Reply to post: Exactly!

Exactly!

The Dodgers sold their rights for $8 billion over 25 years, and are guaranteed that money regardless of whether anyone is able to watch their games (unless TWC goes bankrupt)

The reason no one else is picking it up, is that TWC wants $4-$5 per subscriber for a channel that is Dodgers only, because they have to recover their cost. That's not for an ala carte channel where only those interested buy it, this is for a channel that they insist must be in the "extended basic" package that almost all subscribers get, so the majority of LA residents who don't care about watching Dodger games will be forced to pay for it as the providers would undoubtedly raise their rates to the cover the cost of this channel.

There are only two things the FCC can really do regarding this. They can force TWC to offer the channel on better terms (i.e. at a loss for them given the hefty payouts they're making to the Dodgers) as a condition of approving the merger, or they can force TWC and Comcast to divest all broadcast properties (including NBC and sports networks) as a condition of this merger, as I think should be required as we'll only see more stuff like this Dodgers channel fiasco in the future if they don't.

That would solve the problem as whoever bought the rights from TWC would only be willing to pay what they felt it was worth (i.e. they'd be paid to take it, due to the future $8 billion liability) so it would be a loss to TWC, but they should be OK with that if they really feel this merger is so important. Then the new owner, having been paid to accept that $8 billion liability, would be able to charge less to other providers and presumably get carriage to all/most LA residents.

If the Dodgers really cared about their fans, they'd say "let's revisit this deal at a lower price, on the condition you offer this channel at a lower price to other providers so it will be more likely to get carried". The fact they haven't shows they really care only about their bottom line, as is true for all sports franchises in the US (with the possible exception of the Green Bay Packers, being owned by thousands of individual shareholders who are fans, rather than a greedy billionaire)