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First, the seats in the stadium become so expensive, now, the Lakers are going to cut away from Free TV, after signing a contract with Warner for 20 years! This is pretty depressing...here is an article from LA Times.....   >>>

First, the seats in the stadium become so expensive, now, the Lakers are going to cut away from Free TV, after signing a contract with Warner for 20 years! This is pretty depressing...here is an article from LA Times..



BILL PLASCHKE

With new TV deal, Lakers are taking the little guy out of the picture



Starting with the 2012-13 NBA season, the team's games apparently will no longer be available on free TV. Think only a small number of viewers will be disenfranchised? Think again — try 1.6 million.



Slowly, forcefully, chillingly, like Ron Artest leaning on Paul Pierce in the paint, the Lakers have been pushing their average fans into irrelevance.



First, they nudged them from Staples Center courtside. Then they dragged them out of the lower level. Soon, even the price of nosebleed seats required the opening of a vein, and the heart of Laker Nation was dumped into the street.



Well, the thinking was, at least they can still watch them for free on television.



Not so fast, as the long, cold arms of the Lakers are now preparing to shove their average fans out of their own homes.



In striking a 20-year agreement with Time Warner Cable that begins in 2012, the Lakers are removing themselves from free TV for all but the occasional national network telecasts, a stunning move by a team whose popularity was built by the of sort of grass-roots fans on whom they are pulling the plug.



Beginning in 2012, only those rare Lakers games found on ABC will be free, as most of the schedule will be accessible only through a pay-TV service — cable or satellite providers such as Time Warner, DirecTV, Charter and Cox. For the several million in town who have such services, this will probably mean a small monthly increase in their bill, but it shouldn't dramatically change their viewing habits.



But did you know that about 620,000 homes in this area do not have a pay-TV service? Based on the 2000 U.S. census average of 2.59 people per household, that's roughly 1.6 million people, or a city roughly the size of Phoenix, and imagine if none of those people could ever watch the Suns on television? How long do you think the Suns would continue to exist?



The Lakers have no such worries, apparently, viewing a mere 1.6 million people as no more important than a scratch on Lamar Odom's head.



"They became the Los Angeles Lakers on the backs of average Los Angeles fans who loyally built their brand," said Steve Fisher. "Now they've forgotten about Los Angeles and become the Time-Warner Lakers."



Read the complete article at the LA Times!