As expected, SportsNet LA has added Bright House Networks to its distribution roster in time for the channel’s Tuesday night debut.
Starting on Feb. 25, Bright House Networks will make the 24/7 network, owned by and devoted to the Los Angeles Dodgers, available to its Standard customers in Bakersfield, Calif. SportsNet LA, which will televise more than 140 Dodgers game, the club’s spring training schedule, and a host of team-related ancillary fare, will be available to Bright House Networks Standard customers in the market on channels 21 and 107 in standard-definition and channel 1107 in high-definition.
Bright House joins Time Warner Cable on the affiliate roster for SportsNet LA. Time Warner Cable today announced that its customers in the Los Angeles area with the Standard TV level of service or above will be able to watch SportNet LA in the high-definition format on channel 431 and in standard-definition on digital channel 249.
Affiliate terms were not disclosed. Time Warner Cable, which negotiates programming deals for Bright House, is operating and managing SportsNet LA for the Dodgers. As part of a 25-year agreement valued upward of $8.35 billion and perhaps as much as $9 billion, those duties include affiliate negotiations, with Time Warner Cable responsible for footing the monthly subscriber license fee bill for distributors, even if they don’t carry the service.
Reports place the monthly subscriber fee at $5 for SportsNet LA’s rookie season, but TWC Sports president David Rone said the price is less than $5.
Negotiations with other key distributors -- DirecTV, Cox, Charter, AT&T U-verse, Verizon FiOS and Dish Network -- in the Dodgers’ TV territory have yet to yield carriage contracts.
The Dodgers open the 2014 Major League Baseball season against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Sydney, Australia on March 22-23, with SportsNet LA on the scene Down Under. Time Warner Cable is encouraging Dodgers' fans to request that their providers carry the service at http://ineedmydodgers.com.
