USC-UCLA Won’t Be Left Out in Cold

With some cooperation from the Kings and Mighty Ducks, Fox Sports Net 2 landed Saturday’s USC-UCLA game, which will start at 3:30 p.m.

Although that’s not a perfect scenario, things couldn’t have worked out much better for Los Angeles football fans. Oregon-Oregon State will be on Channel 7 at 12:30 p.m., and Washington-Washington State will be on Fox Sports Net at 3:30 p.m.

One negative is that USC-UCLA probably will be joined in progress. That’s because the Kings play host to the Colorado Avalanche at 1 p.m. Saturday and that game, which will probably end close to 4 p.m., is on Fox Sports Net 2.

And because the Mighty Ducks play at Phoenix at 6 p.m. on Net 2, that game will definitely be joined in progress, after the USC-UCLA game.

“It’s a testament to our relationship with the Kings and Mighty Ducks that they are allowing us to do this,” said Todd Merkow, Fox Sports Net’s vice president and general manager.

“We will provide updates from the Rose Bowl toward the end of the Kings’ game, although if it is a blowout we could leave it early and join USC-UCLA on time. And toward the end of the USC-UCLA game, we will have updates from the Ducks’ game.”

Merkow said a “Regional News Sports” anchor, probably John Fricke, will be in studio to tie everything together. “It’s important that we let the viewers know what is going on,” Merkow said.

If Fox Sports Net 2 could not have worked things out, the USC-UCLA game would have been televised by Channel 7.

Arnie Kleiner, Channel 7’s general manager, said, “We were prepared to produce the game locally as a community service. At this late date, it wouldn’t have been a moneymaker for us.

“To be honest about it, I was relieved when I heard Fox Sports Net 2 was going to carry the game. It was a no-win situation for us. If we would have preempted Oregon-Oregon State, it would have upset a lot of hard-core football fans.”

One good thing is, Fox Sports Net 2 just became available to more than 186,000 Comcast cable subscribers in Orange County, Ontario and Simi Valley. A deal was struck late last week. Fox Sports Net 2 now reaches 3.1 million homes in the L.A. market. It is not available in San Diego.

Saturday will be a full day for Fox Sports Net 2, which also has Kansas State-Missouri at 9:30 a.m. and Louisiana Tech-Hawaii at 9 p.m.