yes network

1080i (HDTV) Slogan The Home of Champions Country United States Language American English Broadcast area NY metro area; nationwide Headquarters New York, NY & Stamford, Connecticut Website YESNetwork.com Availability Satellite DirecTV 631 Cable Time Warner Cable Varies Verizon Fios 76 / 576 HD Cablevision 70 / 715 HD

The Yankees Entertainment and Sports (YES) Network is a New York City regional cable TV channel dedicated to broadcasting baseball games of the New York Yankees, and basketball games of the New Jersey Nets. YES made its debut on March 19, 2002. The channel is available in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and parts of Pennsylvania and nationally on DirecTV & AT&T U-verse. Contents [hide] 1 Founding 2 Ownership 3 Headquarters 4 YES original programming 5 Minor-league baseball and college sports 6 Relationships with New York Giants and Manchester United 7 Other sports programming 8 On air personalities 8.1 Current personalities 8.2 Former on air personalities 9 Controversy 10 YES Network HD 11 Website 12 References 13 External links //

Founding

YES was the product of a 1999 merger of the business operation of the Yankees and Nets, into a holding company called YankeeNets. One of the reasons that the teams merged was to give them better leverage over their own broadcast rights, with the belief that they would get a better deal if they negotiated the rights to both teams together. Two years earlier Cablevision, who at the time owned the Nets' broadcast home, SportsChannel New York (later known as Fox Sports Net New York and now known as MSG Plus), became the sole owner to the television rights of all seven MLB, NBA and NHL teams in the New York market when they acquired the competing Madison Square Garden Network (previously owned by Gulf+Western, Paramount Communications, and Viacom), which had the Yankees broadcast rights since 1989. This led to monopoly-like tactics, including the shift of some games to the cable-exclusive MSG Metro Channels, which had very limited distribution because Cablevision, Comcast, and Time Warner Cable routinely fought over carriage deals. Cablevision attempted to buy the Yankees outright, but could not agree to acceptable terms with George Steinbrenner and his partners.

YankeeNets discussed multiple options with potential partners to either stay with Cablevision or start their own network. The ultimate decision was to start their own network, ending the five year monopoly that Cablevision had held on local New York sports. The Yankees' success in the late-1990s was a key factor in the decision, as they had become a much more valuable brand than ever before.

Ownership

When YES launched, Goldman Sachs owned a minority share of the network. In late 2003, the Yankees and Nets decided to part ways, with the Nets being sold to a group led by real-estate developer Bruce Ratner.