Time Warner Sports Net

Time Warner Sports Net is the new "Lakers Channel" which debuted at the beginning of the month.  They took over the rights to telecast the Lakers games from Fox Sports.

I was licking my chops figuring I was going to be able to see all the Lakers games this season.  But they blacked out the first game!

Which makes about as much sense as blacking out the San Francisco Giants (and Sacramento Kings) games in Hawaii.

Apparently they will show the games in areas designated as Lakers territory.  According to nba.com

Home and away Lakers games will be on Time Warner Cable SportsNet and Time Warner Cable Deportes in the Lakers territory. The Lakers territory, designated by the NBA, includes all of Southern California, Nevada and Hawaii.

[That kind of doesn't make sense.  I would think they would black out the games IN Lakers territory.  But the games are sold out anyway.  So I guess so.  It makes sense to black out the games in other territories to encourage fans to support their own team.]

So what gives?  I emailed Oceanic and I expect a canned response.

OK, here's their response..

There is a current issue with TWC Sports Net channel and unfortunately there is no estimated time of when the service will be back up. Our technicians are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

Thank you for your patience.

[Oh boy, it's worse than I thought.]

I wrote a follow-up email saying the channel is fine, but it's just the game that's blacked out.  And got this reply.

Unfortunately you are correct and it is an issue with just the basketball games. Our technicians are working on the issue and hope to have it up and running soon.

So maybe there's hope.

[10/11/12] Hey, I saw the Lakers vs. Portland game was on yesterday.  So I guess it's working now.  [Thanks]