DirecTV has reached a deal with Time Warner Cable Sports and will launch its pair of Los Angeles Lakers-centric services today.
With the agreement, financial terms of which were not disclosed, Dish Network is now the only major provider that is not carrying Time Warner Cable SportsNet and Time Warner Cable Deportes in the regional sports networks’ territories. Published reports put the combined monthly subscriber license fee for the two services at $3.95.
Time Warner Cable SportsNet will be available to DirecTV customers on channel 691 throughout Southern California -- Los Angeles, San Diego, Bakersfield and parts of Fresno -- as well as Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, Las Vegas and Hawaii. Time Warner Cable Deportes, the nation’s first Spanish-language RSN, is positioned on channel 458.
In addition to Lakers games and related programming around the storied NBA franchise, which earlier this week hired Mike D’Antonio as its coach, the RSNs are also the local homes for Major League Soccer’s LA Galaxy and the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks.
"DirecTV is pleased that Los Angeles Lakers, LA Galaxy and Los Angeles Sparks games and programming will now be seen by so many people whose loyalty remains the life's blood to each team," said Dan York, chief content officer at DirecTV, in a statement."We appreciate our customers’ patience and are happy to have arrived at an outcome that benefits everyone involved. We know that our customers will enjoy the great programming of these three franchises for many years to come.”
Noted Dan Finnerty, senior vice president, Time Warner Cable Sports: “Our partners at DirecTV value Southern California sports as much as we do and we’re thrilled to work with them to bring Lakers, Galaxy and Sparks games and programming to our viewers. Time Warner Cable SportsNet and Time Warner Cable Deportes will help bring DirecTV customers closer to these teams than they have ever been before.”
