Cable dispute keeps Yankees off TV

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Posted 2:06PM on Thursday, April 4, 2002

NEW YORK - Less than a week into the baseball season, Yankee fans aren't lamenting Roger Clemens' hand injury or debating Joe Torre's lineup. They are complaining about the cable TV business. Three million customers in the nation's largest sports market have not been able to see the Yankees on television because the team's new cable network cannot reach agreement with the area's biggest cable company. The dispute is enraging Yankee fans who are customers of Cablevision. At WFAN, the all-sports radio station, more callers have been talking about ``premium-tier'' prices than upper-deck home runs. ``We even made a joke on the air this morning: `Maybe we can get a couple of calls about the game,''' program director Mark Chernoff says. The new YES Network, owned mostly by George Steinbrenner and his partners, insists on being carried as a basic cable channel, which would probably mean a $2 monthly increase for Cablevision customers. Cablevision insists on selling YES as a premium channel like HBO, charging considerably more - $8 to $12 - but only of those who sign up for it. Because of the impasse, fans stand to miss 130 games this year, YES is losing $5.5 million a month in potential income, and Cablevision is losing customers to satellite TV. Cablevision's stock has plummeted to a three-year low, trading at around $28 Thursday, compared with a 52-week high of $71. Despite pleas from fans, politicians and Yankee players - including centerfielder Bernie Williams, a Cablevision customer - the battle seems to be at a stalemate, with no talks scheduled. Each side claims to be standing up for the middle-income TV watcher. ``There are a lot of nice people in the Bronx and Brooklyn who are entitled to see the Yankees at a reasonable price,'' YES chairman Leo Hindery says. Cablevision spokesman Bill Powers counters: ``We do not believe all our customers should receive a Yankees rate increase for programming they may not want to watch.'' The longer the stalemate lasts, the better for DirecTV, the satellite TV service that carries the 130-game Yankee package from YES. It is the only alternative for Cablevision customers who want Yankee games - though it is not an option available to apartment dwellers. ``I hate the hassle of switching, but I get the feeling this isn't going to be over soon,'' says Gus Jackman of Scarsdale, checking out the DirecTV package at the local Radio Shack. ``I was feeling frustrated and powerless when I realized I really wasn't going to see the games.'' DirecTV sign-ups in Cablevision territory jumped 20 percent in March, spokesman Bob Marsocci says. And that was before any games were actually missed. ``I think a lot of Cablevision customers assumed that Cablevision and YES would have reached a deal by opening day,'' he says. ``Well, opening day came and went and Cablevision customers were staring at a blank screen. We're expecting a lot of new customers this month.'' DirecTV ads pepper New York newspapers, radio and television, and the company has sent people door-to-door in Cablevision country, which includes the Bronx and Brooklyn and suburbs in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. YES itself has run ads urging Cablevision subscribers to switch. In reaction, Cablevision and the cable industry have run ads emphasizing the roughly 30 Yankee games available on broadcast channels or other cable networks. As a basic channel, YES would charge Cablevision about $1.85 a month for each customer, or a total of about $70 million a year. About 30 other cable systems in the region, with 5 million customers, have put YES on basic, and so far most of them have absorbed the cost without passing it on to subscribers. But Cablevision says it would have to impose a ``Yankee rate increase'' on all its subscribers if YES were on basic.