DirecTV will now start carrying the Los Angeles Lakers in Southern California.
The satellite broadcaster has struck a deal to carry SportsNet, the Time Warner Cable-owned network that is the TV home for the Lakers.
"DirecTV is pleased that Los Angeles Lakers, LA Galaxy and Los Angeles Sparks games and programming will now be seen by so many people whose loyalty remains the life's blood to each team," said Dan York, chief content officer, in a statement. "We appreciate our customers' patience and are happy to have arrived at an outcome that benefits everyone involved. We know that our customers will enjoy the great programming of these three franchises for many years to come."
The deal, first reported by the Los Angeles Times, ends a longstanding dispute between the two companies. DirecTV has roughly 1.7 subscribers in Southern California and having it carry SportsNet and Spanish-language channel Deportes was pivotal.
Distributors that carry SportsNet and Deportes include Cox, Charter, Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-Verse.
Early in 2011, the Lakers entered an unprecedented 20-year television agreement with Time Warner to distribute Lakers games and original programming across two regional sports networks in HD that included the nation's first Spanish-language regional sports network.
