With the caveat that developments in cable TV are never certain, the Los Angeles Times reports that a development in cable TV could mean that baseball fans in the Los Angeles area could soon actually, you know, see the Dodgers play baseball on TV.
The development: Cable operator Charter Communications is nearing a deal to purchase Time-Warner Cable. Time-Warner is the company behind the Dodgers’ TV Network and, currently, Time Warner is the only cable provider carrying that network in Southern California. Since very few people have Time-Warner service, however, Dodgers games go mostly unseen in L.A.
Charter, if it purchases Time-Warner, would then likely provide the Dodgers to its current customers which the Times says are in Burbank, La Cañada Flintridge, Long Beach. Charter could even start to carry the channel before a deal goes through as a sign of good faith or advance planning or what have you.
Such a deal would require regulatory approval. The lack of such approval just sunk Comcast’s bid to buy Time-Warner (see above about developments in cable TV not being certain). “Comcast owns NBC-Universal, by the way, and is ultimately responsible for my paycheck,” the handsome blogger said in the interests of full disclosure.
There have been a lot of promises to Dodgers fans blacked out of watching their team play on TV, so they’re likely not going to get too excited just yet. But hope is better than nothin’.