Daily News, Los Angeles, Tom Hoffarth column
Oct 24, 2012 (Menafn - Daily News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --Magic Johnson laughed Wednesday when asked if he feels he has been put into a position of talking Lakers' fans off the ledge over their frustrations resulting from the absence of a wider Time Warner Cable SportsNet and Deportes distribution.
The Basketball Hall of Famer, who will continue to work for ESPN and ABC as an NBA studio analyst, offered his reassurance that he believes something will get done with deals involving DirecTV, Dish, Charter, Cox, Verizon FiOS and AT&T Uverse leading up to the Lakers' regular-season opener next week.
"It's out of my control," Johnson said, "but all L.A. fans are hoping Time Warner makes the deals with the others. That's what it comes down to. I believe they're working on it for all the fans.
"I hope it happens soon because the hype for this team and the anticipation is so off the charts -- I think even moreso than when we played (in the 1980s). It's just so incredible to bring this collection of All-Stars together.
"Hopefully, they'll make a deal and Laker fans will be able to see it all."
Johnson has even more at stake in seeing the Time Warner Cable channels succeed.
As co-owner of the Dodgers, Johnson will be part of the discussion about how the team moves forward with renewal of its current deal with Prime Ticket past the 2013 season. Prime Ticket and Fox Sports West have an exclusive negotiation window through Nov. 30 with the Dodgers. Past that, Time Warner can step in and make
an expected offer similar to the 3.6 billion, 20-year deal it gave the Lakers to leave Fox Sports West.
Johnson, part of a conference call with reporters Tuesday, was also asked if he was more impressed with the Lakers' performance on the court with their recent championships and roster additions, or off the court with the Time Warner Cable TV deal and the global branding.
"With the Lakers and I would hope any team, it starts with on the court," he said, "and I think that the Lakers are about winning championships. They only have this TV deal because of that. You have to produce on the court.
"The Lakers have had incredible runs, and you think about going all the way back to Wilt (Chamberlain) and those days and Jerry West and Elgin Baylor up until our days with Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar), myself , James Worthy and Byron and Kurt Rambis and the whole Michael Thompson, that gang, then here comes Shaq, and when you join forces with Kobe and what they were able to build, and then Shaq leaves and Kobe was with Gasol and they do it again a couple times, and now Kobe ...
"You continue to grow this brand and this team ... you bring Steve Nash with Kobe and you bring Dwight Howard here as well as with Gasol and Metta World Peace, I think that it's still about the game on the floor.
"All the other stuff really doesn't matter. You get that because you're successful on the court. The new Laker deal is great for Time Warner, great for the Lakers, and hopefully it will be great for the fans once they make deals with all these cable providers, and I'm sure they will."
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