A year away from launching two RSNs in the L.A. market, Time Warner Cable signed a 15-year deal to produce high school sports in California. The deal with the California Interscholastic Federation is worth an average $1.5M per year, sources said, and makes TWC the official content distributor of CIF Regional and State Championship sports programming starting this season. The deal does not affect FS West's agreement with the CIF Southern Section, which was signed earlier this year. The FS West deal runs for three years and carries a rights fee of around $50,000 per year; though joint sales efforts could push the deal's value to the mid-six figures, sources said. The FS West deal includes at least 120 annual events on TV, broadband and mobile. TWC's deal gives it television, broadband and mobile rights. It will produce at least 60 games in the contract's first year and a minimum of 80 for the rest of the contract. In addition to producing a mix of boys and girls sports, TWC is committed to produce profile pieces on student-athletes and coaches. It will carry some programming on its local news channel, SoCal 101 and will make some programming available to cable operators elsewhere in the state. Cleveland-based Home Team Marketing helped negotiate the deal for CIF.
