Bud Selig on Dodgers TV blackout: ‘We’ve done as much as we can do’

As the Dodgers approach the end of a season in which they have been largely invisible to Southern California television viewers, Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig said Friday league officials have done their best to end the blackout.

“We’ve done as much as we can do,” Selig said at a Dodger Stadium news conference, “and we’ll continue to do so. ... We’ll do everything we can to break the impasse.”

Selig declined to say exactly what MLB has done.

Time Warner Cable guaranteed the Dodgers $8.35 billion over 25 years, according to a valuation by the league, in exchange for exclusive marketing rights for the new SportsNet LA cable channel. However, no other major cable or satellite provider in Southern California has agreed to carry SportsNet LA, leaving about 70% of the market without access to SportsNet LA.

Those providers -- most notably DirecTV -- have argued the asking price to carry the new channel would add too much to the bills of their subscribers. Time Warner Cable claims its price is fair.

The league, as a third party, has no power to compel the two sides to make a deal. DirecTV has not lost a significant amount of subscribers because of its decision not to carry SportsNet LA.

“This is in no one’s best interest, obviously,” Selig said, “so I have to believe that some way, some day, somehow, we will get this done.”