City Section needs help to find new media options

The decision of Spectrum to end its five-year deal covering City Section sports leaves uncertainty for the coming year.

There’s no one to televise championships in basketball, baseball or softball this season. And what about football this fall?

John Aguirre, the City Section commissioner, told the Board of Managers on Tuesday that the section will explore other options, but replacing the $84,000 it received as rights fees from Spectrum this past year will be difficult. The San Diego Section is facing the same dilemma.

“It’s a changing market,” CIF Executive Director Roger Blake said.

Of course, the City Section can always make a deal with the NFSH Network, which has been combining with individual high schools to stream events on the Internet while charging fees to viewers as a subscription service. But that won’t give the City Section the kind of exposure or financial benefit of its previous contract.

Perhaps a local channel, such as NBC LOS ANGELES, can get involved. It flirts with coverage of high school sports via Fred Roggin’s The Challenge show and used to cover events years ago during its Ross Porter/Bryant Gumbel days.

Perhaps the City Section should talk to Fox Sports West, which televises and streams Southern Section events.

There’s also KLCS, owned by the Los Angeles Unified School District. It has worked with LA36 to televise events in the past.

It appears that Spectrum won’t stand in the way if another organization wants to televise a City Section event this school year.

Of course, everything comes down to getting support from advertisers.

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