Lakers jilt Fox Sports and KCAL for Time Warner Cable

Time Warner Cable has struck a massive deal with the Los Angeles Lakers to create two regional sports channels that will use the world champs as their backbone.

There had been rumblings recently that the Lakers were looking to either start their own channel or find a new partner. The 20-year agreement between the cable giant and the National Basketball Association powerhouse is a major blow to Fox Sports West and KCAL-TV, the two current rights holders for the Lakers. Starting with the 2012-13 season, all Lakers games except for national telecasts will be available on cable only. That includes preseason, regular season and playoff games.

One of the two as-yet unnamed cable channels will be Spanish-language network that will have its own prodcution team instead of just being a feed of the English-language channel.

The loss of games to KCAL means that no Lakers games will be available on free over-the-air television. KCAL, which is owned by CBS Corp., currently carries 41 games. Of the 5.67-million TV homes in the Los Angeles market, about 620,000 do not subscribe to any pay-TV provider. 

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Under its current deal with Fox Sports West, the Lakers were getting about $30 million a year in rights fees, people familiar with the situation said. Some industry observers pegged the 20-year pact at a value of $3 billion, a figure dismissed by Time Warner Cable.

In a statement, Fox Sports said it had made the Lakers an offer that “would have paid them one of the highest local TV rights fees in professional sports.  We did not believe that going higher was in the best interest of our business or pay TV customers in Los Angeles, who will bear the cost of this deal for years to come.”

Time Warner Cable, which has about 2 million subscribers in Southern California, isn't looking to stop with the Lakers. In an interview, Melinda Witmer, executive vice president and chief programming officer of Time Warner Cable, said the company would be "looking at all available sports in the marketplace."

Next on their list could be the Dodgers. The team's current pact with Fox's Prime Ticket channel expires in 2013. The Angels also have a contract with Fox Sports West, but that arrangement has many years to run.

For Time Warner Cable, snagging the rights to the Lakers and creating two channels is a shift in strategy. While many cable operators including Comcast, Cox and Cablevision are major players in the regional sports channel business, Time Warner Cable has pretty much stuck to the sidelines.

However, Time Warner Cable's Witmer said the move to get into business with the Lakers is part of its overall desire to "control our economic destiny."

Consumers may feel some pain as a result of the deal. Regional Sports Networks (RSNs) are generally some of the most expensive programming for distributors. Typically, RSNs cost between north of $2.50 per month, per subscriber. Given the high cost of the Lakers, Time Warner Cable will likely be looking for north of $3.50.

The cable giant will need to strike carriage deals with other distributors in the region and may face tough negotiations. First stop will be DirecTV, which has about 1 million subscribers in the area. Other major distributors include Charter Communications and Cox Cable. That will likely lead to tough negotations.

At the same time, Fox Sports West will likely get pressure from Time Warner Cable and other distributors to lower the price of its channel now that will be losing the Lakers.

— Joe Flint

Photo: Kobe Bryant takes it to the hoop. Credit: Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times / MCT.

 

 

 

Comments

[Big John]

this is probably just the first of many dominos to fall around the country as teams break loose of rsn's and strike out on their own. of course, in a decade, they'll band together and form new rsn's.

[Paul Golding]

Time Warner is a poorly run cable company that provides bad service to its customers. And now the Lakers won't ever be on free TV? Considering how wealthy the team is, and how deep their local support is, this is depressing and shameful.

[khallo]

Good riddance to KCAL coverage of Lakers games! I'm not even a fan of the Lakers, but the coverage on KCAL was always so LAME! After Chick, there was no point in having KCAL. 'Steve' on KCAL is boring and tells too many lame jokes while covering sports and runs out of time to cover sports like scores, etc. KCAL shouldn't even be allowed to show the Clippers games either.

[SadLakerFan]

This is terrible news for the ~600,000 people who don't have cable. Not very good news for people's cable bill, either. My family can't afford cable and we so looked forward to watching the Lakers play on KCAL. You're going to lose some fans but I suppose the extra money will come cushion the Lakers' pain.

[effyoutimewarnercable]

this really sucks.

KCAL was a great utility for people in the LA area who wanted to watch the Lakers but didnt want to shell out tons of money on an expensive cable package. Let me catch practically half the regular season for free.

now I'll only be able to watch my team on TV when the game is being broadcasted nationally on ABC which they do like 10-12 times a year (including playoffs). my only other option is crappy internet video streams.

first the ridiculously high ticket prices and now this. thanks for alienating your fans Jerry!!

[KZinCC]

I know most of your sports guys already have the cable but there's nothing I want to see besides the Lakers and now they're taking away my road games to feed the ever greedy monster. 40 years I've watched the lake show but I ain't gonna pay whatever it will cost to get the package that will have the new channel so it's so long. I guess I can keep up in the times and watch whatever ABC carries. It'll be hard to care when I can't get to know the players by watching them. And how about KHJ/KCAL? After however many years, now they've been **** on too.

[Robert Skillstad]

Another example of absolute greed killing off this country. I hope this backfires and fans boycott games until greedy sports agents and owners get a reality check that not just rich people should enjoy watching professional sports.

[Dan]

This seems to be the new thing in sports.

[Michael]

Well, good bye Lakers, it was nice knowing you.

I'm not going to buy cable just to watch their games. It's now time to find a new team, or to ignore the NBA completely. It's overrated as entertainment anyway.

[Insomniacker]

There's good news about the Time-Warner cable partnership. You'll be able to catch the programming some time between 8 am and 4 pm.

[Dbear]

Way to stick it to the less than fortunate fans, Jerry! The NBA has never been more lucrative. How can they take away the only free avenue to see the Lakers? Greed...pure and simple! And the players themselves are not above reproach. Their ridiculous salaries add fuel to the fire. I wonder how many LA families on food stamps struggle to put food on the table for their children because the cable bill cost so much. Yes, their priorities are out of whack, but so are yours.

[Martin Shimamoto]

I wonder if Time Warner has been watching Laker games lately? The team in on the decline with an aging Kobe and other injury prone starters. They won't win the title this year and I wonder how many people would pay to watch a team lose? I'll be watching the Clippers who tend to play a more exciting brand of ball than the lakers. If they choose to spurn their fans as well, I guess it's back to playing NBA2k11 on my PS3.

[559lakersfanfoxsportswest]

There no such thing as time warner here in (559)central cali. I've been seeing the game on foxsportwest. We just got them back on on dishnetwork.I guess they will be comming back off after 2012. AAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhh!

[Johne]

This is very disappointing i've been a fan lakers fan for 15 years, i discovered the lakers on kcal9 and i've never missed a game they've broadcast not even the preseason one's. It's just not fair when you take into account that we have no pro football team, the kings are irrelevant, the dodgers are a constant blunder, the clippers are a joke, and the galaxy are practically nonexistent. All you're left with is the lakers, the only truly worthwhile sports programming in L.A. To have it ripped away from fans who can't afford cable, is like taking away the nationally broadcast sunday football games and putting that on cable like they did monday night football.

[gep]

Dumped Time Warner after repeated attempts to get cable authorized (changed boxes, barker channel OK, but no other channels would authorize and this went on repeatedly after having normal service for a year. The Lakers teaming up with TWC tells me all I need to know about my future Lakers involvement. There won't be any.

[Allen]

At a time when people are having trouble to survive and they look at sports as a release from the problems of every day life the sports teams find a way to make lots of money at the expense of the little guy. What is next, are we going to have to pay to use the toilets at sporting events also? Shame on sports and there greed.

[Carole]

What idiot made this decision. Of course, the only thing that was taken into consideration is $$$$! America has gotten away from what is really important. Buss doesn't care about the fans. I got rid of cable because of their poor service and even poorer reception. Now, Directv will want to raise our prices because they will, of course, will have to pay more money to carry the games. Gas prices, food prices, everything is escalating. We are surely living in the last days!

[The Truth]

I am a Laker fan and enjoyed KCAL9 coverage because it was free. I remember in the early 1970's when KTLA5 covered the Lakers and they were also good. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth it was free. Now greed has taken over and have to pay to see them anytime. I have not enough interest to pay in regular season . In playoff time I'll go to a friends or sports bar to see. Like Hell if they get a penny from me.