Wednesday, March 24, 2004
Decision Said to Favor YES
Richard Sandomir of the New York Times reports that the Yankees' YES Network has won a major victory in its arbitration against Cablevision.
Cablevision had sought to make YES a premium-tier channel, available only to subscribers willing to pay an extra monthly fee, but the arbitrators ruled that for the next six years YES must be available on the expanded basic tier purchased by virtually all subscribers. (Last year about 60% of Cablevision's subscribers paid either an extra $1.95 for YES or an extra $4.95 for a package including YES, Fox Sports Net and MSG.)
However, the arbitrators cut the price the Yankees were charging. Last year's rate was retroactively reduced from $2.12 to $1.85; this year YES will cost $1.93, not the $2.28 sought by the Yankees. Other cable systems will benefit from this reduction, thanks to "most favored nation" clauses in their own contracts with YES. Minnesotans may also benefit: if Yankee games are worth $1.93/month, there's no way in hell the Pohlad family can justify charging $2.20/month for Twins games on their own cable network.
Even at the lower rate, YES will receive $23.16 this year from every household in metropolitan New York that subscribes to expanded basic cable service. That's well over $100 million/year.
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Richard Sandomir of the New York Times reports that the Yankees' YES Network has won a major victory in its arbitration against Cablevision.
Cablevision had sought to make YES a premium-tier channel, available only to subscribers willing to pay an extra monthly fee, but the arbitrators ruled that for the next six years YES must be available on the expanded basic tier purchased by virtually all subscribers. (Last year about 60% of Cablevision's subscribers paid either an extra $1.95 for YES or an extra $4.95 for a package including YES, Fox Sports Net and MSG.)
However, the arbitrators cut the price the Yankees were charging. Last year's rate was retroactively reduced from $2.12 to $1.85; this year YES will cost $1.93, not the $2.28 sought by the Yankees. Other cable systems will benefit from this reduction, thanks to "most favored nation" clauses in their own contracts with YES. Minnesotans may also benefit: if Yankee games are worth $1.93/month, there's no way in hell the Pohlad family can justify charging $2.20/month for Twins games on their own cable network.
Even at the lower rate, YES will receive $23.16 this year from every household in metropolitan New York that subscribes to expanded basic cable service. That's well over $100 million/year.
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