Dodgers games to air on LA TV as Scully concludes career

Charter Communications said it has pacted with KTLA5-Los Angeles to air six of the final regular-season Los Angeles Dodgers games – including Vin Scully Appreciation Day on September 23, celebrating the Hall of Fame broadcaster who is wrapping his 66th and final season.

The Dodgers signed a reported 25-year deal valued at $8.3 billion with TWC in 2013, leaving a longtime partnership with Fox Sports West/Prime Ticket. The team then goes on the road for three games in San Diego (Sept. 27-29) and the final three in San Francisco (Sept. 30-Oct. 2).

Scully, regarded as the greatest broadcaster in baseball history, is retiring after this season, his 67th as the voice of the Dodgers.

The package includes the September 23-24 home games against the Colorado Rockies, with the 23rd including coverage of a pregame ceremony honoring Scully.

Los Angeles-based Dodgers fans deprived of watching their local team, whose games are only available on Time Warner Cable’s SportsNet LA, will finally be able to see some baseball from their couch. The Dodgers’ regional sports cabler has been rebuffed by Southern California MVPDs since its launch in 2014 because of the high price tag that Time Warner Cable sought for the service.

The Dodgers will face the Rockies two other times during the final homestand of the regular season on September 24 (6 p.m.) and 25 (12:30 p.m.). The team did not allow for any over-the-air games in 2015 in Southern California.

With the regular season winding down, that means Dodgers announcer Vin Scully is also nearing the end of his broadcasting career.

With this new simulcast agreement, sources say KTLA is trying to align itself as a Dodgers’ over-the-air broadcast partner with Spectrum going forward to perhaps carry as many as 20-25 games a season, either exclusively or as a simulcast.