Prime Ticket

With Time Warner Cable putting the finishing touches on a new partnership with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the next question is what will happen to the team's current TV home, News Corp.'s Prime Ticket. Besides the Dodgers, Prime Ticket also has rights to the red-hot Clippers basketball franchise and Ducks hockey team. Its other Los Angeles sports channel -- Fox Sports West -- carries the Angels and Stanley Cup Champion Kings A Fox insider said there are no plans to consolidate Prime Ticket and Fox Sports West into one channel.

It's one thing to leave your heart in San Francisco, quite another to lose your mind there like Don Mattingly . Has there ever been a more ridiculous comment offered by a Dodgers manager, and take into account Tom Lasorda said a lot of ridiculous stuff while on the job, than what Mattingly said Sunday? The Dodgers lost three straight to the Giants, whom they will probably have to beat if they are to win a division title. And Mattingly said: "I feel better about our club walking out of here than I did walking in. " My apologies to Mike D'Antoni for thinking he was the most clueless coach in town.

Now that Time Warner Cable has beaten Fox Sports for the TV rights to the Los Angeles Dodgers, it's time for the loser to make a dramatic move in retaliation. And that should be lowering the price of its Prime Ticket cable channel next year after it stops carrying the Dodgers. After all, the Dodgers are the channel's marquee property and without them, ratings for Prime Ticket will take a hit. The fee for Prime Ticket to distributors such as DirecTV and Time Warner Cable is about $2.50 a month per-subscriber, according to industry research firm SNL Kagan.

CLIPPERS At Sacramento When: 7:30 p.m. Where: Sleep Train Arena On the air: Prime Ticket; Radio: 980, 1220. Records: Clippers 54-26, Sacramento 28-53. Record vs. Kings: 2-1. Update: This could be last time the Clippers play in Sacramento against the Kings. A group from Seattle has a bid to buy the team and relocate the Kings there. The Kings have the third-worst record in the Western Conference.

Starting to get excited? The most expensive baseball team in the history of the universe is scheduled to play its first spring game Saturday. Only you will not be able to watch it. In fact, you'll be able to watch fewer than half as many Dodgers spring games from Arizona as you could last year. The Dodgers' current broadcast schedule for their 2013 games from Camelback Ranch calls for only seven games to be televised. Last spring the Dodgers had 15 games on television from Phoenix.

FoxSports West and Prime Ticket will show classic Kings and Ducks games from their respective Stanley Cup runs in place of games that have been canceled through Oct. 24 because of the NHL lockout. Games from the Ducks' 2003 championship run will be shown in a block the next two Tuesdays, and games from the Kings' recent run will be shown the next two Wednesdays. A Fox spokeswoman said each block will consist of two games of 2 1/2 hours each, starting with the first round. If more games are canceled more “classic” games are likely to be aired.

Prime Ticket and the Mighty Ducks have reached agreement on a five-year contract in which the regional cable network will carry games involving Anaheim's NHL expansion team beginning next season. Prime Ticket, which televises all of the Kings' games, becomes the first local television entity to carry two hockey teams. The deal with the Ducks, announced on Prime Ticket's "Press Box" show Monday night, calls for 25 televised games in 1993-94, 30 the next season, 35 the next two and 40 in 1997-98.

Bill Daniels, majority owner of Prime Ticket Network, announced at a news conference Thursday that he has hired John Severino, a former president and general manager of KABC-TV, as president of the regional cable sports network. Daniels also announced that since July 1, he has owned 83.3% of the network, which was previously a 50-50 venture with Jerry Buss. Buss retains a minority interest, and Severino is also a minority partner, but he declined to say what percentage he owns.

San Diego State has reached an agreement in principle with Prime Ticket to televise eight football games and eight basketball games next season, said John Wadas, SDSU associate athletic director. The plan is to simulcast all 16 Prime Ticket games with XTRA, the Aztecs' radio station next season. SDSU will sell its own advertising time on Prime Ticket, the same deal it has with XTRA.

Kathryn (Kitty) Cohen has been promoted from vice president of finance for Prime Ticket to general manager of the regional sports cable network. Cohen, who becomes one of the highest-ranking female executives in sports television, replaces Roger Werner, who served as president of Prime Ticket for two years. Werner left the company in August when the sale of Prime Ticket Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI) was completed.

Clippers AT NEW ORLEANS When: 5 PDT. Where: New Orleans Arena. On the air: TV: Prime Ticket; Radio: 980, 1330. Records: Clippers 52-26, Hornets 27-52. Record vs. Hornets: 2-1. Update: The Clippers are looking to win their fourth straight game. New Orleans may be without rookie forward Anthony Davis, who injured his left ankle during Wednesday night's game in Sacramento. The Hornets, who have the second-worst record in the Western Conference, have lost six of their last eight games.

Kings tonight AT DALLAS When: 5:30 PDT. Where: American Airlines Center. On the air: TV: Prime Ticket; Radio: 1150. Record vs. Stars: 1-2. Update: Left wing Dustin Penner, who has sat out four games because of a lower-body injury suffered during the Kings' last visit to Dallas, was activated from the injured reserve list Monday. He has two goals and 11 points in 25 games this season. — Helene Elliott

When: 7:30. Where: Staples Center. On the air: TV: Prime Ticket; Radio: 980, 1330. Records: Clippers 49-25, Pacers 47-27. Record vs. Pacers: 1-0. Update: The Clippers have lost three of their last four games. The Pacers hold opponents to a league-best 89.7 points per game and lead the NBA in rebounds per game, averaging 46.4. They average 13 offensive rebounds, fourth-best in the league.

CLIPPERS VS. PHILADELPHIA When: 7:30. Where: Staples Center. On the air: Prime Ticket; Radio: 980, 1330. Records: Clippers 46-22, 76ers 26-40. Record vs. 76ers: 1-0. Update: The 76ers have the worst offense in the NBA, scoring a league-low 92.6 points per game. But the 76ers do play good defense, allowing just 96.2 points per game, the 10th-lowest figure in the league.

VS. DETROIT When: 6:30. Where: Staples Center. On the air: Prime Ticket; Radio: 980, 1330. Records: Clippers 44-20, Pistons 23-41. Record vs. Pistons : 1-0. Update: Chris Paul is 25 points short of reaching 10,000 career points. He would become the 57th active NBA player to reach the mark. Paul also would become the sixth all-time player to reach 10,000 points and 5,000 assists before the end of his eighth season. The Pistons have lost four straight, and eight of their last 10. The Pistons are 8-21 on the road.

Jerry Buss brought 10 championships to Los Angeles with the Lakers and along the way he altered the way people experience professional sports. "He changed the whole way that we went to a game: the Laker Girls, the whole fan experience, A-list people on the floor, the whole thing," Magic Johnson said. "Dr. Buss is the reason why the NBA is thriving the way it is. " When Buss purchased the Lakers (along with the Kings and the Forum) in 1979 for $67.5 million, he had a very specific vision.

Prime Ticket, a cable television sports network, will televise several California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section championship events. The agreement calls for Prime Ticket to broadcast the Southern Section's football, basketball and girls volleyball championships. The cable network will show the boys 5-A basketball championship on March 7 from the Sports Arena. The deal also calls for options on the Southern Section track and field finals and selected basketball games.

Prime Ticket network, which televises the games of five major professional sports teams in Southern California, reached an agreement Friday to be purchased by Denver-based cable giant Tele-Communications, Inc. Terms were not disclosed, but sources familiar with the transaction said the purchase price is believed to be about $230 million. The deal--subject to regulatory approval--is expected to close in July. Bill Daniels, who started Prime Ticket with Jerry Buss in 1985, had acquired all but 16.