For ticketless Padres fans, 15 Gaslamp Quarter restaurants and pubs are offering the next best thing to being at the game — HDTV broadcasts of baseball game action in a lively, urban atmosphere. The 15 venues were selected by Cox Communications to roll out the Cox High Def Hotspots program. The televisions are all by Sony and Cox is picking up the tab.

Running the effort is Dan Novak, Cox. v.p. of programing and communications. Novak says it is a natural outgrowth of the company’s sponsorship of the Padres, which includes a host of digital services within the ballpark. “We wanted to take that concept and expand it into the Downtown area,” he says.

Alan Lindquist, sales manager for Cox Business Services, was the man on the ground in the Gaslamp, finding and dealing with the establishments. “A lot of these places are already customers of ours,” he says. “So we are upgrading their services. And this helps distinguish them from the competition. It gives them something else they can brag about.”

L5, a nightclub located at the foot of Fifth Avenue, is taking advantage of the games to expand its hours. Jamie Familo, the g.m., says L5 will install televisions of its own inside and out and serve food and drink, like large-mouth beers, on its patio. “People will be able to sit outside and watch the games on TV and hear the roar of the crowd,” Familo says.