Fox Sports West

Already the largest cable television provider in Los Angeles, Time Warner Cable Inc. now wants to become the dominant sports programmer in the region. On Oct. 1, the New York company will launch two regional sports networks: Time Warner Cable SportsNet and Spanish-language network Time Warner Cable Deportes. The cable operator has shelled out billions of dollars to snag the Los Angeles Lakers away from Fox Sports West and now has its eye on the Dodgers too. The company is tired of being held hostage by high-priced sports channels and has decided to stop fighting the competition and begin imitating it. The cable operator, which has about 2 million subscribers in Southern California, is taking steps to cut out the middle man. That middleman is News Corp., parent of local cable channels Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket and a formidable opponent.

Already the largest cable television provider in Los Angeles, Time Warner Cable Inc. now wants to become the dominant sports programmer in the region. On Oct. 1, the New York company will launch two regional sports networks: Time Warner Cable SportsNet and Spanish-language network Time Warner Cable Deportes. The cable operator has shelled out billions of dollars to snag the Los Angeles Lakers away from Fox Sports West and now has its eye on the Dodgers too. The company is tired of being held hostage by high-priced sports channels and has decided to stop fighting the competition and begin imitating it. The cable operator, which has about 2 million subscribers in Southern California, is taking steps to cut out the middle man. That middleman is News Corp., parent of local cable channels Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket and a formidable opponent.

Time Warner Cable has struck a game-changing TV deal with the Lakers to create two new regional sports channels ? one in English and one in Spanish ? that will use the world champions as their backbone. The 20-year agreement, which kicks off with the 2012-13 season, covers all preseason, regular-season and postseason games that are not nationally telecast. The marriage of the Lakers and Time Warner Cable is a major blow to Fox Sports West and KCAL-TV, the current rights holders.

The NFL doesn't play here, the best college football team in town can't go to a bowl game and, for a while longer, they're not playing basketball at Staples Center. But there is a high-stakes fight being waged locally between a couple of heavyweights. It's Fox versus Time Warner, and the winner will take home a big trophy: the majority of sports viewers in the nation's second-biggest media market. Time Warner, which will launch English- and Spanish-language 24-hour sport channels next year, has already stolen the Lakers away from Fox Sports West in a 20-year, $3-billion deal that begins in the 2012-13 season.

Just when we were getting used to calling it Prime Sports instead of Prime Ticket, the regional sports network is changing its name again. At 6 p.m. today, it becomes Fox Sports West. "It's more than a name change," said Kitty Cohen, the network's general manager. "It's a brand-new network, with a whole new look." It's no coincidence that the unveiling comes on the night of the Lakers' season opener. The Fox people keep talking about marquee events. Well, they've got one here.

Fox Sports West 2 has made a major breakthrough with Southern California cable operators, announcing Tuesday the completion of deals with three companies. Tony Ball, president and chief operating officer of the Fox-Liberty networks, Fox Sports West's parent company, said the new deals are with TCI Cablevision, Charter Communications and Jones Intercable. The companies represent more than 650,000 cable households. The deals bring the number of subscribers to Fox Sports West 2 to 1.1 million.

Rather than face another round in court--plus a public-relations nightmare--Fox Sports West announced Tuesday that Games 1 and 2 of the Mighty Ducks' playoff series against the Phoenix Coyotes will be televised on both Fox Sports West and Fox Sports West 2. Originally, those games were to be shown only on Fox Sports West 2. Then on Monday the Ducks, after notifying the NHL, gave ESPN permission to lift its blackouts of those games in Southern California.

The Mighty Ducks lost the first round of their dispute with Fox Sports over what channel will televise their games when an Orange County Superior Court denied a request by the team that the games be shown on Fox Sports West, not Fox Sports West 2. Judge Ronald C. Kline's ruling allows Fox Sports West 2 to continue showing Duck games. The Ducks had complained that because no cable operator in Orange County has agreed to carry the start-up station, games are unavailable to their fans.

The Mighty Ducks lost the first round of their dispute with Fox Sports over what channel will televise their games when an Orange County Superior Court denied a request by the team that the games be shown on Fox Sports West, not Fox Sports West 2. Judge Ronald C. Kline's ruling allows Fox Sports West 2 to continue showing Duck games. The Ducks had complained that because no cable operator in Orange County has agreed to carry the start-up station, games are unavailable to their fans.

Fox Sports West 2 continues to make headway in reaching more Southern California cable households, announcing three new deals Monday. The big one is a 10-year agreement with MediaOne, formerly Continental Cablevision. With 550,000 subscribers, it is the Southland's largest cable system. Some MediaOne systems will begin carrying Fox Sports West 2 on or before Aug. 1 and others on Sept. 1.

For one glorious weekend, Southern California prep football fans are going to feel as if they've been transported to Texas, where prep football is worshiped and entire towns shut down to support their team. On Friday and Saturday night, thanks to a technological revolution underway in the TV and Web business, Fox Sports West is going to broadcast all 13 Southern Section championship games. If you stay home and have a computer, you can watch seven games simultaneously on Friday night.

The Galaxy has reached a broadcast agreement to jump from Fox Sports West to Time Warner Cable's fledgling regional sports channels — one in English, one in Spanish — beginning in 2012. The 10-year deal is valued at $55 million for an undetermined number of games, an official close to the talks confirmed. Time Warner Cable, through a spokeswoman, declined to comment Tuesday as did the Galaxy. The value of the regional contract, $5.1 million per season, dwarfs the three-year $30-million national deal between Major League Soccer and NBC and will provide a welcome financial boost for the Galaxy.

Reporting from Milford, Conn. — There are generally two types of sports talk shows: loud and louder. And then there's Dan Patrick. The former ESPN anchor who along with Keith Olbermann helped establish the cable channel in the cultural zeitgeist through their dry wit and repartee, has carved out a second act as host of a sports talk show that relies more on brains than brass. Broadcasting on radio and simulcast on television for three hours every weekday morning from a converted apartment here known as the "man cave" Patrick — backed by his four sidekicks, "The Danettes" — has created a hit that has become an important stop not only for athletes but actors, musicians and the occasional super model.

Lakers fans have celebrated at the victory parades, partied at the local game-viewing gatherings and experienced the joy of following an NBA champion mostly free of charge. Starting in the 2012-13 season, the price tag arrives. The fallout from the 20-year deal between Time Warner Cable and the Lakers to create two regional sports networks ? one in English and one in Spanish ? will not only dramatically restrict the team from free over-the-air television but place them on satellite, cable and telephone carriers, asking fans to pay more to watch the NBA's most successful franchise.

Time Warner Cable has struck a game-changing TV deal with the Lakers to create two new regional sports channels ? one in English and one in Spanish ? that will use the world champions as their backbone. The 20-year agreement, which kicks off with the 2012-13 season, covers all preseason, regular-season and postseason games that are not nationally telecast. The marriage of the Lakers and Time Warner Cable is a major blow to Fox Sports West and KCAL-TV, the current rights holders.

Division II final Gardena Serra (14-0) vs. Folsom (13-1), Home Depot Center, 3:30 p.m., Fox Sports West. There are probably more college-bound players in this game than in any other bowl game of the weekend, which should make for a high-scoring, fan-pleasing finale. Serra, led by USC-bound George Farmer, a big-play receiver and big-hitting defensive back, is trying to go 30-0 the last two seasons. Folsom has 5-foot-9 quarterback Dano Graves, who has passed for 59 touchdowns and run for 20, plus a couple of receivers who have committed to Stanford and Oregon State.

Fox Sports West 2 made its debut on an Orange County cable system Friday after Fox Sports and Cox Communications reached an agreement, the cable company announced. The regional sports network is available to nearly all 210,000 Cox customers throughout the county. Laguna Beach viewers will have to wait for a cable system upgrade project to be completed, which is expected later this summer.

A few weeks ago, Tony Tavares, president of the Mighty Ducks, was asked about the team's games being switched from Fox Sports West to the new Fox Sports West 2 network. "I'm not upset about it," Tavares said. "But I didn't say I wasn't concerned." On Wednesday, that concern was served to Fox Sports West in the form of a lawsuit that seeks to put the Ducks back on Fox Sports West and in front of 4 million viewers, some of whom live in Orange County.

Division I bowl Corona Centennial (14-0) vs. Palo Alto (13-0) at Home Depot Center, 7 p.m. Fox Sports West ? This is the opportunity for Centennial to show that it belongs in the conversation over who's the No. 1 team in the state. The Huskies' offense hasn't scored fewer than 42 points all season and is led by quarterback Michael Eubank and running back Barrinton Collins, who has rushed for 42 touchdowns. Palo Alto quarterback Christoph Bono, the son of former NFL quarterback Steve Bono, has passed for 2,467 yards and 28 touchdowns.