SportsChannel Los Angeles

Last updated
SportsChannel Los Angeles
CountryUnited States
Broadcast area Southern California
Network SportsChannel
HeadquartersLos Angeles
Programming
Language(s)English
Picture format 480i (SDTV)
Ownership
Owner Cablevision (50%)
NBC (50%)
Sister channels CNBC Cable Network
History
LaunchedJune 30, 1989;35 years ago (1989-06-30)
Replaced Z Channel
ClosedDecember 31, 1992;31 years ago (1992-12-31)
Replaced by Fox Sports West 2

SportsChannel Los Angeles was an American regional sports network owned as a joint venture between the Rainbow Media subsidiary of Cablevision and NBC, and operated as an affiliate of SportsChannel. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the channel broadcast regional coverage of sports events throughout the Southern California, with a focus on Los Angeles-area professional sports teams.

Contents

History

SportsChannel Los Angeles launched on June 30, 1989; it served as the successor to Z Channel, an avant-garde movie service focusing on a variety of high-profile and lesser-known but critically acclaimed films. [1] [2] Like its predecessor, SportsChannel Los Angeles operated as a premium cable service, requiring cable subscribers to pay an extra monthly fee to receive the network, a distribution method that many regional sports networks had utilized at the time of its launch; however unlike its predecessor, it did not broadcast 24 hours a day at first, offering programming from 2:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. on weekdays and from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. on weekends. [1]

Officials with Rainbow Media thought that it would give SportsChannel Los Angeles a financial advantage compared to Prime Ticket, which had the regional cable television rights to the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Kings but, in direct contrast, operated as a basic cable service. In the spring of 1991, the network acquired the regional television rights to the Los Angeles Clippers, effective with the 1991–92 season, assuming the local rights to the NBA team's game telecasts from Prime Ticket after one year.

The tactic backfired, as SportsChannel's Los Angeles subscriber base ultimately never matched that of Prime Ticket. After it replaced Z Channel, the network had about 120,000 subscribers; that number dropped sharply to around 67,000 subscribers by 1992. [3]

Because of this, the network attempted to reboot itself as a basic cable network on April 1, 1992; however, it chose to maintain premium exclusivity to selected events such as marquee Dodgers, Angels, Clippers and Stanley Cup Finals games, still requiring those events to be purchased on a pay-per-view basis, while all of the network's other programming including regular-season NHL games, college basketball and live and replayed horse races held at Santa Anita races were made available to all cable subscribers. However, because of the surcharge that would have to be passed to subscribers by carrying SportsChannel as a part-time premium/basic service, the plan did not sit well with some providers such as Cencom Cable Associates (which served parts of the western San Gabriel Valley, including Pasadena) and Paragon Cable (covering the suburbs of Torrance and Garden Grove), which decided to drop the network altogether. [4]

In addition, the network's decision to operate as a pay service caused some complaints from viewers, none more so than on May 3, 1992, after it became a part-time premium channel. Because of the riots that rocked Los Angeles following the acquittal of officers involved in the brutal beating of Rodney King, an NBA Playoff game between the Los Angeles Clippers and Utah Jazz was moved to the Anaheim Convention Center and the game's telecast was removed by NBC and moved to TBS, whose telecast of the game – due to NBA broadcasting rules – had to be blacked out in the Los Angeles market. SportsChannel Los Angeles then inherited the exclusive local rights to televise the game. However, the network chose not to unscramble its signal; in letters to the Los Angeles Times and other sources, viewers complained that the game should have been made available to all subscribers as a public service.

As a result of the problems with its business structure, Cablevision/NBC announced in November 1992 that it would shut down the network. [5] SportsChannel Los Angeles ceased operations on December 31, 1992. [3] Prime Ticket (now Bally Sports West) subsequently acquired the broadcast rights to the Angels and Clippers; [6] it was the acquisition of those rights as well as that of the Los Angeles Dodgers that led to the creation of Fox Sports West 2 (now the present-day Bally Sports SoCal) in January 1997.

Programming

SportsChannel Los Angeles held the regional cable television rights to the Los Angeles Dodgers and California Angels Major League Baseball franchises, and the Los Angeles Clippers of the NBA. The network also carried college basketball, baseball and football games from the Big West Conference. It also showed National Hockey League games, horse races from Santa Anita Park, and through its affiliation with SportsChannel America, college football and basketball games from various other collegiate athletic conferences.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">YES Network</span> American regional sports network

The Yankee Entertainment and Sports Network (YES) is an American pay television regional sports network owned by Yankee Global Enterprises, Diamond Sports Group, Amazon, and The Blackstone Group, RedBird Capital and Mubadala Investment Company, which each own 13%. Primarily serving New York City, New York and the surrounding metropolitan area, it broadcasts a variety of sports events, as well as magazine, documentary and discussion programs; however, its main emphasis is focused on games and team-related programs involving the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and the NBA's Brooklyn Nets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PRISM (TV channel)</span> Cable channel based in Philadelphia (1976–1997)

PRISM was an American regional premium cable television channel in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. Launched in September 1976, PRISM was primarily distributed through area cable systems, although it was also available through a scrambled over-the-air signal on WWSG-TV from 1983 to 1985.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SportsChannel</span> American group of regional sports networks

SportsChannel is the collective name for a former group of regional sports networks in the United States that was owned by Cablevision, which from 1988 until the group's demise, operated it as a joint venture with NBC.

Prime Sports is the collective name for a former group of regional sports networks in the United States that were owned by Liberty Media, operating from November 1988 to October 31, 1996. While Liberty owned many of these networks, some of Prime's member networks were owned by other companies, and carried programming distributed for the group through affiliation agreements. As a result, Prime-affiliated networks had the right to select Prime Network programs to broadcast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bally Sports West</span> American regional sports network

Bally Sports West is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios, and operated as part of Bally Sports, along with its sister network Bally Sports SoCal. The channel broadcasts regional coverage of professional and collegiate sports events in California, focusing primarily on teams based in the Greater Los Angeles area. Bally Sports West is available on cable providers throughout Southern California, the Las Vegas Valley and Hawaii; it is also available nationwide on satellite via DirecTV.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bally Sports Florida</span> Regional sports network

Bally Sports Florida is an American regional sports network owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. The channel broadcasts local sports coverage in the state of Florida, with a focus on professional sports teams based in Miami, Tampa and Orlando.

MSG Sportsnet is an American regional sports network owned by Sphere Entertainment; it operates as a sister channel to MSG Network. The network serves the New York City metropolitan area, whose reach expands to cover the entire state of New York, Northern New Jersey, Southwestern Connecticut and Northeastern Pennsylvania; MSG Sportsnet carries sports events from several of the New York area's professional sports franchises, as well as college sports events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MLB Extra Innings</span> Out-of-market sports package

MLB Extra Innings is an out-of-market sports package distributed in North America by satellite provider DirecTV since 1996 and by most cable providers since 2001. The package allowed its subscribers to see up to 80 out-of-market Major League Baseball games a week using local over the air stations and regional sports networks.

<i>NBA on TBS</i> American TV series or program

The NBA on TBS is an American presentation of National Basketball Association (NBA) regular season and playoff game telecasts that aired on the American cable and satellite network TBS. The games were produced by Turner Sports, the sports division of the Turner Broadcasting System subsidiary of Time Warner, TBS's corporate parent.

NBC Sports Northwest was an American regional sports network owned by the NBC Sports Group unit of NBCUniversal, as an affiliate of NBC Sports Regional Networks. The network broadcast regional coverage of professional sports events throughout the Pacific Northwest, focusing primarily on the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers and college sports events involving the Oregon Ducks. It also covered other sports events involving teams within the northwestern United States, including those featuring college and high school teams.

Most Major League Baseball games not broadcast exclusively by its media partners are televised by regional sports networks, which present sports programming of interest to their respective region. Most MLB broadcasters are members of chains such as NBC Sports Regional Networks and Bally Sports, although several teams are broadcast by regional networks that are independent of these chains. Some teams own partial or majority stakes in their regional broadcaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bally Sports SoCal</span> American regional sports network

Bally Sports SoCal is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios, and operated as part of Bally Sports, along with its sister network Bally Sports West. The channel broadcasts regional coverage of professional and collegiate sports events in California, focusing primarily on teams based in the Greater Los Angeles area. Bally Sports SoCal is available on cable providers throughout Southern California, the Las Vegas Valley and Hawaii; it is also available nationwide on satellite via DirecTV.

Several Major League Baseball teams have historically carried their games on superstations, which are broadcast television stations that are distributed on a regional or national basis on cable and satellite television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lindsay Rhodes</span>

Lindsay Rhodes, previously known as Lindsay Soto, is an American sportscaster, journalist, and television personality who was a host and reporter for the NFL Network.

Spectrum SportsNet, formerly Time Warner Cable SportsNet, is an American regional sports cable and satellite television network owned by Charter Communications through its acquisition of Time Warner Cable in May 2016, with the Los Angeles Lakers maintaining editorial control over the content, including team-assigned reporters and anchors, as well as team-related programming. The network is based near the Lakers' team headquarters in the Los Angeles suburb of El Segundo, California.

WGN Sports was the programming division of WGN-TV, an independent television station located in Chicago, Illinois, United States—which is owned by the Nexstar Media Group—that was responsible for all sports broadcasts on the station, some of which were previously also broadcast on its former national superstation feed, WGN America.

Spectrum SportsNet LA and Spectrum Deportes LA is an American regional sports network jointly owned by the Los Angeles Dodgers Major League Baseball team and Charter Communications through its acquisition of Time Warner Cable in May 2016. The channel's programming is devoted completely to the Dodgers, and includes coverage of all Dodgers games not being exclusively televised by MLB's national television partners, along with news, interview, and documentary programming focusing on the team.

Major League Baseball on Fox Sports Networks refers to Major League Baseball television coverage on the former chain of Fox Sports regional networks.

References

  1. 1 2 Dennis McDougal (June 26, 1989). "Getting Hooked on Cable Sports : Pay TV Competition Begins to Resemble Playing-Field Rivalry". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved April 12, 2015.
  2. ↑ Peggy Ziegler (June 25, 1989). "The Death of Z Channel--What Now? : The History : Beset by troubles, quirky station will switch to all-sports". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 12, 2015.
  3. 1 2 Larry Stewart (November 6, 1992). "SportsChannel L.A. Quits on Dec. 31". Los Angeles Times.
  4. ↑ Larry Stewart (March 6, 1992). "Basically, SportsChannel Tries Again". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 12, 2015.
  5. ↑ Larry Stewart (November 6, 1992). "SportsChannel Paid the Price". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 12, 2015.
  6. ↑ Larry Stewart (January 15, 1993). "Angels, Prime Ticket Sign a Five-Year Deal : Baseball: Station will carry 20 home games in 1993. Dodgers might not have cable contract this year". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 12, 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.