Readers React: Don’t force everyone to pay for the Dodgers on TV

To the editor: I have read that fans are pretty complacent with the Dodgers’ TV situation. As an example, DirecTV says it has lost fewer than 2,000 subscribers because it doesn’t carry SportsNet LA, the Time Warner Cable-managed Dodgers channel. (“The Dodgers blackout is bad, but let’s not make a federal case out of it,” Editorial, July 30)

So now Rep. Tony Cardenas (D-Los Angeles) is asking Washington for help, but on whose behalf? Most of his constituents obviously don’t care.

The Dodgers and Time Warner Cable made a lousy deal. Their fight with DirecTV and other TV providers should be between them and not include the Federal Communications Commission. As a DirecTV subscriber myself, I will be mightily upset if Cardenas’ efforts result in my having to pay anything more for unwatched sports programming.

If Cardenas wants to help, he should empower consumers to pick the specific programming they want to pay for via a-la-carte offerings.

Howard Schlossberg, Agoura Hills

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To the editor: Not watching the Dodgers on TV is bad enough, but what most fans miss more is hearing the voice of the Dodgers, Vin Scully.

I have been listening to Vin for more than 50 years, starting when my father would take me to Ladies Night at Dodger Stadium, where we would sit with our radio listening to Vin call every detail of the game.

So when I knew that we would not have games to watch on television, I bought a radio so I could hear the voice I love call the game I love. The only problem: He calls only the first three innings on the radio.

If the Dodgers care about their fans, they should find a way to give us the voice of Vin Scully for all nine innings. I can live without watching the games, but it pains me to know that somewhere out there, Vin Scully is telling a story and I’m not hearing it.

Stacy Souza, West Hills