Hey guys,
I'm not a Yankees fan, so I didn't follow the story very well. But I know that you guys can enlighten me... Can anyone tell me why we can't get a Yankees game on our TV in NJ?

I remember something about the YES network, which is new...just don't know the rest of the story.
Thanks!

Pete, here's the story to the best of my knowledge as I am listening to the Yankee game (up 3-0 now btw ).

The Yankees used to have most of their games on the MSG Network up until last year, when Steinbrenner decided to cut loose from them and form the YES (Yankees Entertainment and Sports) Network. Supposedly, Steinbrenner and Cablevision (who at least partially owns MSG Network) don't like each other.

Anyway, The YES Network is available to all Cable subscribers, except Cablevision. The YES Network wants Cablevision to pay them $2 per cable subscriber and have it part of a standard cable package. Cablevision wants to offer it to only those that want the YES Network and charge those subscribers extra.

There is definitely greed on both sides here, but I blame Cablevision more, since they had the cable rates rise significantly the past couple of years with not much to show for it. I already called Cablevision to express my displeasure. They just gave some crap about not knowing what's going on, except that the parties are negotiating.

[ April 07, 2002: Message edited by: pat125 ]

Hi, Pete and Pat - Luckily, we get the new YES Network here in Manhattan, otherwise I'd be beside myself. Pat summarized the standoff pretty well, but I thought I'd give my perspective. In 1994 I was one of the investment bankers who helped broker Cablevision's purchase of Madison Square Garden, the Knicks and Rangers from the ITT Corporation. The Dolan family, who owned the majority interest in Cablevision then and now, were extremely difficult to deal with. They were decidely old school, and usually had a take-no-prisoners mentality to negotiating points. That is, their attitude was they would bluster, threaten and stall until they got exactly what they wanted; to them, compromise was tantamount to surrender. Even then, the Dolans expressed interest in buying the Yankees. A few years later, they apparently did reach an agreement in principle to buy 49.9% of the Yankees, with another 0.2% interest - which would give them controlling interest - converting to them upon George Steinbrenner's death or retirement from the Managing Partner position. The deal fell apart because the Dolans did not want Steinbrenner to continue in that capacity into perpetuity. They insisted on a date upon which Steinbrenner would have to step down whether he wanted to or not. Steinbrenner was unwilling to commit to what was essentially a "drop dead" date, and told the Dolans to take their $600 million and go away. So there is a longstanding professional dislike between the Yankees (read: Steinbrenner) and Cablevision (read: the Dolans), and I don't think this impasse is going to be settled anytime soon. I agree with Pat that Cablevision probably deserves a larger portion of the blame; every other cable system in the area, including Time Warner (my system), RCN, Comcast, AT&T, and Adelphia have reached agreements with YES to carry the new network as part of its basic tier of services, as has DirecTV.

Perhaps we should have an Outsports gathering at The Hangar to watch a game. I understand Mark is a Yankee fan.

Thanks, guys! I knew I could count on this site for an education.

I guess if I was a Yankees fan, I'd be really PO'd right about now. Luckily, I'm following the Mets this year and they are on Fox Sports Net.

MMan, I like your idea of getting together. How about a Saturday?

Thanks, MM for the info. I wasn't sure what the dispute was about, except that it involved money.

I also like the idea of getting together as well. Saturdays this month work for me.

[ April 08, 2002: Message edited by: pat125 ]

We had a similar situation a few years ago in Philadelphia after Comcast, who is the majority owner of the Flyers and 76ers, created their own station (Comcast SportsNet) to show Phillies/Flyers/76ers games. While it was immediately added to Comcast's own system, other systems (mostly outside the city limits) balked at first due to the high fees demanded by Comcast. Eventually they worked it out.

It probably couldn't hurt for those people who are missing out to harass the YES network and Cablevision on a regular basis to come to an agreement, including some veiled threats to drop cable TV in favor of a satellite service like DirecTV.

(Is the YES network available to satellite subscribers? I understand that Comcast refuses to make their local SportsNets available for DirecTV and other satellite systems.)

YES (pardon the pun) Joe, the YES Network IS available on DirecTV and I believe is also part of Dish satellite network....not that I own stock in em or anything, but I got DirecTV over a year ago and it's well worth every dollar (not to mention they have exclusive rights to the "NFL Sunday Ticket")....back on topic, I can understand why all the loyal Yankee fans are so upset and BOTH Cablevision and YankeeNets Corp. (i.e., Steinbrenner) are at fault here....but based upon the way the Yanks are playing so far, all the fans are missing are watching one lopsided victory after another....the fact that Torre's Bronx Bombers have been playing pitiful AL East competition (Baltimore, Tampa, and Toronto) hasn't hurt, either, but I think the Yanks will win the AL East by at least 20 games (sorry, Boston fans, the Sox are not in the same class with NY in ANY offensive, defensive, or pitching category).

no offense taken, gamecock ... there was an interesting exercise done on local sports radio the other day. A caller was insisting that the Red Sox could take the A.L. East this year because they're so much better than they were last year. The show host kept saying no way, no chance against the Yankees. The caller was getting kind of upset and irate, when the host calmed him down by making him do a position-by-position comparison of the Yankees and Red Sox:

• Posada or Varitek? I'd actually pick Varitek based on his pitch-/game-calling skills, but I acknowledge almost everyone would pick Posada
• Giambi or Clark? Giambi, by a country mile
• Soriano or Sanchez? Soriano, again, by a country mile
• Jeter or Garciaparra? I'm actually going to pick Nomar because I think his offense will be killer this year, but I perfectly respect the opinion of those who pick Jeter (probably the majority)
• Ventura or Hillenbrand? a talented but real green kid vs. a skilled veteran ... Ventura of course
• Spencer or Ramirez? Ramirez, especially when you consider that he's playing half his game in Fenway's postage-stamp-sized left field
• Williams or Damon? This is a bit like apples and oranges, because Williams bats #5 and Damon's a lead-off guy, but still, gotta go with Bernie
• Vander Wal or Nixon? Don't really know Vander Wal all that well, but I'm going to go with Trot here

Then, the all important pitching rotation, one through five, and the closers:

• Clemens or Pedro? If Pedro were healthy, it'd be a different story. But he's not, so Clemens
• Mussina or Lowe? Lowe will have a real good season, I'm convinced, but Mussina by a country mile
• Pettite or Burkett? The killer lefty, of course, Pettite (even if Burkett were 100% healthy, he'd be a distant second here)
• Wells or Hermanson? I'm going with Hermanson here, even though he's on the DL, because I'm convinced Wells won't last the season
• Your #5 or our #5? The five spot isn't fixed yet for either team, but I'll take the Yankees' #5s over ours
• Rivera or Urbina? I don't care if he did blow Game 7 last year. I still think Rivera's the best ever.

Ooooookaaaaaay ... even if you go by my Boston-biased picks, NYY are even in the positions, and kill us in pitching. Still, I'm convinced that the Sox can take the Wild Card because we're feasting on the same weak teams as the NYY for 57 games while the A.L. West is busy committing fratricide.

Phew! Um, ok, having gone through that rather lengthy exercise, allow me to apologize for causing this topic to careen off-track

The YES Network is currently NOT available on the DISH Network. Charlie Ergen indicated on Monday that he'd love to have it, but doesn't foresee getting it for some time--if at all.

DirecTV customers can get it, though you must either live in YES's local market area or...

As a Cablevision subscriber (who is clearly not a Yankees fan!) I wanted to add something else to consider. I can understand why Steinbrenner wants YES available as part of basic service on Cablevision--the more homes it's in, the higher advertising rates he can set. But the fact is that sports programming (MSG, FoxNY) has always been premium on Cablevision up until now, and continues to be. Until this year Yankees fans paid extra for MSG and Mets fans paid extra for FoxNY. If Cablevision includes YES as part of its basic service, they will have to do the same for MSG and FoxNY, substantially raising rates for all subscribers. I know other posters have placed more blame on Cablevision, and believe me I don't love them either, but I think Yankees mgmt. are being too unreasonable and their fans are the ones suffering. It never mattered to them that some fans paid a premium to watch games until they were the ones drawing the revenue--and now they take out full page ads in local papers claiming that Cablevision is unreasonable.

I'm sure this position won't be popular with the die-hard Yankee fans, but I think the owners are doing you a disservice.

Well, they sue...

Shame of the Yankees

Good!! I hope Cablevision gets run into the ground on this one. I am not a Yankees fan, but if a lawsuit is what it takes to get some other cablevision company in here, then GO YANKEES!!!

Cablevision is very self centered in my book. I have been trying for several years to get CMT on, but to no avail. Imagine my "pissed-off"-ness when they decided to add MTV2 instead!