US broadcaster Time Warner Cable (TWC) has confirmed that a new regional pay-television sports channel will be launched as part of a deal to acquire the media rights of Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers.
The SportsNet LA channel will start broadcasting Dodgers games in 2014 under the terms of an agreement that will run for 25 years until 2038, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The newspaper added that TWC would pay between $7 billion (€5.22 billion) and $8 billion over the course of the deal.
The Dodgers’ ownership group will own the channel, but TWC will be SportsNet LA’s charter distributor, carrying the new channel for its subscribers throughout Southern California and Hawaii. TWC will also be the exclusive advertising and affiliate sales agent for SportsNet LA and will be able to sell carriage of the channel to its rival pay-television operators in the Los Angeles market.
“The Dodgers have one of the most passionate and loyal audiences in sports, and we look forward to helping deliver this new network to their fans,” David Rone, president of Time Warner Cable’s sports division, said. “This deal… furthers our efforts to attain greater certainty and control over local and regional sports programming costs.”
TWC has ousted the Fox Sports division of US network Fox as the Dodgers’ rights-holder in the local market. Fox Sports’ exclusive negotiating window for the next cycle of rights expired in November.
The new deal is subject to approval from the league.