On Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium, Clayton Kershaw put together one of the best games you’ll ever see from a starting pitcher. Kershaw no-hit the Colorado Rockies, striking out 15 without a walk. The only thing that prevented him from a perfect game was a Hanley Ramirez error in the seventh inning.
Unfortunately, not many people in Los Angeles were able to see it because of the ongoing battle between every cable provider in Los Angeles and Time Warner.
Last night's no-hitter got 52,000 viewers on SportsNet LA. Last year, Prime Ticket averaged 226,000 viewers per-game. #funfacts
— Joe Flint (@JBFlint) June 19, 2014
That’s a drop of 77% from last year’s average telecast to this year’s best game, complete with Vin Scully on the call. Roughly 70% of the Los Angeles market doesn’t have access to SportsNet LA, the new home for Dodgers games this season.
The standoff between Time Warner and all of the other providers isn’t going to end any time soon. In fact, Joe Flint of the LA Times floated the idea that the dispute could last into 2015 upon completion of the proposed Time Warner-Comcast merger, only being resolved when Comcast plays hardball with some of the channels they own.
So buckle up, Dodger fans – you’ve already missed two no-hitters this year, who knows what you’ll miss next?
[LA Times]
