If you’ve been following the Time Warner Cable SportsNet debacle as closely as I have, you’ll be relieved to find out that at least one other pay-TV provider has struck a deal with TWC to bring Lakers games (along with LA Galaxy and LA Sparks games) back into Southern California homes.
As you may have heard, until recently TWC was the only pay-TV provider carrying its own newly christened channels: SportsNet and Deportes.
However, Bright House Networks (the sixth largest cable company in the U.S.) has become the first other provider to strike a deal with TWC, as explained in a statement from TWC President, David Rone:
“Our partners at Bright House Networks value Southern California sports as much as we do and we’re excited to work with them to bring Lakers, Galaxy and Sparks games and programming to our viewers. We’re extremely happy to work with Bright House Networks to bring sports fans in Southern California Time Warner Cable SportsNet and Time Warner Cable Deportes.”
Bright House will, as mentioned in the aforementioned statement, carry both the SportsNet channel as well as the all Spanish language channel with original programming–Deportes. For anyone with Bright House, you’ll be able to catch SportsNet on channels 113 (Standard Definition) and 1113 (High Definition), and Deportes on channels 631 (Standard Definition) and 1631 (High Definition).
Although no details have surfaced with regards to the actual deal, this should be considered as a step in the right direction that will hopefully pave the way for other deals to be put into place with providers such as DirecTV, Charter Communications, UVerse, DISH Network, etc.
Until then, keep bugging your current pay-TV providers by going to iwantmylakers.com and Tweeting with the hashtag #iwantmylakers or the one I created out of impatience–#iDEMANDmyLAKERS.