YES Network CEO calls out ‘bullying’ by Comcast on live TV
YES Network CEO calls out ‘bullying’ by Comcast on live TV
YES chief executive Jon Litner didn’t hold back in an appearance on a YES Network broadcast of a live Yankees game.
With a deadline looming, it appears negotiations between YES Network and Comcast aren’t going so well. The CEO of the channel Jon Litner appeared on the live broadcast of Sunday’s game between the New York Yankees and Milwaukee Brewers, and the language employed in his comments suggests the two sides aren’t getting much closer together in their efforts to seek a new carriage agreement.
Key Details:
- Litner says that Comcast gives preferential treatment to networks it has a stake in, including SportsNet NY.
- Comcast issued a statement saying around 10% of customers watch more than five Yankees games per year on YES.
- The carriage agreement between the two ends on Monday at 11:59 p.m E.T.
Litner’s appearance on YES Network began with a warning that Comcast will drop the channel from its airwaves following Monday night’s deadline. He then pointed out the channel has agreed to carriage deals with other major distributors, trying to shift as much of the blame for the dispute as possible onto Comcast’s plate.
He then confirmed that Comcast wants to put YES Network on a higher-priced channel package, as it has done with several other regional sports networks (RSNs) in the past year. Litner did not hold back his thoughts on this tactic, saying that Comcast doesn’t necessarily follow the same rules when it comes to RSNs it partially owns, such as SportsNet NY.
“Comcast continues to give their own networks, including SNY, preferential treatment by keeping them in the less-costly package,” he said. “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 did not let Litner’s comments pass without issuing a statement of its own, per Awful Announcing.
“We have offered to distribute YES Network in the same package that has been accepted by 20 RSNs in over 100 DMAs across the country in order to provide fans with access to YES programming and a choice for consumers who do not want to pay the additional fees for the games. YES Network has insisted we pay higher fees when nearly 90% of customers watched fewer than 5 of the ~130 Yankees games it aired last season. If we lose the rights to carry YES, we will credit our customers between $7-$10 a month. Xfinity customers can also subscribe directly to the Gotham Sports App to watch the games.”
The offer of a credit to Xfinity TV subscribers was the first such sign that Comcast was willing to offer a rebate of some kind should YES Network go dark. As referenced, fans in New York and surrounding areas can watch all the Yankees games they could see on YES Network via the YES Subscription package of the Gotham Sports App, which normally costs $25 per month or $250 per year, but is discounted now to $20 and $200 respectively.
The two sides agreed to a temporary extension of their current carriage deal on Thursday, March 27, but that will expire at 11:59 p.m. ET on Monday night. Unless a new deal is hammered out by then, it appears that YES Network will indeed disappear from Comcast airwaves in the largest TV market in the United States.
Gotham Sports App
The Gotham Sports App was a comprehensive streaming platform that served as the exclusive regional home for live broadcasts and on-demand content from several New York sports teams. The app consolidated programming from MSG Networks and the YES Network, providing fans with access to games previously available only via cable or a live TV streaming service. The app featured the New York Yankees, Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils, and Buffalo Sabres.