YES Network CEO goes on Yankees broadcast to accuse Comcast of bullying tactic in carriage dispute

The battle between RSNs and cable providers continues to wage, with Comcast and YES Network now taking center stage after the network’s CEO went on Sunday’s Yankees broadcast to lambast the cable company. YES Network will go dark in all households that have Comcast at 11:59 p.m.on Monday night while the two sides continue to duke it out over carriage fees – Comcast wants to move the regional sports network to a higher-priced digital package, while the network wants to remain on the basic cable tier. The sides had come to an agreement last week to extend the deadline past this weekend to avert issues for the first few games of the Yankees’ season.That led to YES CEO Jon Litner joining the broadcast of the Yankees-Brewers game to address the current situation. “Despite our attempts to negotiate a new carriage agreement with them, Comcast has refused to negotiate.

Instead, they have informed us that they will drop the YES Network from their programming lineup Monday night at midnight,” Litner said on the air while sitting between Yankees broadcasters Michael Kay and Paul O’Neill. Litner went on to say that the network had come to agreements with “all of our largest distributors” to keep YES Network on those platforms. The Network’s CEO then suggested that Comcast had been showing “preferential treatment” to RSNs that it had a stake in – Comcast owns a piece of the Mets TV home SNY – while stiffing ones that they don’t. “They are demanding that YES move to a more expensive, digital package that will cost you, its loyal customers, $20 more per month,” he continued.“At the same time, Comcast continues to give their own networks, including SNY, preferential treatment by keeping them in the less-costly package.

And this is exactly the bullying tactic Comcast used against MSG Networks a few years ago which resulted in MSG being dropped by Comcast.I guess it’s the Comcast playbook to favor their own networks and disadvantage netw...