Dodger Thoughts

Jon Weisman's outlet for dealing psychologically with the Los Angeles Dodgers, baseball and life

Tag: SportsNet LA

Vin Scully to call quartet of Spring Training games

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VinBy Jon Weisman

Vin Scully is scheduled to call four of the 16 Dodger games SportsNet LA will televise during Spring Training, including all three Freeway Series tilts against the Angels.

The SportsNet LA schedule (shown up top) begins with the Cactus League opener March 3 against the White Sox. All four National League West rivals are featured, including two games against the Giants on March 6 and 25. SportsNet LA will air games on every Saturday and Sunday in March.

New addition Joe Davis makes his Spring Training debut March 19 against the Pale Hose, mixing in with Charley Steiner, Rick Monday, Orel Hershiser and Nomar Garciaparra.

Live coverage from Camelback Ranch begins tonight at 7 p.m. with the Spring Training debut of “Access SportsNet: Dodgers,” which will air every weeknight until the regular season, with John Hartung, Alanna Rizzo, Hershiser, Garciaparra, Jerry Hairston Jr. and Ned Colletti on board.

Behind-the-scenes series “Backstage: Dodgers” has its third-season premiere Thursday at 8 p.m.

SportsNet LA, the exclusive 24/7 TV home of the Dodgers, is available on Time Warner Cable, Charter and Bright House Networks. For more information about SportsNet LA or to demand the network from your provider, visit www.sportsnetla.com. You can follow the network on TwitterFacebook and Instagram.

SportsNet LA joins Charter lineup Tuesday

TWCSLA_Logo_loRESBy Jon Weisman

SportsNet LA, the 24/7 Dodger channel, will be made available to Charter Communications customers beginning Tuesday.

SportsNet LA will air on Charter Spectrum TV Select, Charter’s most widely subscribed tier of service, via channels 44 SD/789 HD in Los Angeles, 68 SD/773 HD in San Luis Obispo and channel 95 SD in Porterville.

SportsNet LA’s Spanish-language game telecasts and Korean-language Secondary Audio Programming (SAP) will also be made available to Charter customers.

“We’re thrilled that Dodger fans will now be able to watch SportsNet LA’s 24/7 Dodger programming on Charter’s systems,” Dodger president and CEO Stan Kasten said. “SportsNet LA continues to deliver unparalleled coverage of the Dodgers, and we hope other providers come on board soon so all fans can enjoy the network’s first-rate programming.”

Said Charter Communications president and CEO Tom Rutledge: “The Dodgers are an iconic franchise and part of the fabric of the community. We are very excited to be bringing the Dodgers back to Charter customers in the L.A. area.”

In addition to live games and pregame/postgame shows, SportsNet LA’s comprehensive coverage of the Dodgers includes documentary series such as “Backstage Dodgers,” “Dodgers Clubhouse,” “Dodgermentary” and “Connected With …,” as well as full games from the past in “Timeless Dodgers.”

Dodgers’ final six regular-season games to air on local broadcast station KDOC

By Jon Weisman

The Dodgers’ final six games of the regular season — September 22-24 against San Francisco and September 26-28 against Colorado — will air on independent broadcast station KDOC, which is carried by every cable, satellite and telco provider in Southern California and can also be received over the air with an antenna.

Time Warner Cable announced today an agreement for SportsNet LA to air those games on KDOC, subject to national broadcast commitments.

KDOC can be seen on the following channels:

  • Charter: 710 high definition or 10 standard definition
  • Cox: 1012 or 12
  • AT&T U-verse: 1006 or 6
  • DirecTV: 56
  • Verizon FiOS: 506 or 6
  • Dish: 56
  • Over-the-air broadcast: 56.1

“Time Warner Cable is part of this community, and we’re Dodger fans too,” Time Warner Cable COO Dinni Jain said.  “Angelenos love their Dodgers, and we’re happy to give them a way to watch their beloved team during this pennant chase.”

Earlier this summer, Time Warner Cable offered to enter into binding arbitration to facilitate the completion of distribution deals for SportsNet LA, but potential distributors did not join in.

“Right now, we can’t change the fact that other area TV distributors won’t carry the channel, but we don’t want anyone to miss this exciting pennant run,” Jain said. “We hope everyone will tune in to KDOC and help us cheer on the Dodgers. We will continue to work on long-term agreements with other providers in the offseason.”

Dodgers support binding arbitration to solve distribution of SportsNet LA

TWCSLA_Logo_loRESBy Jon Weisman

On behalf of the Dodgers, team president and CEO Stan Kasten spoke tonight in favor of a proposal from a group of six California-based members of the U.S. House of Representatives, led by Brad Sherman, calling for binding arbitration between Time Warner Cable and potential carriers that would enable immediate distribution of 24-hour Dodger channel SportsNet LA to all available homes in Southern California.

Time Warner Cable also said it would submit to binding arbitration with potential distributors of SportsNet LA (including DirecTV, AT&T U-verse, Charter Communications, Dish Network and Verizon Fios), effectively taking the negotiations out of Time Warner Cable’s hands.

“This, if it were agreed upon, would end this blackout right away, today, and we would be on the air literally tomorrow night in the entire area, ” Kasten said at a Los Angeles Sports & Entertainment Commission event at Dodger Stadium this evening. “I want to thank Congressman Sherman and his colleagues for their diligent work and their concern for Dodger fans everywhere. I think it’s a very useful and productive step that he made.”

“We’ve heard a lot of things on both sides of this equation,” Kasten added. “This is a way to cut through all that. We’ll let an arbitrator decide who’s right and who’s wrong, and we can move on. And we don’t need to wait for the outcome of the arbitration. Once both sides agree to submit, we can turn the games on right away and they can figure out the price later.”

Kasten’s words followed an affirmative response from Time Warner Cable earlier in the evening to the proposal from the Sherman group.

“We are willing to enter into binding arbitration with DirecTV, and we appreciate the Congressman’s concern for Dodger fans,” Time Warner Cable’s statement read. “We prefer to reach agreements through private business negotiations, but given the current circumstance, we are willing to agree to binding arbitration and to allow DirecTV customers to watch the Dodgers games while the arbitration is concluded.”

Earlier this evening, a letter sent to the chairman/CEOs of DirecTV and Time Warner Cable by U.S. representatives Sherman, Janice Hahn, Gloria Negrete McLeod, Alan Lowenthal, Grace Napolitano and Karen Bass was released, outlining the proposal. It followed a recent letter from eight members of Congress, led by Tony Cardenas, that asked the FCC to mediate the gap between TWC and potential distributors.

“While such mediation would be helpful, it would not be binding or certain to resolve the dispute,” Sherman’s group wrote. “Now, on behalf of Dodgers fans throughout Southern California, we urge that Time Warner Cable, DirecTV and all other TV providers enter into binding arbitration, so that a neutral third party can determine the right price and terms for the Dodgers network. This will be a fair and fast way to return programming to consumers.

“Additionally, as you enter into the arbitration process, fans should no longer be left in the dark. We are requesting that SportsNet LA be made available immediately to all fans, beginning with tomorrow night’s game against the Atlanta Braves. The arbitration would determine the amount payable for games aired both before and after the arbitration is complete.”

MLB chief operating officer Rob Manfred, among the speakers at the LASEC event, said that he spoke about tonight’s news with MLB commissioner Bud Selig and said “we’re in complete agreement that this is a very positive development.”

Stan Kasten and Dodgers disappointed in missing SportsNet LA deals but hopeful

Dodger president and CEO Stan Kasten addressing participants at the Dodgers' Winter Development Program in January.

Dodger president and CEO Stan Kasten addressing participants at the Dodgers’ Winter Development Program in January.

By Jon Weisman

While saying that he expected the start of the Major League season in the U.S. to be a catalyst for holdout distributors to carry SportsNet LA, the 24/7 network dedicated to the Dodgers, team president and CEO Stan Kasten didn’t shrug off the fact that deals had yet to be completed.

“I am disappointed that deals haven’t been closed yet,” Kasten told a small group of reporters before Thursday’s Freeway Series game against the Angels, the first game at Dodger Stadium in 2014.  “I also have to tell you that with the first regular season game (to be broadcast by SportsNet LA) coming on Tuesday, I am now concerned that some fans are not going to be able to see games. And that’s disappointing and shouldn’t be happening.”

Kasten reiterated the suggestion for fans to keep calling their providers to tell them that they want SportsNet LA and that without it, they would switch to a provider who would carry the network. But he again held out hope that with continuous fan support there would be movement – because ultimately every carrier has reason to want SportsNet LA to meet the demand.

“I just wish they would hurry up and get them done,” he said.

Though Time Warner Cable’s reported asking price for carriage of SportsNet LA has become a talking point in the media, Kasten said that it has been exaggerated.

“This is not about price,” Kasten said. “The price is consistent with the marketplace. In fact, to be blunt, some of these (distributors), and they know who they are, are already, on their own systems, paying more than the price that’s out there to teams in smaller markets. That’s the truth. So this isn’t about price, it’s about the game of negotiation. And it’s disappointing.

“Those same providers have done deals at higher prices, for bigger packages, than has been offered to them right now.”

Kasten found other aspects of the public posturing by potential distributors to be “disingenuous,” such as the suggestion that SportsNet LA should be offered “a la carte,” along the lines of a pricy individual pay channel such as HBO, rather than to all of a distributor’s customers the way an ESPN is.

“All these providers know there is not another team in all of baseball whose games are a la carte, anywhere,” Kasten said, “including, interestingly enough, on the cable systems owned by these same providers.”

“The other thing that’s particularly irritating in terms of disingenuous rhetoric is when someone tries to say, ‘Well, we’re not really seeing the demand for Dodger games.’ OK, that doesn’t pass the laugh test.”

Kasten had noted earlier than the evening that the Dodgers would reach 3 million in ticket sales before the April 4 home opener, the earliest date in franchise history.

“We have the highest number of season tickets we’ve ever had — it is the highest in all of Major League Baseball,” Kasten added. “Last year, our TV rating went up by 40%. So come up with some other excuse, because the reality is that in the history of this franchise, it is likely that right now, it’s the greatest interest our team has ever had.”

For Dodger fans understandably frustrated by the process, Kasten commented upon the importance of the deal to the organization being run as a big-market team and being able to do big-market things, from investment in players to the ongoing improvements at Dodger Stadium, none of which benefited from public funding.

“I don’t know what will happen here,” Kasten said. “I will say this — very few cities have a product this strong.”

SportsNet LA launch: Here it comes …

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By Jon Weisman

The 24/7 Dodger network that is SportsNet LA will launch at 7 p.m. Tuesday with the premiere edition of “Access SportsNet: Dodgers,” then provide a mix of news, interviews and history leading up to its first live game telecast Wednesday at 12 noon.

Channel Numbers“Access SportNet: Dodgers,” a nightly studio show, will have a special introduction Tuesday by Vin Scully and first-night guests including Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Tommy Lasorda, Don Mattingly and Adrian Gonzalez. It will then be followed at 8:30 p.m. by the first episode of “Backstage: Dodgers,” the program that will regularly go behind the scenes to give you a full picture of the franchise.

At 9 p.m. will be back-to-back half-hour editions of “Connected With …,” featuring extended one-on-one interviews with Clayton Kershaw and Don Mattingly, respectively. Then at 10 p.m. will be the premiere of “2013 Dodgers: A Whole New Blue,” a review of last year’s playoff-filled campaign that will include never-before seen footage. For an exhilarating gaming experience, don’t miss the chance to play Aviator at 4Rabet and enjoy thrilling gameplay. You may also try out link situs slot gacor for more chances of winning.

Wednesday’s Spring Training game, against Arizona at Talking Stick in Phoenix, will be the first of 22 broadcast live by SportsNet LA, presaging the network’s regular-season presentation of more than 140 live broadcasts. From 4-7 p.m., SportsNetLA will climax its first 24 hours of business with the debut edition of “Timeless Dodgers,” featuring the June 3 MLB debut of Yasiel Puig.

SportsNet LA will be available to Time Warner Cable customers in the Los Angeles area in high definition on channel 431 and standard definition on channel 249. In addition, it was announced today that Bright House Networks had signed on to carry SportsNet LA to its Bakersfield customers, on channel 1107 in HD and channels 21 and 107 in standard. Time Warner Cable is in negotiations with all other providers for carriage.

For more information about SportsNet LA or to demand the network, visit www.ineedmydodgers.com. Consult the FAQ at the site for more information. Follow the network on Twitter at @SportsNetLA, Facebook at www.Facebook.com/SportsNetLA and Instagram at @SportsNetLA.

Want SportsNet LA? Go to ineedmydodgers.com

TWCSLA_Logo_loRESBy Jon Weisman

While SportsNet LA is set to air on Time Warner Cable when it launches February 25, it doesn’t mean that it won’t air on other distributors, such as DirecTV, Dish, AT&T U-verse, Cox, Verizon FiOS, Charter, Comcast. The network is actively seeking distribution of SportsNet LA with all of those providers.

If you’re eager to ensure that the 24/7 Dodgers channel airs on your home television, one click will take you somewhere to express that desire to your provider: ineedmydodgers.com.

You’ll also find a Frequently Asked Questions answer page there.

SportsNet LA officially set for February 25 launch

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By Jon Weisman

Today brings the official announcement that the new 24/7 Dodgers channel, SportsNet LA, will launch February 25, along with the official introduction of its on-air talent team: Orel Hershiser, Nomar Garciaparra, Charley Steiner, Jerry Hairston, Alanna Rizzo and John Hartung, along with of course the previously announced master of it all, Vin Scully.

In addition to televising more than 140 live regular season games and every Spring Training game (with the exception of split squads) in its inaugural season, SportsNet LA will air classic games, live studio shows, numerous original programs and more.

Scully will call all Dodger home games and road games for SportsNet LA in California and Arizona. Steiner and Hershiser will team up on the other SportsNet LA games, with Hershiser appearing on the pregame and postgame shows when Scully is broadcasting.

Steiner and Rick Monday will be the radio team for Dodger games that Scully is manning for television, following the simulcast portion.

Garciaparra (who will provide color commentary next to Monday’s play-by-play on the remaining road radio games) and Hairston will contribute to the pregame and postgame. Rizzo will host those shows from Dodger Stadium, while also serving as an in-game reporter for the Steiner-Hershiser telecasts.

Hartung will be the in-studio host for Sports Net LA’s live studio shows.

Time Warner Cable is committed to carrying SportsNetLA when it launches, and discussions are taking place with other distributors, such as DirecTV. To make your voice heard on this matter, visit sportsnetla.com or call your provider to tell them you need the network.

In the meantime, you can follow SportsNet LA on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

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