Charter Communications will launch a new streaming service that offers live sports programming from its Spectrum SportsNet LA regional channel in Southern California.
The service, called Spectrum SportsNet Plus, will debut on Sunday at a price point of $20 a month or $180 per year, giving sports fans in the greater Los Angeles area access to live sports programming from the channel without a Spectrum TV subscription.
The first sports event offered on Spectrum SportsNet Plus will be a road game for the Los Angeles Lakers, which will take on the Sacramento Kings at the Golden 1 Center on Sunday. It will mark the first time Los Angeles Lakers games are available to view in the Los Angeles TV market without a cable subscription since the team signed a multi-year, exclusive deal with Charter back in 2012.
“This new service gives Lakers fans another way to watch their favorite team in action on the court,” Tim Harris, the president of business operations for the Los Angeles Lakers, said in a statement. “The launch of Spectrum SportsNet Plus brings the premium, in-depth coverage, analysis and behind-the-scenes content to more fans across the region, allowing us to reach more people every day and grow the next generation of Lakers fans.”
Spectrum SportsNet Plus is available to purchase through the NBA’s website, and can be accessed through the NBA streaming apps for Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV iPhones, iPads, Android-powered phones and tablets, and Xbox and PlayStation gaming consoles.
Spectrum TV customers who have Spectrum SportsNet LA as part of their package will be able to stream content through Spectrum SportsNet Plus for free. The same will be true for subscribers of DirecTV and Cox Cable whose plans also include the regional sports channel.
“With the start of the NBA regular season, the launch of Spectrum SportsNet Plus will allow even more fans to enjoy live Lakers games and in-depth, unique coverage of their favorite team, with or without a pay TV subscription,” Dan Finnerty, the senior vice president and general manager at Spectrum Sports, said on Friday. “By offering a variety of packages, we’re giving fans more choice and flexibility and taking another step towards evolving the Regional Sports Network model in this new era of sports viewing.”
It is the latest move by Charter to offer a direct-to-consumer streaming television product to those who want access to cable-like programming without a traditional cable package.
Earlier this year, Charter launched Spectrum News Plus, a dedicated streaming app that offers aggregated local news programming from more than 30 Spectrum News offices and bureaus along with national news content. Spectrum News Plus was developed after Charter officials noticed localized versions of Spectrum News in New York and Los Angeles were consistently outranking cable news channels in terms of viewership.
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Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story said Spectrum SportsNet Plus was not immediately available on Apple TV. On Tuesday, October 31, a spokesperson for Charter affirmed the package is now available on that platform. Additionally, the story has been updated from a prior version to specify the Spectrum SportsNet Plus service is available within the NBA app on supported platforms.
