Charter to Launch TWC SportsNet

Charter is the first distributor (besides Time Warner Cable and Bright House) to agree to carry Lakers’ nets Time Warner Cable SportsNet and Time Warner Cable Deportes.

Charter said it plans to have the nets available on or before Oct 31, the date of the first regular season telecast for the team. 

 

Still no deal with DirecTV and Cox, which have said their offers to carry the RSN on optional digital tiers have been refused. The price for the net (which is rumored to be about $4/sub) “is one of the highest wholesale prices that we have seen, especially when you consider it on a ‘per game’ basis,” Cox said. Time Warner Cable said any assertion that it’s the highest priced RSN out there is untrue. “As a significant buyer of regional sports across the country, we know that there are higher priced regional sports networks, including Root Sports that we buy from DirecTV. Cox and DirecTV know that there is no regional sports network anywhere in the country that is offered on an optional tier—that would be unprecedented.” TWC said.

 

Cox and DirecTV have both said they are negotiating and hoping for a deal that doesn’t financially burden customers. CableFAX Editor-in-Chief Amy Maclean, interviewed by a Southern CA NPR radio station this week, thinks it’s likely some deals will get done before tip-off.