YES Network, Comcast reach 11th-hour deal to avoid blackout

Yankees fans in the tri-state area breathed a sigh of relief after YES Network and Comcast came to an 11th-hour deal to avert a blackout of the regional sports network on the cable provider.A little more than an hour before the 11:59 p.m.deadline, YES and Comcast released a joint statement that the two sides “reached an agreement for continued distribution of the YES Network.”The two sides have been locked in a tense standoff related to carriage fees, with the cable provider wanting to move YES Network out of the basic cable tier to a higher-priced tier and the RSN wanting to resist the move.It would appear that YES Network will remain in the expanded basic tier under the new agreement.As of January 2023, Comcast served approximately 878,797 cable subscribers in New Jersey, according to state government records.FCC chairman Brendan Carr said in a post on X that he was “pleased” that Comcast and YES came to an agreement.“Going dark wouldn’t have been in anyone’s interest.

Thank you to all involved for your good faith efforts!’ he wrote....