Ole L.A.

In one of its first post-Adelphia programming moves, Time Warner Cable today launches Si TV across its newly expanded L.A. footprint. The English-language Latino network is now available to the 950K digital subs within TW’s supersized LA footprint of 2mln subs. Time Warner owns an undisclosed stake in Si TV, which was previously available to 350K TW digi-subs in the L.A. market. Comcast preemptively moved some of its nets (Style, TV One, OLN, AZN and G4) from digital to expanded basic in L.A. in early ’05, well ahead of the Adelphia-triggered system swapping in L.A. A Comcast spokesperson said several non-Comcast owned networks (DIY, Fine Living, TNT HD, Tennis Channel, EWTN, Travel Channel and several Spanish-language networks) were also melted down to expanded basic and that the realignment was based on L.A.’s demographics. Also starting today, at least one of Comcast’s part-owned nets, TV One, will be available on every Time Warner Cable VOD lineup, including L.A. – Separately, we caught an interesting footnote on the Si TV announcement: Comcast’s SoCal vp communications, Patti Rockenwagner, was listed as the contact for Time Warner Cable L.A. The veteran Comcast publicist yesterday confirmed that she was joining Time Warner with the Adelphia sale. -Shirley Brady