If programmers at KCAL (Channel 9) had their way, the Lakers and Miami Heat would face off 82 times a year.

The Christmas Day match between the teams, which reunited former teammates Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal in a network game broadcast on KABC (Channel 7), drew huge audiences compared with KCAL’s 10 games so far this season.

ABC’s national broadcast drew an 8 rating, the highest for a regular-season NBA game since 1998, and a 17 rating in Los Angeles. So far this season, Viacom Inc.-owned KCAL has averaged a 4.2 rating for its Lakers games.

The Lakers were edged out 104-102 in overtime, despite Bryant’s then-season-high 42-point game. The game was another feather in the cap of Walt Disney Co.-owned ABC, which has a $2.4 billion, six-year broadcast contract with the NBA.

KCAL’s contract with the Lakers allows it to broadcast 60 games locally. A KCAL spokesman declined comment, about the ratings, though it’s generally agreed that the deck was stacked. The Laker-Heat contest was heavily promoted and scheduled at a time when there is little competition; KCAL has handled early season games that typically draw smaller viewership.

As a national broadcasting partner of the league, ABC has first choice of what games it carries and the NBA has an interest in having the game seen nationally, so it’s no surprise that ABC picked one of the marquee matches of the season.