DISH, Others Raise Concerns with YES

[Scott Greczkowski]

DISH, Others Raise Concerns with YES

Don't expect to see the Yankees Entertainment and Sports (YES) Network on DISH Network in the near future. And the reason comes down to the same concerns voiced by some New York-area cable operators: the price.

In a statement released before the weekend, EchoStar said YES was not made available to its DBS service at reasonable rates. "In order to protect all 7 million DISH Network subscribers from possible rate increases due to the unreasonable carriage fee requested by YES Network, DISH Network is unable to offer YES at this time," the company said.

Earlier in the year, EchoStar CEO Charlie Ergen said it would be unlikely the company would be able to carry YES due to its high cost for carriage. Its small dish competition, DirecTV, will carry the network for New York-area customers.

DISH Network customers will have access to more than 30 regular season Yankee games throughout the season, at least one game per week on average, the company said, as well as the playoffs and World Series. The games will be shown nationally on ESPN and as the national Saturday afternoon game on the local FOX broadcast affiliate. In addition, DISH Network customers within the New York DMA will get Yankees games on WCBS.

Meanwhile, YES President Leo Hindery continues to address Cablevision's concerns with YES carriage. In a letter sent to Cablevision and CEO James Dolan late last week, Hindery offered to meet with the exec at the office of Adolfo Carrion, Bronx Borough president, to discuss the carriage dispute "for the benefit of your customers and our fans."

Reposted with Permission from
SkyReport.COM (http://www.skyreport.com)

[Karl Foster]

How come Dish can't get YES without raising rates and D* didn't seem to have any problems?

[Scott Greczkowski]

Because DirecTV dont care. They are hoping Dish takes them over leaving Dish with the bill.

It's opening Day and no Yankees on Dish Network.

I just called Dish and the operator told me that they are not carrying YES.

[pmichael]

As far as DirecTV not raising rates to carry YES, I just think it's an aggressive attempt to lure new subscribers without any regard to its profitability. I still believe this will inevitably cause an increase in DirecTV's rates sometime in the near future. Despite my desire to see more Yankee games than I'll be able to see, I feel Charlie's position is correct. Thus, I'm okay with not seeing every Yankee game. I actually feel it was rather courageous of E* not to carry YES full well knowing it would lead to less new subscribers in the NY area and converts to D*.

Directv sells a MLB package which needs the Yankees in order to gain more customers. Directv invested money in YES because they will get it back. They are not going to force this on a merged company. Furthermore, Dish is not taking over Directv. They are merging companies. If anyone is leaving someone holding the bag, it's the Yankee fans who lost an opportunity to watch their team on Dish Network. Cablevision and all these cable companies will eventually get YES, and the only ones who will not be able to see their team are the ones who bought a Dish Network system. Why? Because Ergen wants to be a hero to those who hate sports and don't want to spend a penny for sports. All that will do is force the many sports fans back to cable. Cable companies used to listen to these "don't raise the price" kind of people, and when they saw the sports fans flocking to Directv, they jumped on sports packages, digital cable, etc.

[pmichael]

The assertion Ergen wants to be a hero to all those who hate sports is rather dubious. If YES would increase profitability, Ergen would carry it without a doubt. As far as DirecTV not increasing prices, my view is it couldn't raise prices and tie it to the inclusion of YES. All D* subscribers outside the Yankee viewing area would be furious. Just because there was not an immediate price increase does not mean there won't be one eventually.

Why beat a dead horse? The decision is in-No Yes for Dish. To those who really want this channel, you can switch to DTV or a cable company that's carrying it. If you are a Dish subscriber and don't care about YES, stay with Dish Network. It's that simple.

[Chris Freeland]

Not so quick, someone in the other forem posted a link to a NY Post story with todays date that claims E* and YES are close to closein a deal, possibly as soon as tomarow. But what do I care, I live in TN and could care less about the Yankees:).