Time Warner Cable SportsNet and Time Warner Cable Deportes (abbreviated as TWC SportsNet and TWC Deportes) are American regional sports cable and satellite television networks that are owned by the Southern California division of Time Warner Cable, with the Los Angeles Lakers maintaining editorial control over the content, including team-assigned reporters and anchors, as well as team-related programming. The networks are based near the Lakers' team headquarters in the Los Angeles suburb of El Segundo, California.
TWC SportsNet - which broadcasts in English - and TWC Deportes - which is the first U.S. regional sports network with a 24-hour Spanish feed - launched at 7:00 p.m. Pacific Time on October 1, 2012. Time Warner Cable SportsNet and Time Warner Cable Deportes serve the Los Angeles and San Diego metropolitan areas, the Coachella and Las Vegas valleys, and Hawaii.
Lakers game broadcasts serve as the centerpiece of both networks. TWC SportsNet and TWC Deportes have been the exclusive home of all Lakers games that are not televised nationally since the 2012-13 NBA season. Other sports events aired on the networks include Los Angeles Galaxy soccer and Los Angeles Sparks basketball games. Game broadcasts are carried in high definition in both English and Spanish (a Korean language audio track is also provided via the second audio program function available on most television sets and cable receiver boxes; as a result, TWC SportsNet holds the distinction of being the first English-language television network to offer Asian-language play-by-play audio of sporting events).
Background
On February 14, 2011, the Lakers and Time Warner Cable signed a $3 billion, 20-year cable television agreement which took effect in the fall of 2012. The networks will televise every Laker game not designated for an exclusive broadcast by either ABC, ESPN or TNT. The new venture ended long-standing broadcast partnerships with KCAL-TV (channel 9), which (dating back to its days as KHJ-TV) had televised the Lakers' road games since the 1977-78 season; and with Fox Sports West, which in all of its incarnations had broadcast the team's home games since the 1985-86 season. The Lakers joined a growing list of NBA franchises that have abandoned over-the-air local telecasts in favor of their games being available exclusively on cable and satellite. Besides live games, the networks also feature a team news magazine program, classic games, profiles of Laker players past and present, and exclusive video-on-demand content that is available both online and on television.
As part of the agreement with Time Warner, the team stated that it would work with the cable provider to ensure that other providers within the Lakers' designated broadcast territory (parts of southern California, including the San Diego and Palm Springs markets, as well as southern Nevada and Hawaii) would have access to the two networks. As of 2014, the only television provider that does not carry either channel is satellite provider Dish Network. Time Warner offers the channel for $3.95 a subscriber, comparable to other regional sports networks, but other providers were concerned that this cost could increase substantially should the Los Angeles Dodgers begin carrying their games on Time Warner Cable SportsNet; while Time Warner Cable did later reach a 25-year agreement with the Dodgers, the provider created a separate channel, SportsNet LA, to carry that team's games and other Dodgers-related programming.
Los Angeles Galaxy
On November 18, 2011, Time Warner Cable Sports announced a broadcast rights agreement with the Los Angeles Galaxy Major League Soccer club, a ten-year deal starting with the 2012 season in which the team will be paid $55 million during the contractual period. The networks will televise all Galaxy matches that are not televised on a national network, and will also broadcast matches involving non-MLS opponents. Similar to the agreement with the Lakers, the Galaxy also has supplementary programming featured on the networks, including a weekly team magazine, and possible classic matches.
Prior to the networks' launch, Anaheim-based independent station KDOC-TV (channel 56) televised 18 Galaxy matches for the 2012 MLS season, with production handled by Time Warner Cable SportsNet. The new networks, then televised the remainder of the Galaxy's schedule beginning in October 2012. KDOC also televises select matches featuring the Galaxy's stadium-mate and crosstown rival, Chivas USA. Much like the Lakers, the Galaxy formerly maintained a long-standing broadcast agreement with Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket.
Los Angeles Sparks
On March 14, 2012, it was announced that the channel had signed a multi-year deal with the Los Angeles Sparks WNBA franchise. Although the deal was reported as be non-exclusive, all of the televised games during the 2013 season aired on TWC SportsNet/TWC Deportes, except for those that were nationally broadcast on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2 (as with the Galaxy, KDOC aired the 2012 schedule in preparation for the launch of the new channels).
Los Angeles Dodgers
On January 23, 2013, Time Warner Cable and the Los Angeles Dodgers reached a deal to create a new channel called SportsNet LA, which would become the exclusive local carrier of the Major League Baseball franchise's games starting with the 2014 season. Time Warner Cable outbid Fox Sports Net for the contract, which runs for 25 years through 2039 and is estimated to be worth $8.35 billion. At the time of the announcement, the team was supposed to be considering offering a package of games to be aired over Fox Television Stations' two Los Angeles outlets, Fox owned-and-operated station KTTV (channel 11) and MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated station KCOP-TV.
Other sports programming rights
Time Warner Cable SportsNet also airs live broadcasts of the football and boys' basketball championship games of the California Interscholastic Federation and Los Angeles City Section, the CIF state championship games in boys' and girls' basketball, and the regional and state bowl games in football. It also carries select games of the Lakers-owned NBA Development League team, the Los Angeles D-Fenders. TWC Deportes also airs Pro Footvolley Tour.
For the 2012-13 athletic season, TWC SportsNet aired select football and men's basketball games from the Mountain West Conference that were not televised on a national basis; one or both of the teams playing in nearly all of the telecasts that the network aired that season involved the San Diego State Aztecs and the University of Nevada Las Vegas Rebels, both universities are in the network's primary service area. It lost the rights to Mountain West games beginning with the 2013-14 season due to new broadcast agreements signed by the conference; some SDSU games that are not nationally televised are now carried on Fox Sports San Diego, while some UNLV games are seen on a local channel operated by Cox Communications.
TWC SportsNet has also aired the NBC program Poker After Dark and some action sports events, while airs a weekly lucha libre card taped in Mexico City. For the 2014 Major League Soccer season, Time Warner Cable Deportes agreed to carry Chivas USA matches in Spanish that are not televised on a national network.
Announcers
TWC SportsNet
- Jarron Collins - Sparks "home" color commentator
- Cobi Jones - Galaxy color commentator
- Robert Horry - Lakers studio analyst
- Stu Lantz - Lakers color commentator
- Bill Macdonald - Lakers play-by-play
- Jaime Maggio - Lakers, Galaxy, and Sparks studio host
- Chris McGee - Lakers, Galaxy, and Sparks studio host/backup Sparks "home" play-by-play
- Dave Miller - Lakers and Sparks studio analyst
- Mary Murphy - Sparks "road" color commentator
- Steve Sampson - Galaxy studio analyst (English and Spanish)
- Kelli Tennant - Galaxy and Sparks sideline reporter
- Mike Trudell - Lakers sideline reporter, Galaxy and Sparks studio host
- Joe Tutino - Galaxy play-by-play
- Jim Watson - Sparks play-by-play
- James Worthy - Lakers studio analyst
TWC Deportes
- Christian Bozzo - Galaxy studio analyst
- Ricardo Celis - Lakers and Galaxy studio host/Sparks play-by-play
- Hipolito Gamboa - Lakers and Galaxy studio analyst
- Enrique Gutierrez - Galaxy studio analyst
- Samuel Jacobo - Galaxy play-by-play
- John Laguna - Lakers sideline reporter
- Alejandro Luna - Galaxy studio analyst
- Adrian Garcia Marquez - Lakers play-by-play
- Francisco Pinto - Lakers color commentator
- Francisco X. Rivera - Lakers studio analyst and Sparks color commentator
- Elmur Souza - Lakers studio host/analyst and Galaxy sideline reporter
- Nataly Valenzuela - Lakers and Galaxy social media correspondent
- Martín "Pulpo" Zúñiga - Galaxy color commentator
Original programming
In addition to live coverage of Lakers and Galaxy games, and their respective pre- and post-game shows, other original programming on Time Warner Cable SportsNet includes:
- Backstage: Lakers - a weekly half-hour series chronicling Lakers games, players and executives from a behind-the-scenes perspective during the team's season. The show airs in Spanish as Lakers Confidencial on Time Warner Cable Deportes.
- Connected With... - a half-hour signature sitdown interview program featuring interviews with professional athletes, sports insiders and Southern California personalities - conducted by sports and entertainment personality Kevin Frazier. Early episodes included interviews with Steve Nash, Landon Donovan, Mitch Kupchak and Dwight Howard.
- Lakers Compacto - an hour-long recap of each Lakers game the day after the game's telecast.
- Laker Girls - a five-episode series documenting the selection process of the Laker Girls for the 2012-13 basketball season.
- Backstage: Galaxy - an all-access series chronicling the LA Galaxy, including exclusive interviews, and on- and off-field footage. The series premiered during the Galaxy's 2012 playoff run to the 2012 MLS Cup, and returned in the 2013 to cover the team's season that year from a behind-the-scenes perspective. The program airs in Spanish as Galaxy Confidencial on Time Warner Cable Deportes.
In addition to live coverage of Lakers and Galaxy games, and their respective pre- and post-game shows, other original programming on Time Warner Cable Deportes includes:
- Tu Show del futbol ("Your Soccer Show") - a program that analyzes aspects of soccer as a sport, featuring opinions and views on the game.
- Encuentro Deportivo ("The Match") - A sports program that presents relevant and original stories of major interest to the local audience.
- LA Prepa
- Momentos Deportivos ("Sports Moments") - A retrospective of the greatest plays in Lakers, Sparks and Galaxy history.
- Vamos Galaxy ("Let's Go, Galaxy") - An LA Galaxy post-game program featuring analysis, interviews, reactions and commentary on each game, with panelists Enrique Gutiérrez, Martín Zúñiga, Elmur Souza and Steve Sampson.
- Historias Detrás del Balón ("Stories Behind the Ball") - One-on-one interviews with Mexican international soccer players.
References
External links
- TWCSportsNet.com - Time Warner Cable SportsNet official website
- TWCDeportes.com - Time Warner Cable Deportes official website
Interesting Informations
Looking products related to this topic, find out at Amazon.com
Source of the article : here
EmoticonEmoticon