Fox Sports Objects to Dodgers’ Plan for Bankruptcy Exit

News Corp.’s Fox Sports objected to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ bankruptcy reorganization plan, which hinges on a $2 billion sale of the baseball team, over the broadcaster’s rights to renegotiate a contract to televise games.

“The plan does not contain sufficient information” to allow Fox to ascertain whether its telecast rights are being impaired, it said in court papers filed yesterday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware. Fox seeks a written affirmation that Time Warner Cable or an affiliate isn’t part of the group buying the equity interest of the Dodgers. The broadcaster wants the omitted portions of the plan and sale agreement disclosed to determine if its telecast rights have been violated. Fox also wants confirmation that the buyers don’t have formal or informal agreements with Time Warner Cable or any other media outlet that could harm its rights. Fox argues that although the Dodgers have filed papers stating “that Time Warner Cable is not purchasing” the team, the possibility remains, and needs to be disclosed, that it may be an investor in the purchasing group “or is otherwise indirectly funding the purchase.” US Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross in Wilmington is scheduled to consider approval of the plan at a hearing April 13. The sale must be completed by April 30.