Advertisement - scroll for more content
Could that future — one broadcast channel and one streaming app for the Dodgers and Lakers — become reality now that Mark Walter, the controlling owner of the Dodgers, is the new controlling owner of the Lakers? Walter hasn’t yet talked publicly about the Lakers deal, so we floated the idea by sports business insiders. The Lakers are on Spectrum SportsNet. The Dodgers are on SportsNet LA. Who owns those channels? Charter Communications, the parent company of Spectrum, owns SportsNet. The Dodgers, through an affiliated company, own SportsNet LA, although Charter operates it and pays the team a rights fee every year, just as it does with the Lakers.
Redick is not concerned about his two stars though despite their Olympic runs, as he explained on Spectrum’s Lakeshow Podcast: “I mean, look, those guys are professionals in every sense of the word. My concern for them about whether or not they’ll be ready to play on Oct. 22 and be in shape, I don’t have that concern. We’re gonna work with Mike and Ish making sure that they feel that they’re in a great place to start the regular season. They’ll certainly be involved in training camp and the preseason here in September as well as preseason games.”
Jarred Vanderbilt not ready for training camp?
The hope was that after having a full offseason to rest and recover that Vanderbilt would be ready to go for training camp, which kicks off at the end of September. It doesn’t appear that is the case though as Mike Bresnahan reported on Spectrum’s ‘Lakeshow’ Podcast that Vanderbilt may not be ready for the start of training camp: “Vando is gonna be interesting. I’m not sure he’ll be ready for training camp or even for the preseason games. It’s a foot injury. He opted not to have a procedure in-season when he got hurt in February. So we’ll see if he’s ready to go. I don’t have a lot of details on it but I’m not sure he’ll be ready for training camp. Regular season is a different story, hopefully he’s ready by then. But nothing concrete on him yet.”
For the NBA’s part, officials believe the odds favor playing out the remainder of the season under the terms of the contingency deal. That Diamond has been able to hash out short-term extensions with top operators Comcast and DirecTV, while also making headway on a similar stopgap measure with Charter Communications suggests the RSN owner is sincere in its stated intent to have once last go-round with its three league partners.
Broadcasters are viewing the opportunity to carry local NBA, NHL and MLB games as an unexpected pathway to boost the fees they receive from pay TV operators like Comcast , Charter or DirecTV for the right to carry their stations. Broadcast companies typically tie all of their stations together when they renegotiate contracts with pay TV carriers. That makes local sports unusually valuable.
Advertisement
"That team plays like Road Runner, so we’ve got to get rest," James said of the Warriors during an interview with Spectrum network after the Lakers beat Golden State 117-112 at Chase Center in San Francisco. Thought the Lakers had a victory in the bag when they went up 14 points with less than six minutes to play? Beep-beep. Back came the peripatetic Warriors, blitzing the Lakers with a 14-0 run fueled by Steph Curry and the team's other sharp shooters. "They drive you crazy," James told Spectrum, and of the Warriors he also said, "You got to hold your composure with this team."
Vogel hopped on Spectrum’s “LakeShow” podcast on Wednesday and shed some light on AD’s apparent physical transformation this summer. Clearly, Davis’ new look has Vogel feeling particularly optimistic about the upcoming season. “He put a lot of work this off-season into his body, a lot of work,” Vogel said. “We had a moment maybe two weeks ago, where he had been training at home and we had a lot of conversations about concerns we have with our team … And (AD) comes in for a workout, the first time we’ve seen him for a while, and his body looked imposing. And we all just looked at each other like, ‘We’re going to be really good this year. Just looking at that guy right there, we’re going to be really good this year.'”
It had to be just a casual five-on-five session at Spectrum. However, it's never casual when Michael Jordan is in the building. Hornets' principal owner and chairman was on the sidelines with front office guys, watching their players competing. Kulboka, the Hornets two-way player, was decent. Once, he made a mistake reading the help on the defensive end. He didn't have much time to figure out the Hornets' defensive schemes. But suddenly, the greatness happened. "And then I hear Michael Jordan yelling at me that I had to help," Kulboka recalls with a smile. "It was very interesting."
Turns out Phil Jackson had an even quicker ejection than the heave ho Spurs coach Gregg Popovich received 63 seconds into Wednesday's 113-85 loss to Denver. Lead official Darrell Garretson ejected Jackson just 27 seconds into Chicago's 113-100 win over Philadelphia at the Spectrum on March 24, 1993. Jackson was ejected for showing up Garretson, who was also the NBA's director of officiating, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Hornets Sports & Entertainment and Charter Communications today announced that Spectrum Center has officially replaced Time Warner Cable Arena as the name of the Hornets’ home arena in Uptown Charlotte. The new name follows Time Warner Cable’s merger with Charter Communications and reflects the brand name of Charter’s all-digital TV, internet and voice offerings. The venue’s new website is spectrumcentercharlotte.com. The updated social media handles for the arena are Facebook.com/spectrumcentercharlotte, @spectrumcenter on Twitter and @spectrumcenter on Instagram.
Advertisement
Hornets Sports & Entertainment and Charter Communications today announced that “Spectrum Center” will be replacing Time Warner Cable Arena as the name of the Hornets’ home arena with Charter’s merger with Time Warner Cable having taken effect earlier this year. Spectrum is the brand name of Charter’s all-digital TV, internet and voice offerings. “We are pleased to have Charter’s Spectrum brand become a part of our arena as Charter prepares to make its entrance into the Charlotte area,” said Hornets Sports & Entertainment President & COO Fred Whitfield. “We look forward to partnering with Charter for many years to come as we continue to provide the best in sports and entertainment for Charlotte and the Carolinas at Spectrum Center.”
Goodbye Time Warner Cable Arena, hello Spectrum Center. The Charlotte Hornets will announce Wednesday that the team’s uptown home is changing its name following Charter Communications’ purchase in May of Time Warner Cable, Charlotte’s dominant cable provider. Spectrum is Charter’s digital brand that provides TV, Internet and voice services.
The main reason for the sagging attendance is probably just the economic reality of being a sports fan in Philadelphia right now. The Eagles always sell out. The Phillies always sell out. Flyers, too. When you budget your entertainment dollar during tough economic times, how much is left after a couple Eagles games, maybe half a dozen Phillies games and a bunch of Flyers games? And maybe the absence of a bonafide All-Star is keeping people away. People used to jam the place to see Allen Iverson score 30 a night, whether or not the Sixers were winning. But 13,402 a night? For this high-flying team? For Lou and Jrue? For Iggy? For Thad and Elton and Jodie? It’s early, but this sure looks like the best 76ers team since the 2001 trip to the NBA finals (and drew 19,651 per game), but so far it’s their worst attendance since 1996, when they went 18-64 (and drew 11,935 per game). The last time the Sixers had a playoff team and drew this poorly was 1986, when they went 54-28 and drew 12,523 to the Spectrum.
Portland Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen has dumped untold piles of money into Chapter 11'ed cable company Charter Communications. BizJournals.com reports that the company's board has now voted to drastically reduce Allen's voting interest.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement