San Diego State, UNLV and Fresno State will have football and basketball games appear on Time Warner Cable SportsNet, which "launches in October and is already home to the Lakers and the Galaxy,” but to get the rights, TWC had to “do a little wheeling and dealing with CBS,” according to Joe Flint of the L.A. TIMES. Sources said that CBS Sports Network “agreed to swap the rights to the games in return for greater distribution on Time Warner Cable systems.” As a result of the agreement, CBSSN is “expected to add 1 million subscribers, which would bring its national reach to almost 50 million homes.” The deal gives TWC “one more selling point with distributors, which it needs.” TWC SportsNet is “yet to close distribution deals with satellite broadcasters DirecTV and Dish, both of which have a big presence” in L.A. (LATIMES.com, 8/28).
FEELING ANTSY: In California, Kevin Ding writes TWC is the “only cable or satellite distributor we know right now [that] will have Lakers games” when TWC SportsNet launches on Oct. 1. In addition to DirecTV and Dish, subs with AT&T U-Verse, Verizon FiOS, Cox Cable, Charter Communications or other providers “could rightly feel antsy.” Lakers VP/PR John Black said, “We would hope the fans have confidence in our new broadcast partner -- as we do -- that they will get the deals done and everyone enjoys what will be a better product than ever before” (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 8/29).
