New Lakers Networks

yet-to-be-named Los Angeles Lakers cable networks
Launched	fall 2012
Owned by	Los Angeles Lakers, Time Warner Cable
Picture format	480i (SDTV) unknown format (HDTV)
Country	United States
Language	English and Spanish
Broadcast area	Greater Los Angeles area, San Diego, Coachella Valley, Las Vegas Valley, Hawaii
Headquarters	Los Angeles
Website	Lakers-Time Warner Cable broadcast agreement
Available primarily on Time Warner Cable systems	channel positions to be determined

The new Lakers networks are future regional sports networks that will carry Los Angeles Lakers games, starting in the 2012-13 NBA season. The two networks, each in English and Spanish, are a joint venture between the Lakers and Southern California division of Time Warner Cable. The Lakers' telecasts on these channels are expected to be carried in high definition in both English and Spanish. The Lakers' Spanish network will be the first of its kind among regional sports networks in the United States.^[1]

On February 14, 2011, the NBA franchise and the cable television provider signed a 20-year agreement (reportedly worth $3 billion over the life of the agreement, according to some sources^[2]) to take effect starting in fall 2012, and will televised every Laker game not designated for an exclusive broadcast by either ABC or TNT. The new venture will also end long-standing broadcast partnerships with KCAL-TV, which has televised Laker road games since the 1977–78 season, and with Fox Sports West, which in all of its incarnations has broadcast the team's home games since the 1985–86 season. The Lakers will join a growing list of sports franchises in North America that will have a stake (whether wholly owned or partial) in a regional cable sports network, as well as being a part of growing list of NBA franchises that will abandon over-the-air local telecasts in favor of their games being available exclusively on cable and satellite television. Besides live games, much in the mold of other team-owned cable networks (such as YES, NESN, Altitude, and SportsTime Ohio), the new networks will also feature a team news magazine program, classic games, profiles featuring Laker players past and present, and exclusive video-on-demand content to be broadcast both online and on television.^[3]

As part of the agreement with Time Warner, the team stated that it will work with the cable provider to ensure that non-Time Warner subscribers within the Lakers' designated broadcast territory (all of Southern California, including the San Diego and Palm Springs DMAs, as well as Southern Nevada and Hawaii) will have access to the two networks. Presently, it is unknown whether other television service providers, such as DirecTV, Dish Network, Cox Communications, Charter Communications, AT&T U-verse, and Verizon FIOS will carry the Laker networks.

References

1. ^ http://www.nba.com/lakers/newsnba/time_warner_lakers_broadcast_faq.html
2. ^ http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2011/2/14/1993837/lakers-tv-time-warner-sports-networks
3. ^ http://lakers.ocregister.com/2011/02/14/lakers-to-start-new-network-with-time-warner-cable/49002/