On July 31, Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten wrote a letter to Congressman Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) in support of Sherman’s proposal of binding arbitration between Time Warner Cable and DirecTV over SportsNet LA.
Here is the full text of that letter:
Dear Congressman Sherman:
Thank you for your letter to the CEOs of DIRECTV and Time Warner Cable encouraging them to end their dispute over carriage of SportsNet LA. We [at MLB/Dodgers organization] share your concern that midway through the 2014 season, many baseball fans across Los Angeles remain are unable to Watch the games of their hometown Dodgers on TV. We had hoped that the companies, as well as other pay TV providers in the area would reach a deal so that Dodger fans could enjoy America’s pastime regardless of who their TV provider is.
We write to support your call for binding arbitration for Time Warner Cable, DIRECTV and all the other pay TV providers in the LA market. A neutral third party should break this stalemate and set the contractual terms so that consumers have access to SportsNet LA. And because an arbitration process could easily take up the rest of this year’s baseball season, we agree that DIRECTV and others should immediately make the games available on their channel line-ups, with arbitration determining the payment and terms after the fact.
Thank you again for your leadership. We look forward to helping, however we can, to return the Dodgers to TV in LA.
Sincerely,
Stan Kasten