Are you a Los Angeles Lakers fan living in Southern California? Do you have Time Warner as your cable provider? Or do you live in the Bakersfield area and have Bright House cable? Then you’re fine. You will not miss nearly 54 regular season Lakers games this season. People are completely jealous of you.
Now, if you didn’t answer yes to any of those questions, you are probably angry or “SMDH,” but you are not alone. According to an editorial from Los Angeles Times sports writer Bill Plaschke, the Lakers do not even get the recently launched Time Warner Sports Network in their El Segundo practice facility. The Lakers have Direct TV and as of right now, Time Warner have yet to reach a deal with Direct TV, amongst others.
Time Warner Sports Net will be the exclusive broadcast home for the Lakers, Los Angeles Sparks, and L.A. Galaxy. 24 hours a day, seven days a week. All Lakers, all the time.
It’s not to say cable companies like Cox, AT&T U-Verse, Direct TV or Dish aren’t negotiating with Time Warner to carry the network. They are or at least I hope they are. There’s just one problem. Time Warner who paid 3 billion dollars for the broadcast right want $3.95 per subscriber to carry the channel. It would make it the second most expensive channel in cable; the first being ESPN.
As crazy as it may seem, some people don’t care about the Lakers or sports all together and maybe these people do not want to extra 4 dollars each month. So, the companies are trying to get a reasonable fee. If you want to be mad at anybody, be mad at Time Warner and your cable company/satellite provider.
Obviously, there will be many games this season on national networks like ABC, ESPN, NBA TV and of course, TNT. They have your back. Unfortunately, one can not order League Pass and expect to see all of the Lakers games in Southern California. They will be regionally blacked out even if you don’t have Time Warner Sports Net.
So, what can you do? Write and call your cable/satellite provider until they reach a deal. The Lakers are the most beloved professional sports team in the area and that places the cable companies at a disadvantage. So, you will get to see Dwight Howard in Purple & Gold. It’s just a matter of when.
