Spectrum Deportes, the 24/7 Spanish-language RSN of the Lakers and Galaxy, will "shut down Aug. 15, citing a lack of viewership," according to Tom Hoffarth of THEDRILLLA.com. Spectrum Deportes is fully-distributed channel in Southern California, and "was launched as Time Warner Deportes" in October, '12. It coincided with the "arrival of Time Warner SportsNet." Sources said that Spectrum is "planning to replace this Spanish-language channel with a hyper-local English all-news feed." The Lakers have "had a Spanish-language outlet" in L.A. for more than 25 years. But a Charter spokesperson said that changing habits in viewership "led to this experiment ending." The Lakers, Galaxy and other live game programming on Spectrum SportsNet "will continue to have a Secondary Audio Programming (SAP) in Spanish" (THEDRILLLA.com, 7/31). In L.A., Meg James notes viewership data "showed that considerably more Spanish-speaking viewers were watching Lakers games on the English-language channel." The company said, “Lakers broadcasts had 12 times as many Spanish-speaking viewers on SportsNet than on Deportes during the 2017-18 season" (L.A. TIMES, 7/31).
