Background. In 2013, the Dodgers and Time Warner Cable launchedSportsNet LA as the new TV home for Dodgers baseball. The other Pay TV providers have refused to carry the channel ever since citing high costs that would be passed onto subscribers.
60% of the region’s 4.2m pay TV subscribers do not have access to this channel.
The average monthly subscriber fee for SportsNet LA is $4.57/month. If a pay TV provider carries this in their basic package, then every subscriber will see their bill go up by that amount.
The Dodgers get paid either way since they are guaranteed $8.35b over25years from Time Warner (now Charter Communications).
That breaks down to an average of $334m/year!
In order to break even, the Network needs to make $1,988 from every pay TV subscriber in the region or an average of $80/year.
BTW. The Dodgers are currently the best team in baseball with 77 wins.
