WASHINGTON — The Federal Communications Commission has all the information it was expecting from Time Warner Cable on its impasse with Los Angelesarea distributors over SportsNet LA and is reviewing it, a spokesperson confirmed to Multichannel News at press time.
SportsNet LA — a regional sports network that TWC operates on behalf of Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers — launched in February, but a number of distributors have balked at its $4-per-subscriber license fee.
The Los Angeles market already has three RSNs — Fox Sports West, Fox Sports Prime Ticket and Time Warner Cable SportsNet — and many MVPDs opted not to add SportsNet LA. That hasn’t sat well with legislators whose constituents can’t watch the Dodgers, leaders of the National League West at press time.
After getting input from some unhappy California legislators, FCC chairman Tom Wheeler had asked TWC for info — term sheets, contracts — saying the FCC would monitor the standoff and intervene if necessary to help consumers.
TWC had said it welcomed the FCC’s intercession and would cooperate, which it did. “We have provided the FCC with all the necessary information,” a Time Warner Cable spokesperson said, though he would not disclose what that information was.
