Cables

Re "Cable rates on rise as users fall," Column, Jan. 29 The problems with cable companies are not limited to the rate increases. Some channels cannot be viewed simply because certain carriers refuse to offer them. For example, the new Pac-12 Network has exclusive rights to televise certain college sporting events in that conference. So if you are a UCLA or USC football or basketball fan and your cable company has not bought into the Pac-12 Network, you will be unable to view many of the games you'd like to see - at any price.

Time Warner Cable has sought to downplay a report that its chief executive, Glenn Britt, was planning to leave the nation's second-largest cable company at the end of the year. The Wall Street Journal, citing an anonymous source, said Friday that Britt had decided to depart his position of 12 years, a tenure marked by large expansion in residential cable service, technological upgrades to broadband Internet and the 2009 separation from parent company Time Warner Inc. The 63-year-old Britt's contract was extended last year and is set to expire at the end of 2013.  However, Time Warner Cable said Friday that no decision has been made about a possible departure.

Time Warner Cable Chief Executive Glenn Britt, who has been very public about his concerns over rising programming costs, Thursday defended the company's expensive TV deals for the Lakers and Dodgers. "They were going to be expensive no matter what happened; we think we've done the best of the alternatives," Britt said when asked about the contracts during a fourth-quarter earnings call with analysts. Earlier this week, Time Warner Cable finalized a 25-year TV partnership with the Dodgers at cost of between $7 billion and $8 billion.

Are Super Bowl parties a thing of the past? Hungry fans certainly hope not. We could be headed in that direction, though, if the price of cable and food keep climbing at the current insane rates. When Time Warner Cable's deal with the Lakers caused my cable bill to go up, I shrugged it off and agreed with The Times' editorial board : "If history is any guide, those customers will grumble about the higher monthly fees but will pay anyway. The willingness of pay TV subscribers to pay more every year is what enables cable networks to offer professional sports teams and leagues increasingly lavish sums for the exclusive rights to air their games.

Just as Time Warner Cable has cut a deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a new baseball channel, which could add $5 to customers' bills regardless of whether they watch the channel, the company is jacking up rates for nearly all its other TV services. The latest rate hikes also come amid ongoing losses in the number of TV subscribers - as opposed to, say, high-speed Internet customers - throughout the cable industry. Cable companies are thus squeezing more money from fewer TV viewers.

The name for the Dodgers' new television channel: SportsNet LA. The Dodgers and Time Warner Cable officially announced their television contract on Monday, with the team-owned channel starting in 2014. The deal, pending the approval of Major League Baseball, covers 25 years and is believed to be worth between $7 billion and $8 billion to the team. The Dodgers are to remain on Fox Sports through the 2013 season, but the team decided it wanted its own channel thereafter and negotiated with Fox and Time Warner Cable.

The Dodgers officially announced their new television contract with Time Warner Cable on Monday, with the team-owned "SportsNet LA" channel starting in 2014. The deal, pending the approval of Major League Baseball and the possible intervention of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, covers 25 years and is believed to be worth between $7 billion and $8 billion to the team. The Dodgers declined to comment beyond prepared statements that did not say what non-Dodgers programming the channel might carry, sports or otherwise.

The Dodgers have invited Fox Sports to take a lesser role in the team's television future, according to two people familiar with the matter but not authorized to discuss it. The Dodgers have reached agreement with Time Warner Cable on a television contract believed to be worth between $7 billion and $8 billion to the team. The deal, in which the Dodgers will launch a team-owned channel that will carry the Dodgers name, is expected to be announced shortly. Mark Walter, the Dodgers' controlling owner, met with Major League Baseball officials Thursday in New York.

How bad did Time Warner Cable want to get the TV rights to the Los Angeles Dodgers away from Fox Sports' Prime Ticket channel? So bad that the cable operator promised the team that it would cover fees from other distributors who don't sign on to carry the channel, people familiar with the deal said. The agreement is expected to be announced this week, perhaps later Thursday. In other words, if DirecTV, for example, does not sign on to carry the new Dodgers channel, Time Warner Cable will pay the subscription fees until a deal could be reached with the satellite broadcaster.

Few cable companies have been as vocal about the rising costs of sports programming as Time Warner Cable. "What was a minor problem is turning into an astronomical problem," Time Warner Cable chief executive Glenn Britt told the Wall Street Journal just over a year ago. "The ultimate solution is to get that programming on some sort of smaller packaging scheme. " But Britt's words don't match up with Time Warner Cable's actions. As of late, few cable companies have been as instrumental in driving up sports costs as Time Warner Cable.