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Dodgers News: DirecTV Issues Statement Regarding SportsNet LA

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With the Los Angeles Dodgers officially beginning Spring Training and Opening Day just six short weeks away, the time for providers to come to terms on distribution rights for Time Warner Cable’s SportsNet LA is dwindling.



Last season, TWC struck deals with Bright House Networks and Champion Broadband, while DirecTV, Dish Network and others shut the door on them. As Spring Training games and a new season draw closer, DirecTV issued a statement regarding the ongoing impasse, via J.P. Hoornstra of the LA Daily News:

Last season ended on an encouraging note with Time Warner Cable and the Dodgers allowing everyone to see the final games on a local independent station,” DirecTV said in a statement Thursday. “As Dodger teammates begin reporting to spring training, we’re optimistic the same goodwill can carry over to this new MLB season and remain hopeful we can achieve a compromise with Time Warner Cable and the Dodger front office to satisfy loyal fans who deserve to see their team contend for another NL West title.”

As the 2014 season wore on without more deals in place, TWC said they were willing to enter binding arbitration with DirecTV, but the cable-satellite provider rejected their offer. For the final week of the regular season, TWC made a good-faith decision to broadcast the remaining six games of the season over the air on KDOC — a station available to consumers no matter their cable provider and via antenna.

While getting deals in place by March 4, the date of the Dodgers’ first Spring Training game, would certainly be welcomed, Opening Day (April 6) is a much more important deadline. However, how feasible that is may be dependent on the pending mergers of AT&T with DirecTV and Comcast with TWC.

Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten expressed optimism a resolution would be reached by Opening Day, and if that’s to be the case, it appears as though it’ll come without aid from MLB commissioner Rob Manfred.

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28 Comments

  1. I’m not in L.A. but I dumped DirecTV last year and haven’t looked back. At least now I can get the Pac12 Network. They used to be the go-to satellite provider for sports. Not anymore.

    1. I use a ROKU and MLB.com to get the games I pay for them by the month but living where I do it is well worth the 25 bucks

      1. I get that too. Mine is 103 bucks for the coming season for the mlb package online. I love it

        1. do you live in the L.A. area? Reason I ask, is that if you have the MLB package in the LA area, aren’t the Dodger games blacked out?

          1. Yeah it’s like $5 or $6 a month. Only thing is, MLB.tv streaming is very buggy. But oh well, better than nothing!!

    2. They still are the go to Network. you can’t compare and cable provider with Direct Tv

      1. I just switched to TWC from Direct TV. But I always had their internet. IF you do a lot of Streaming and other internet usage that uses faster speeds, for now, you still need a land line. In my area AT&T is very slow so I have always had to have TWC. They have a deal right now that you get the entire package Internet, TV and Phone for 89.95 I took it and saved $30 from my total cost every month and I get Pac 12 network and the Dodgers. Direct TV used to be the Sports Channel but they do not even carry the Pac 12 network so no USC games either I paid a little extra and got two other TV boxes and they are all in a home network just like the Direct TV system I had.

        1. $30 a service (or 3 services for $90) seems to be the usual “deal” TWC gives. It’s probably just an introductory rate for new customers or existing customers that really know how to b…ch over the phone.

        2. When your contract is up you will be paying double of what you are paying now.

          1. Yes but there is no contract on my part for one year guarantee on price. Also got HBO, Showtime, Encore, Starz for N/C. I agree after a year they will probably attempt to jack my rate. But I will get to watch the Dodgers and the Pac 12 Sports for a year for $30 less than I was paying a month. And by then I am hoping there is some type of TV Deal with the other carriers. So I get to kick the can down the road for a year and then re-evaluate while watching the Dodgers!! I am hoping by then I can switch to Interent only and just pay for Netflix, Amazon and Hulu plus. Hoping they have some-type of Sports Channel Netflix type thing,

  2. Direct Tv is out dated Technology wise and as a provider. Cable, Fios and uverse surpass that stupid Dish. TWC has tried everything to work with DN but DN thinks they should get Dodger network for close to nothing. But keep in mind they did the same thing with NFL network.

      1. I agree 100% that DirecTv is the best out there. I live in an area where you can get Time Warner. I waited half a season until I gave in. We kept DirecTv and added T.W. for the last half of the season. So I paid the price financially. But as a family, we are huge Dodger fans here. So I gave in. Canceled T.W. the minute their games were nationally televised. T.W. is ridiculously expensive. The Dodger channel is really good though. But everyone should be able to access it. Not just T.W. subscribers. I blame the Dodger owners for this…this is not even close to fair to people that live in the L.A. area and can’t afford to pay to watch their team pay. Or that can afford it but don’t live in an area where T.W. is provided. BAD BAD move by the owners.

        1. Sorry Coach but DIrect TV used to be great but they did not pick up the Pac 12 network either and that to me was the final straw. No Dodgers and no Pac 12 I dropped Direct TV and will not go back.

          1. Tmax… totally agree with you on the Pac12 Network. I wish DirecTv offered it. However, this is a discussion about the Dodgers. They used to be on local stations here in L.A. So nearly anyone with a TV could watch them. The Pac12 is great…and I love college sports. Especially college baseball. But we’re talking about the Dodgers… a storied franchise… now with limited viewing for most folks in L.A. We haven’t even touched upon the cost for a family to go see them live. Many can’t afford to go but maybe once or twice a year. That’s not right. The other issue, and it’s a big one, getting in and out of the stadium. Bottom line is that anyone in L.A. should be able to watch their Dodgers play. Many can’t and that’s a damn shame.

          2. Coach my response to you was Direct TV specific. It is not “The Sports Leader” it was when I signed up. I agree that people should be able to access the Dodger games. I had the ability to subscribe to the games through TWC. I am one of the fortunate ones. I missed last year as I hoped for a break through in negotiations. Guggenheim went into negotiations with the TV Vendors and got an incredible offer. They are in this to turn a profit for their fund. I believe we can all believe they trusted TWC to understand the “market” and be able to sell it. Not Guggenheim’s fault that TWC is incompetent. However TWC has offered to go into arbitration and have an arbitrator decide the rate. Direct TV declined so I think we are getting worked a little by Direct TV. I believe the FAA and the Attorney General should deny the merger of AT&T and Direct TV as well as TWC and Comcast. IF they cannot play well with the public now what are they going to do when they are Gigantic.?

          3. great reply. Thank you. I as well hope the FAA block the merger. I’m really hoping they (TWC and DTv) get this settled. But in the end, unless you have cable or satellite, you still won’t be able to watch them. I guess that’s the reality of it. Big market teams are going that direction.

          4. Great having the exchange with you. I too am sorry the economics of Sports in the US have made our sports entertainment no longer available to free TV. When you see the salaries the players are making it has to come from somewhere. And that is our pockets. The good news is it looks like these are the final years of the Monster Carriers like TWC, Direct etc. The trend is everything will be available on the Internet for a fee. But at least we will not have to pay for blocks of channels we do not watch.

  3. I already dumped cable and am tired of hearing why I can’t see my Dodgers BS.
    TWCGFY <— all I have to say….. Oh, and Go Dodger Blue!!

  4. TWC is awful and I won’t switch to them just to watch baseball, it’s stupid.
    The Dodgers need to step the fuck in and force a deal.
    This is absolute B.S.

  5. Time Warner Cable should lower its asking price, so all other providers can carry Dodger baseball. The Dodgers belong to us fans. Increase your prices to your advertisers Time Warner; don’t shut baseball/dodger fans around the country out of our love for scully & the boys in blue. Do the right thing, & give us BACK our voice of summer, before it’s too late,please.

  6. “good faith” my ass. they broadcast those games on friggin PBS because they had already won the division. TWC blows and the only reason they’re making the issue with DirecTV an issue is because they’re the largest cable/satellite provider in the LA area. Verizon fios, AT&T NOR charter carry SNLA because TWC is asking for too much. Quit leaving us fans out to dry for your damn multi-billion dollar paychecks and let us watch OUR DODGERS!!

  7. All you Time. Warner loves think back a couple of Superbowls ago. The best my ASS! The most unreliable carrier out there. Someone mentioned the Verizon fios carries this station well not on mine. I’m boycotting the advertisers on SNLA, maybe that will send a message if you hit them in the wallet.

  8. I am a direct t.v subscriber, and I love the NFL Sunday ticket package. It’s sad that a few years ago I was a bigger Dodger fan and would have preferred to spend my money on a Dodger game. But since they showed me that they don’t really give a rats ass about this t.v deal.

    “Money before fans”

    The new Dodgers logo!

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