YES Network has been dropped from the Comcast lineup as of Midnight, Tuesday after the two companies could not come to terms on a new carriage agreement. The already expired agreement had been given extensions while the MLB season was in play, but after the Nets vs. Hornets game the channel went black.
On YES Network’s dedicated webpage, the company suggests customers “FIND ANOTHER PROVIDER THAT CARRIES YES” after several months of negotiations in “good faith” with the MSO giant.
Comcast’s positioning is that YES Network, majority-owned by 20th Century Fox, is asking to much given the network’s “minimal viewership.”
YES Network carries regional New York Yankees and New Jersey Nets games, and at times competes with Comcast in New York who owns a stake in SportsNet NY, the regional sports network also owned by Time Warner Cable and the New York Mets.
Comcast in a statement, “YES Network carried approximately 130 baseball games this past season and well over 90 percent of our 900,000 plus customers who receive YES Network didn’t watch the equivalent of even one quarter of those games during the season.”
YES Network attacked Comcast’s reputation in their own statement saying, “Comcast’s reputation for poor customer satisfaction is well known, but this surprise development represents a new low.” The network claims Comcast gave no notice to its subscribers that the channel would be blacked out.
Up until the blackout, YES Network was available within Comcast markets in Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Sources: WSJ, TV Predictions
Comcast can concoct whatever stats they want about the lack of viewership of the Yankees games on YES This just reinforces the awful customer service Comcast provides. If there is no agreement made, why haven’t my exorbitant cable rates been lowered? Part of this is because the government allowed deregulation of the cable industry. The rest is just plain greed.
If by opening day my Yankees are not back on Comcast, it;s time to cut the cord. My ROKU box looks better every day.