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Charter cuts jobs, programs on Dodgers and Lakers channels

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Charter cuts jobs, programs on Dodgers and Lakers channels
NEW YORK —

As a long-time sports enthusiast and resident of Los Angeles, I find myself both concerned and somewhat amused by the recent news about Charter Communications cutting back programming on SportsNet channels for the Dodgers and Lakers.

Charter Communications, which manages the SportsNet networks carrying the Dodgers and Lakers games, is reducing the amount of content on these particular channels.

According to a representative from Charter, there won’t be any disruption in the live broadcasts of Dodgers and Lakers games. However, they are cancelling “Behind the Sport” and decreasing the frequency of new episodes for “Backstage: Dodgers” and “Backstage: Lakers”, with only one episode being released per month.

Instead of having round-the-clock access to their favorite teams via dedicated channels, it appears that many sports enthusiasts, including Dodgers and Lakers followers, mainly prefer to focus on actually watching the games themselves.

Huff said “a few positions” have been eliminated.

According to Huff, these modifications in the coding are commonplace and do not indicate any significant shifts in overall operations.

Amidst the upheaval in the local sports broadcasting industry, modifications are being made. With more and more consumers opting to ditch traditional cable and satellite services for streaming platforms, the old system of broadcasters paying teams based on a model where subscribers pay for regional sports networks regardless of whether they watch them or not, has become obsolete and frequently unprofitable.

For approximately 19 months, the Bally Sports channels have been undergoing proceedings at a bankruptcy court. Previously, Warner Bros. Discovery sold off their four regional sports networks.

Charter only operates SportsNet channels as its exclusive regional sports network, having acquired them upon purchasing Time Warner Cable back in 2016.

Even as a thriving business, earning approximately $55 billion in sales last year by offering broadband, cable, streaming, and phone services, Charter was not able to free itself from its $8.35-billion deal with the Dodgers or its $3-billion agreement with the Lakers by seeking bankruptcy protection.

Lon Rosen, the Dodgers’ Executive Vice President, reassured fans that they needn’t worry about SportsNet LA, as it is marketed by Charter under their Spectrum brand.

“We continue to have a good working relationship with Spectrum,” Rosen said.

The Dodgers are the proprietors of SportsNet LA, but Charter Communications owns SportsNet and operates it as a separate business. In principle, Charter may have the power to negotiate with the Lakers like Bally Sports did with the Angels: They could demand a renegotiation at a lower cost, or risk SportsNet potentially declaring bankruptcy, which might result in less income for the team during an era heavily focused on streaming.

Tim Harris, Lakers’ president of business operations, stated that nothing similar has taken place. He expressed that Spectrum is a fantastic collaborator and they eagerly anticipate continuing their partnership for many more years.

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2024-10-15 23:31

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