In Los Angeles, the number of teams remains constant. It’s just the number of regional sports networks that grows.

Not long ago, there were two: Fox Sports West and Prime Ticket, also a Fox channel.

Now there are six, in large part because of the aggressiveness of Time Warner Cable. In 2011, it lured the Los Angeles Lakers from Fox Sports West to its new English and Spanish language networks at an estimated price of $3 billion over 20 years.

On Monday, Time Warner Cable announced what has been expected for a while, saying that in a deal worth up to $8 billion over 25 years, it will carry Dodgers games on the newfangled SportsNet LA starting in 2014 when the team leaves Prime Ticket.

Add to that the regional channel created by the Pacific-12 Conference. While all this money being exchanged might be great for the teams, it’s lousy for the fans. With one team, SportsNet LA alone could add up to $5 a month to the costs of cable, satellite and telephone companies. They in turn pass much of those costs onto subscribers. The two Lakers channels charge $4 a month. And the two Fox channels together cost $5.40 a month, according to SNL Kagan.