Dodgers Dugout: TV or not TV?

Hi, welcome to another edition of Dodgers Dugout. My name is Houston Mitchell, wondering when exactly I will be able to watch the Dodgers on TV.

Good news?

You may have heard the parade music and fireworks yesterday after Charter Communications said it was buying Time Warner Cable and immediately announced plans to start showing Dodgers games on TV. Everyone got excited, until they read the fine print: It’s only for subscribers of Charter cable (Time Warner Cable subscribers will continue to be able to watch the Dodgers). So what does this mean?

Charter customers in Glendale, Burbank, Malibu, Long Beach and other regions will have the Dodgers channel (SportsNet LA) available to them within a few weeks. That means 300,000 more people get to watch the Dodgers.

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However, the Dodgers will still not be avavilable on DirecTV, Dish Network, AT&T U-Verse, Cox Communications and Verizon.

“We want the Dodgers on every outlet and we are committed to making that happen,” Charter Communications Chief Executive Tom Rutledge said Tuesday.

Unfortunately, Charter can’t tell all those other TV providers what to do, so a great many of us are still in the same boat we were in two days ago: No Dodgers and no Vin Scully on our screen.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers give the appearance of not caring.

Or, as Times sports columnist Bill Plaschke put it: “Finally, somebody is putting the Dodgers on more television sets. But, sadly, that somebody isn’t Mark Walter or Stan Kasten or Magic Johnson, and a bunch of you are still going to have to change your pay-TV providers to see them.”

And finally

What is wrong with Clayton Kershaw? Nothing.

Have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future Dodgers newsletter? Email me and follow me on Twitter: @latimeshouston