offer. “We have, in fact, extended another offer to AT&T/DirecTV that is longer than one year,” said Maureen Huff, a Time Warner Cable spokeswoman. She declined to elaborate.
This season marks Vin Scully’s last in the broadcast booth for the Dodgers. Time Warner as well as Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred have used that as a selling point and further reason for all parties involved to diligently work to reach a resolution.
While the humbled Scully said it was embarrassing to be at the center of the negotiations, he would be accepting of it if it leads to agreements being reached.
The Dodgers begin the 2016 season on Monday in San Diego, then face the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park in a four-game set. Their first home series will be against the Arizona Diamondbacks, beginning Tuesday, April 12.
