Dodgers broadcasts on Spectrum’s SportsNet LA will remain available in more homes for a long time to come. This week, Spectrum announced a multi-year agreement with DirecTV to keep the Dodgers and SportsNet LA and the Lakers and SportsNet on in your homes and, hopefully, even easier to access.
According to a press release, the new agreement will give DirecTV the ability to “provide more affordable and flexible options to customers” without forcing them to pay for potentially unwanted programming with higher tier sports packages.
“While viewing habits continue to shift, it’s clear that regular season professional sports programmingremains extremely popular with a core base of traditional cable, satellite, and OTT customers,” said DanFinnerty, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Spectrum Networks. “That said, given thesecustomers represent a relatively small percentage of the overall video subscriber base, and recognizingthe marked increase in direct-to-consumer choices, the model for RSNs needs to evolve to reflect therealities of the current marketplace. With this agreement, we are taking a step to shift the businessmodel so that customers have more control.”
It’s a step closer to a la carte programming for sports fans, something that millions of people would love to have.
Spectrum and AT&T/DirectTV/U-Verse originally reached an agreement to carry SportsNet LA back in 2020 after a generation of fans were blacked out of watching their Dodgers on TV while it was exclusively carried on Spectrum Networks. Fans were robbed of the final few years of the beloved broadcaster, Vin Scully, and of the start of an incredible run of dominance in the NL West by the boys in blue.
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