Resistance to Dodgers Channel Sends Message on Pricing

Most of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ fans could not catch any of the regular season excitement on television. That's because SportsNet LA, the new Dodgers-owned channel that carried nearly all of the team's games, was available in less than one-third of the Los Angeles market.

The high price tag to carry Sports Net LA puts it among the most expensive regional sports networks in the country at a time when distributors are trying to lower content costs. Now, pay-TV distributors are hoping the Dodgers fiasco will be a turning point in a wider industry debate over sports programming costs. Cable and satellite-TV providers blame sports fees, which have been rising for two decades, for causing bills to skyrocket and giving consumers a reason to "cut the cord." While national channels like Walt Disney's ESPN play a big role, regional networks with a narrow focus—in some cases on individual teams -- have been proliferating and charging steep prices for carriage, critics say. Sports accounts for about 20% of all programming expenses for distributors, according to research firm SNL Kagan.