Time Warner Cable SportsNet and Time Warner Cable Deportes are lining up their programming schedule as the networks prepare for their Oct. 1 tipoff.
The regional sports networks, centering on the Los Angeles Lakers, will give viewers an inside look at the club via a weekly series, as well as a vista into its famous cheerleading squad.
Backstage: Lakers and Laker Girls will provide an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the team's season while it unfolds, and the making of the team’s iconic dance squad, respectively.
“The Lakers have given us unprecedented access to take viewers where they typically aren’t allowed, which is exactly what we envisioned when we decided to launch these networks,” said David Rone, president, Time Warner Cable Sports, in announcing the shows. “These initial series, Backstage: Lakers and Laker Girls, represent that vision.”
Time Warner Cable SportsNet and Time Warner Cable Deportes can be found in HD on channel 403 and 481, respectively, on the MSO's systems. Negotiations continue, but the services have yet to secure carriage contracts with other providers, according to officials.
Starting on the channels’ opening night at 9 p.m. (PT), the 30-minute weekly Backstage Lakers -- Lakers Confidencial on Time Warner Cable Deportes -- will chronicle the club’s season from start to finish, taking viewers into the locker room, executive offices and other previously off-limits areas to see the team’s key players and personalities make the decisions that affect the outcome of the season. The premiere episode takes fans from the end of the 2011-12 season in Oklahoma City to the start of 2012-13 training camp, gives an inside look at the arrival of Steve Nash and Dwight Howard and examines fan reactions to the Lakers’ headline-making offseason.
Premiere dates are as follows:
Backstage: Lakers episode 1 – Monday, October 1, 9:00 p.m.
Backstage: Lakers episode 2 – Wednesday, October 10, 5:00 p.m.
Backstage: Lakers episode 3 – Wednesday, October 17, 5:00 p.m.
Backstage: Lakers episode 4 – Wednesday, October 24, 5:00 p.m.
Backstage: Lakers episode 5 – Wednesday, October 31, 5:00 p.m.
Laker Girls (also titled Laker Girls on Time Warner Cable Deportes) provides an in-depth profile of the making of the 2012-13 squad and its members. Fans will learn first-hand about the fierce competition to make the dance squad, from open call tryouts attracting more than 500 women to a behind-the-scenes peek at opening night at Staples Center. The Laker Girls reality series comprises five one-hour episodes and debuts on Oct. 2 at 8 p.m.
Premiere dates for the full series:
Laker Girls episode 1 – Tuesday, October 2, 8:00 p.m.
Laker Girls episode 2 – Tuesday, October 9, 9:00 p.m.
Laker Girls episode 3 – Wednesday, October 17, 9:00 p.m.
Laker Girls episode 4 – Tuesday, October 23, 9:00 p.m.
Laker Girls episode 5 – Finale, Tuesday, November 6, 9:00 p.m.
