Fox Sports West 2 Adds 650,000 Homes

Fox Sports West 2 has made a major breakthrough with Southern California cable operators, announcing Tuesday the completion of deals with three companies.

Tony Ball, president and chief operating officer of the Fox-Liberty networks, Fox Sports West’s parent company, said the new deals are with TCI Cablevision, Charter Communications and Jones Intercable.

The companies represent more than 650,000 cable households. The deals bring the number of subscribers to Fox Sports West 2 to 1.1 million.

A Fox Sports West source said other deals are expected to be announced next week that will push the subscriber base to more than 2 million.

Fox Sports West is available in 4.7 million homes.

Fox Sports West 2 programming this time of year features Dodger baseball, daily live horse racing from Hollywood Park and a simulcast of the XTRA morning show with John Ireland and Steve Mason.

TCI, with more than 360,000 subscribers in Los Angeles, Arcadia, San Bernardino, Hacienda Heights, South Whittier, Calabasas and other communities in outlying areas, will begin carrying Fox Sports West 2 on or before July 1.

Charter, with 225,000 subscribers in the Alhambra, Riverside and Long Beach areas, began carrying Fox Sports West 2 on Tuesday. Jones Intercable, with 68,000 subscribers in Palmdale and Lancaster, is already carrying the new sports channel.

Fox Sports West 2 was launched Jan. 26.