Charter's $34.5 Billion Cox Deal Ends 13-Year Dodgers Blackout for 6 Million California Customers
Updated
Updated · Los Angeles Times · Aug 20
Charter's $34.5 Billion Cox Deal Ends 13-Year Dodgers Blackout for 6 Million California Customers
3 articles · Updated · Los Angeles Times · Aug 20
Summary
Friday marks the first time in 13 years that former Cox subscribers in the Dodgers' broadcast territory can watch SportsNet LA, after a 4,560-day blackout.
Charter closed its $34.5 billion purchase of Cox on Thursday, folding those systems into Spectrum and making Cox's long refusal to carry the channel irrelevant.
More than 6 million California customers now have Spectrum service, with SportsNet LA appearing on local channel slots including 63 in Orange County and 54 in Palos Verdes.
The blackout began in 2013 after Time Warner Cable agreed to pay the Dodgers $8.35 billion over 25 years for SportsNet LA, a fee many distributors balked at because it implied about $5 a month per subscriber.
Charter's takeover effectively finishes a distribution fight that had already eased in 2016 and 2020, when other providers finally began carrying the channel as the pay-TV base shrank.