Clippers are seeking new radio home for games

Reporting from Portland, Ore. — The radio station that carries Clippers games, KFWB-AM (980), is expected to abandon its all-sports format next month, leaving the team in search of a new radio home.

The Clippers, after having been on KFWB since 2009, are in the first year of a five-year contract with the station. Team officials have the option of sticking with the station, which has been sold to a new owner, but would prefer to not be a part of a lineup that is expected to be exclusively foreign language programming.

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Team officials’ goal is to reach a deal with another station by next month.

The Clippers also may be seeking a new television partner after their contract with 21 Century Fox’s Prime Ticket expires at the end of this season. The sides are still negotiating but team owner Steve Ballmer is considering other options, including streaming games in a Netflix-like setup, and may be willing to try an innovative approach that entails some financial risk.

A television executive familiar with the situation said Fox has no intention of getting into a bidding war over rights fees in the wake of Time Warner Cable’s disastrous contract with the Dodgers, whose games are still not being broadcast across a large swath of Southern California because of the refusal of most major pay-TV systems to pay TWC’s price for the Dodgers station.

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Fox, which has paid the Clippers about $25 million annually for broadcast rights, offered to increase the amount to $60 million per season. The Clippers countered with a request for $100 million a year.

Officials from the Clippers and Fox declined to comment on the matter.

Twitter: @latbbolch

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