AT&T; strikes deal with Time Warner Cable for Lakers channel
AT&T; U-Verse customers won’t have to worry about missing any Laker games this season.
Time Warner Cable has struck a distribution deal for its new regional sports networks SportsNet and Deportes with AT&T; U-Verse, which has about 450,000 subscribers in Southern California.
INTERACTIVE: All things Lakers
The agreement is the third distribution deal Time Warner Cable has struck in two days. On Friday it reached agreements with Charter Communcations and Verizon Fios.
SportsNet and Deportes are the exclusive local home for the Los Angeles Lakers and will be carrying over 50 games this season. An additional 25 games will be available on TNT, ESPN and ABC.
The new sports service still needs to sign deals with Cox Cable and DirecTV, two of the largest pay-TV operators in the region. Cox and DirecTV are both playing hardball with Time Warner Cable. Each initially offered to carry the channels on a specialty tier that subscribers would have to pay extra to receive. Time Warner Cable rejected that offer as it wants the two channels in as many homes as possible.
The first Lakers game on SportsNet and Deportes is Wednesday against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Separately, Time Warner Cable also announced it will offer Korean-language Secondary Audio Programming (SAP) for live Lakers games on SportsNet this season.
ALSO:
Charter Communications signs up for Lakers channel
Kurt Rambis joining Lakers’ Time Warner Cable SportsNet
Time Warner Cable faces tough defense for Lakers channel
Follow Joe Flint on Twitter @JBFlint.
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