Dodgers plan to televise games in three languages in 2014

The Dodgers plan to televise games in three languages when their new contract with Time Warner Cable takes effect next season, co-owner Todd Boehly said.

The Dodgers apparently would become the first Major League Baseball team with regular telecasts in three languages. League officials could not recall any team that has done so, MLB spokesman Pat Courtney said.

The Dodgers would air telecasts in English, Spanish and Korean as part of the TWC deal, Boehly said. Those telecasts would be limited to the Dodgers’ local television market, as MLB keeps the rights to international broadcasts.

However, the Dodgers have yet to submit the TWC contract for approval in the four weeks since its announcement.

Boehly said the Dodgers have shared “lots of details” with MLB without delivering a copy of the actual contract. The 25-year deal is believed to be worth between $7 billion and $8 billion to the Dodgers, but MLB cannot determine its share without reviewing the contract.

The difference in what the Dodgers’ owners and MLB officials believe the team should pay into the league’s revenue-sharing program could be more than $1 billion. If the Dodgers and MLB cannot agree, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court can settle the issue, as part of the settlement between MLB and former owner Frank McCourt.

Boehly did not specifically say why the Dodgers have not submitted the contract to MLB. He said he hoped the parties could reach an agreement in the coming weeks.

“We’re still in the process of making sure everyone’s on the same page,” Boehly said. “We’re confident we’ll end up with a deal everyone’s happy with.”

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