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Dodgers TV Issues Continue in Los Angeles

Jason Barrett

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The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Time Warner Cable has made another attempt to strike a deal before the start of the baseball season, by increasing their offer to other pay-TV providers in hopes of gaining wider carriage for the Los Angeles Dodgers TV channel. Despite the effort, there still are no takers. As a result, it appears likely that for the third straight season there will be limited availability of SportsNet LA, the TV channel owned by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Time Warner Cable confirmed Tuesday that it proposed a new deal but pay-TV providers nixed the offer, saying that the price for the channel is still too high. Even with a price reduction, SportsNet LA remains one of the highest-priced TV channels in the nation according to pay-TV executives.

Los Angeles is not the only market where a dispute exists over distribution of a regional sports network. In New York, Comcast dropped the YES Network which carries New York Yankees games. That decision impacts more than 900,000 homes in the New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania areas.

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Shannon Sharpe on His Future: Stay Tuned

“While Sharpe’s future as a sports debate host remain unclear, the Super Bowl champion tweeted that his following should keep an eye out for what’s coming next.”

Jordan Bondurant

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Pro Football Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe posted on social media over the weekend for the first time since news broke of his impending exit from FOX Sports and his role opposite Skip Bayless on the FS1 show Undisputed.

Sharpe reached an agreement with the network last week to buyout the remaining time on his contract.

While Sharpe’s future as a sports debate host remain unclear, the Super Bowl champion tweeted that his following should keep an eye out for what’s coming next. The tweet showed Shannon in front of a camera in a gardening setting.

Many in sports media have offered their support of Sharpe, as he exits what had become a strained relationship with Bayless. The two had a series of heated on-air exchanges in recent months before a national audience.

Multiple hosts involved with ESPN have voiced publicly that they’re rooting for Sharpe to join The Worldwide Leader. Pat McAfee last week said he was “hoping like hell” Sharpe would show up to ESPN when he and his show debut on the network in the coming months. First Take host Stephen A. Smith also said he would make room for Sharpe on his show if he wanted to appear.

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Writers Strike Driving Advertisers to NBA, NHL Finals

“TV and cable networks have surpassed beer brands as the top buyers of ad time from the conference finals to now.”

Jordan Bondurant

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As the writers strike carries on, the NBA and NHL and their broadcast partners have been pleasantly surprised by the steady flow of advertising as their championship series take center stage.

The NBA Finals began last Thursday, and the Stanley Cup Final in the NHL started on Saturday. With the writers strike impacting many in the entertainment industry, advertisers are flocking to these major sporting events.

“The Finals have historically been a high-demand area for the studio business based on time of year, but we have seen recent growth from the streaming services as well,” ESPN senior vice president of revenue and yield management, Jim Minnich, told Deadline He indicated that TV and cable networks have surpassed beer brands as the top buyers of ad time from the conference finals to now.

The hope is that both the NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Final will go the distance game wise, so both ESPN/ABC and Warner Bros. Discovery can maximize the spike in entertainment advertising. Both series are best-of-seven. The NBA Finals will go at least five games now, after the Miami Heat won Game 2 in Denver on Sunday night. The Vegas Golden Knights lead the Florida Panthers 1-0 in the Stanley Cup Final. Game 2 is Monday night in Las Vegas.

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Adam Silver: NBA Tried to Mediate Dispute Between Comcast & Altitude Sports

“As we are trying to design what a new approach should be to see NBA games, the part that is on us is taking into account how a local fan is able to watch as well.”

Jordan Bondurant

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It has been a heated topic of discussion on Denver sports talk radio for several years. Now NBA commissioner Adam Silver has weighed in on the ongoing dispute between Comcast and Altitude TV.

The regional sports network is the home to the Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche and the Colorado Mammoth of the National Lacross League, and issues between the cable provider to the vast majority of Coloradans and the network have dragged on for several years now.

Kroenke Sports and Entertainment owns Altitude TV as well as the three teams above, in addition to owning the Los Angeles Rams in the NFL and Arsenal in the Premier League. Altitude has taken Comcast to court over perceived violations of antitrust laws. Despite the two sides reaching a settlement in March, Altitude remained unavailable on Comcast.

It’s believed that over 90% of Denver residents don’t have access to Altitude as a result of the dispute, although that stat has been questioned.

Silver, ahead of the first two games of the NBA Finals in Denver this weekend, said the league did what they could to try and help the two sides reach an agreement.

“The league office has tried to mediate several times between the parties,” Silver said last week ahead of Game 1. “It’s a commercial dispute. There hasn’t been a simple resolution to it.”

“I know there’s no doubt it’s bad for fans, of course, and the team recognizes that,” he added. “It’s my hope, though, and one of the things that’s changed considerably since this dispute has started is the advent of many more streaming platforms, better digital streaming technology.”

Silver expressed frustration over the lack of access in the Denver market to the team outside of national broadcasts. He said the regional sports network model is broken.

“It makes no sense,” he said. “It’s on us to fix it.”

The league currently has two years left on its current media rights deal, and given the crumbling at the top of the RSN ladder with Bally Sports and AT&T Sportsnet, Silver sees an opportunity for the NBA in this next deal to shift how fans see games locally.

“As we are trying to design what a new approach should be to see NBA games, the part that is on us is taking into account how a local fan is able to watch as well,” he said. “As opposed to historically we’ve had local games and national games, to me, I think from a fan standpoint, they’re certainly not making those distinctions.”

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