Time Warner Cable, DirecTV need help to work out Dodgers TV deal

[Commentary] Two months after the launch of SportsNet LA, there’s nothing to celebrate. For far too many fans, there are no Los Angeles Dodgers games to see.

If you are in the vast majority of fans without Time Warner Cable, good luck getting anywhere close to that many home games on your television this year. This is an embarrassment to the Dodgers, and to the city of Los Angeles. No one roots for a cable or satellite company. This is an outrage to the fans who just want to see their team, and who have less than zero interest in the public finger-pointing between TWC and DirecTV. Dodgers President Stan Kasten acknowledged that he has told fans he expects DirecTV to hold out all season. TWC, not the Dodgers, has the responsibility to make deals with other cable and satellite providers. TWC owes the Dodgers so much money -- $8.35 billion over 25 years -- that there is little to no room to cut the asking price for SportsNet LA without taking a huge financial hit. The Dodgers are not about to take less money from TWC -- their take after revenue sharing with Major League Baseball is believed to be close to $5.5 billion, although they could keep more as the years go on -- and the new owners have invested heavily into the team and Dodger Stadium. If you take DirecTV at its word, that it is holding out for a more reasonable financial deal, then there should be room to resolve the dispute.

LA Mayor Eric Garcetti should summon executives from the Dodgers, DirecTV and TWC to his office and cajole them toward a settlement, whatever it might be. When New Yorkers went two years without their Yankees on the new YES Network, the mayor, governor and attorney general all worked to broker a deal.