Dodgers Dispute: Defining Moment In TV?
No progress has been made in the standoff between Time Warner Cable, which is distributing the new Dodgers-owned channel SportsNet LA, and area pay-TV providers including DirecTV, Dish Network, Charter Communications and Cox Communications.
The Los Angeles Dodgers’ record $7 billion-plus media-rights deal with Time Warner Cable has hit a major-league snag. Guggenheim Partners and other owners of the team could lose as much as $1 billion of Time Warner Cable’s cash to Major League Baseball’s revenue-sharing plan because of the way the deal is structured, sources said.
BT has agreed to buy ESPN’s UK and Ireland television business as its bids to loosen BSkyB’s grip on the pay TV sports market with the launch of its own channels. The deal, which includes the ESPN and ESPN America channels, will see BT take on ESPN’s live sports rights package in Britain and Ireland, including live soccer matches from the FA Cup, Scottish Premier League, UEFA Europa League and German Bundesliga.
After months of enduring defections and disappointment, the Big East plans to start rebuilding its brand this month with two new TV deals, albeit at a much lower value than the conference had hoped when it started negotiations more than a year ago. The Big East is close to finalizing deals with two partners, NBC and CBS, that will give the conference exposure across multiple networks.
