DirecTV Gains Subs With YES Carriage

[Chris Blount]

DirecTV's carriage of the Yankees Entertainment and Sports (YES) Network has yielded customer gains for the satellite TV provider in areas served by Cablevision, the New York-area MSO that doesn't have the channel delivering Yankees baseball games.

DirecTV spokesman Bob Marsocci said March customer activations for DirecTV in areas served by Cablevision around New York City are up by more than 20 percent when compared to February's activations in the same areas. He wouldn't provide specific subscriber numbers.

Marsocci added that the satellite TV company expects to see incremental increases in the same areas as long as Cablevision doesn't carry the network.

Cablevision has been in a bitter carriage dispute with YES, and hasn't sealed a deal to deliver the network to its customers in the New York City area. EchoStar's DISH Network also doesn't carry the channel, and both multichannel providers cite the hefty price as the reason why it's not in their respective channel lineups.

From http://www.skyreport.com (Used with permission)

[Scott Greczkowski]

This is one thing that Charlie did not think about in regards to YES. He basicly told everyone in New York who wants YES to Drop Dish Network and Get DirecTV or Cable.

Once you loose a customer it is almost impossible to get them as a customer again.

Yes, YES is expensive, but I feel that DirecTV is MAKING MONEY by selling YES as they are gaining new subscribers just because they want YES!

Oh well....

[Chardo]

Like many NYers getting hosed by Cablevision, I want to switch to DirecTV so I can get Yankees games on YES. Ordinarily, this is a no-brainer. However, there's a major question I can't get a straight answer for:

Currently on Cablevision (which owns MSG and most of FoxSportsNet), when there's a conflict of games normally on the same network (i.e. Mets+Islanders or Knicks+Rangers playing at the same time), Cablevision moves one game to another channel (usually Metro, which they also own). With DirecTV (or DISH, for that matter), is that "bumped" game shown anywhere?

[Steve Mehs]

Possabily the Region Sport Network Alternate Channels

[lee635]

Well, I hope this isn't a case of "We lose money on every sale but we make it up on volume."

The same with doing local-into-local.

Locals are there to get new subscribers. But there is little profit from them, except subscriber will take the providers core programming.

[Karl Foster]

I am one that waited for locals to be available before jumping into DBS. There is also no way I would have a PVR without locals being available. Most of what my family records is network (NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX, UPN, WB) programming. So it may not be profitable, but they are getting $60 per month from me that they wouldn't get at all if they didn't offer locals.

[pmichael]

I definitely would not have satellite TV without the locals. The main networks still provide the most diverse TV fare (although the quality sometimes leaves alot to be desired). If satellite TV did not provide local channels, the industry's ability to increase subs at the expense of cable TV would be severely hampered.