The one person who can save Dodgers TV negotiations: Vin Scully

2016By Sean Keeley on 03/24/201603/24/2016

Sometimes it feels as though negotiations between Time Warner Cable and SportsNet LA have been going on as long as Vin Scully has been broadcasting Los Angeles Dodgers game. Not quite, but the contentious battle that has forced most Dodgers fans to go without the ability to watch their favorite team at home for a couple years now.

Time Warner Cable has been unable to come to terms with cable and satellite providers such as DirecTV, AT&T, Verizon and Cox Communications. With the start of the 2016 season approaching on April 4, it’s now or never to avoid another letdown. Late Tuesday, they made a move that might just end the stalemate by cutting 30% the price of the sports channel to providers (roughly $3.50 per month per subscriber home)

The stated reason for the drastic move? Vin Scully.

“We owe it to Dodger fans to try to get a deal done, especially because of the historic nature of this year with it being [baseball announcer] Vin Scully’s final season,” Time Warner Cable spokesman Andrew Fegyveresi said late Tuesday.

The notoriously-shy broadcaster is approaching his 67th and final season with the Dodgers and while he’s humbled and embarrassed to be the centerpiece of a negotiation, he’s excited for the potential issue to be over.

“It’s really kind of embarrassing for me. If it will serve in any possible way to get the fans to see more games, that is the thing I would be rooting for…It’s a humbling feeling that they would even try because of me.”

Dodgers President Stan Kasten, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti have all chimed in to support a quick deal so that fans can enjoy their last chance to hear Scully call games.

Even if only DirecTV decides to take the deal, that will double SportsNet LA’s potential viewership immediately.

Of course, there could be practical reasons for the move as well. TWC is said to have lost “over $100 million a year since 2014” on the channel and any kind of revenue is good at this point. The deal would also only be for one year, so while it might get something done in the interim, it may also only be a stopgap before negotiations reboot again.

[LA Times]

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Editorial Strategy Director for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.

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