The Los Angeles Times reported late last week that the Dodgers local TV ratings have tumbled.
Badly.
The new TW-Dodger Channel is still not available in 70% of the LA market due to carrier fee disputes.
The Dodgers new owners signed a multi-billion dollar cable channel deal with TW which now seems to be a money pit disaster.
The Dodgers kicked off the 2015 season with two stadium sellouts and falling TV ratings.
Monday
afternoon's opening day telecast on the team-owned cable channel,
SportsNet LA, generated a .79 household rating and an estimated 58,146
viewers. That's slightly more than turned out at Dodger Stadium for the
sold-out game that culminated with a win over the San Diego Padres.
The
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, which were on the road Monday against
the Seattle Mariners, generated a 1.35 household TV rating in Southern
California and 88,415 viewers. The Fox Sports West cable channel carries
the Angels' games.
The Dodgers and Angels both grew their TV
audiences on rain-soaked Tuesday night -- the teams' first prime-time
telecasts of the season. The Dodgers captured a 1.04 household rating
and 81,670 viewers. The Angels notched a 1.65 household rating and
132,500 viewers.
Fox Sports West is carried by all of the major
pay-TV distributors -- making it available in nearly 4.5 million homes
in the region.
But
because of a bitter fee dispute, Time Warner Cable, which distributes
SportsNet LA, is the only major pay-TV provider that offers that channel
in Southern California. Other providers have balked at the price that
Time Warner Cable has been demanding to carry the channel, leaving more
than 70% of the region without regular TV access to Dodger games.
The
Dodgers' TV audience took a tumble on Wednesday. The game mustered a
.58 household rating and just 35,000 viewers -- far fewer than showed up
at Dodger Stadium for the sold-out game.
This is the new reality: that viewers will not pay "extra" for a team channel. Too many cable operators have been burned by these new deals, including Houston. If the Cubs are banking on a huge Cubs channel windfall in 2020, they are probably delusional since the entertainment distribution landscape is shifting dramatically.
