Don’t expect SportsNet LA to be added to other distributors any time soon

PHOENIX — We are now in Year 5 of SportsNet LA televising the Dodgers, and we are in Year 5 of the network unavailable on many major cable and satellite television distributors.

The network announced on Friday that five regular season Dodgers games in the season’s first month will be simulcast on KTLA channel 5, allowing fans without SportsNet LA to watch some games on over-the-air broadcast television.

But the press release also contained this caveat: “SportsNet LA and Dodgers games are exclusively available on Charter’s Spectrum service and other distributors are not expected to carry SportsNet LA this season.”

That means no DirecTV, no AT&T U-verse, no Verizon Fios, no DISH Network and no dice to watch Dodgers games unless you are a Charter subscriber. This ongoing debacle is now in its fifth year of a 25-year, $8.35 billion television contract the Dodgers reached with then-Time Warner Cable.

“We’ve made a fair offer,” a Charter spokesperson told True Blue LA last week. “DirecTV is simply not interested in carrying the Dodgers.”

The tug of war between Charter and these other distributors to carry the network has left many fans in the mud, unable to watch Dodgers games.

For those without SportsNet LA, they games they can watch, at least in the early part of the season are as follows:

Thursday, March 29: vs. Giants, 4:10 p.m. (ESPN)
Friday, March 30: vs. Giants, 7:10 p.m. (KTLA)
Sunday, April 1: vs. Giants, 5:37 p.m. (ESPN)
Saturday, April 7: at Giants, 12:30 p.m. (KTLA)
Friday, April 13: vs. Diamondbacks, 7:10 p.m. (KTLA)
Saturday, April 21: vs. Nationals, 6:10 p.m. (KTLA)
Sunday, April 22: vs. Nationals, 5:05 p.m. (ESPN)
Saturday, April 28: at Giants, 6:05 p.m. (KTLA)