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Another deadline is approaching Monday night in the ongoing YES Network–Comcast carriage dispute, and the situation is growing uglier than ever.
After the two sides reached another short-term extension last week, stretching to 11:59 p.m. ET Monday, the Yankees-led regional sports network and the No. 2 U.S. cable carrier spent the weekend trading barbs against each other.
The YES Network ran a series of on-air crawls during Yankees games Saturday and Sunday, a historic offensive onslaught for the team, encouraging Comcast subscribers to switch to a different provider. Network president and CEO Jon Litner then appeared live in the booth during Sunday’s game against the Brewers and continued the anti-Comcast argument.
“They are demanding that YES move to a more expensive digital package that will cost you, its loyal customers, $20 more per month,” Litner said. “At the same time, Comcast continues to give their own networks, including [SportsNet New York], preferential treatment by keeping them in the less-costly package. And this is exactly the bullying tactic Comcast used against MSG Networks a few years ago, which resulted in MSG being dropped by Comcast. I guess it’s the Comcast playbook to favor their own networks and disadvantage networks they do not own.”
Comcast has moved nearly two dozen RSNs to higher tiers in recent years, including several they own or operate, as the company has sought to stem the tide of ever-rising sports programming costs. That effort, in turn, has sought to create a more direct relationship between those who want to watch live sports and those who pay for it.
The YES Network, however, has long insisted on not being treated like any other network, given its status as one of the most-watched RSNs in the business and its carriage of the Yankees.
The carrier, meanwhile, responded with its own statement, recalling many of the same themes that surfaced during a similar distribution battle between the two that lasted for nearly 18 months between late 2015 and early 2017.
“YES Network has insisted we pay higher fees when nearly 90% of customers watched fewer than five of the roughly 130 Yankees games it aired last season,” the company said. “If we lose the rights to carry YES, we will credit our customers between $7 and $10 per month. Xfinity subscribers can also subscribe directly to the Gotham Sports app to watch the games.”
Industry sources said viewership data is based on internal Comcast data from set-top boxes, and it has not been verified by an established third-party measurement agency such as Nielsen. If another extension or a broader deal is not reached by late Monday night, the YES Network is expected to go dark on Comcast systems. Given the heightening invective, that scenario is now looking likelier than ever.
