Clippers on Premium SportsChannel

Game 4 of the Clipper-Utah playoff series tonight at the Sports Arena will be televised only on SportsChannel.

Unlike Tuesday night, when SportsChannel made the Clipper telecast available to affiliate customers free of charge, tonight’s telecast will be available only to SportsChannel premium subscribers or to those who order it as a pay-per-view event. The suggested price is $6.95.

Only two of SportsChannel’s 56 affiliates, Comcast systems in Ontario and Simi Valley, chose not to offer Tuesday’s game free on basic cable.

SportsChannel affiliates represent about 75% of the Los Angeles cable market.

Major cable systems that dropped SportsChannel after a recent format change include American Cablevision, which serves South Pasadena and Orange; Cencom, covering a portion of the San Gabriel Valley and Riverside, Paragon in Torrance and Garden Grove. Dimension Cable, which serves Palos Verdes and part of Orange Country, has never carried SportsChannel.