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The Yankee Entertainment and Sports Network (YES) is an American
pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...
regional sports network owned by Yankee Global Enterprises (the largest shareholder with 26%), Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios (which owns 20%),
Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...
(which owns 15%), and
The Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. Blackstone's private equity business has been one of the largest investors in leveraged buyouts in the last three decades, while its real estate ...
, RedBird Capital and Mubadala Investment Company, which each own 13%. Primarily serving
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
, New York and the surrounding metropolitan area, it broadcasts a variety of sports events, as well as magazine, documentary and discussion programs; however, its main emphasis is focused on games and team-related programs involving the
New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one o ...
of
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...
(owned by minority partner Yankee Global), the NBA's
Brooklyn Nets The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. T ...
, the WNBA's New York Liberty and New York City FC of
Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...
. YES Network's offices are based at the
Chrysler Building The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco skyscraper on the East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. At , it is the tallest brick building in the world with a steel f ...
in
Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildin ...
. YES programs, including Yankees and Nets pre- and post-game shows, are produced in studios that are located in
Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 2 ...
. The channel is available on cable and IPTV providers in New York,
New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...
,
Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
and parts of
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...
; it is available nationally on some cable systems (as part of a designated sports tier), via
satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioiso ...
on DirecTV, and regionally on Frontier, AT&T U-verse, Verizon Fios, and Cox Communications.


History


Beginnings

YES is the product of a
holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...
founded in 1999 called YankeeNets, created out of a merger of the business operations of the Yankees and the New Jersey Nets. One of the reasons behind the operational merger was to allow both teams to gain better leverage over their own broadcast rights; each party believed that it would obtain better individual deals, if they negotiated the rights collectively. Two years earlier in 1997, Cablevision – which at the time had owned the Nets' television broadcaster, SportsChannel New York (later known as Fox Sports Net New York, and now known as MSG Sportsnet) – became the sole owner to the television rights of all seven Major League Baseball, NBA and
NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
teams in the New York City market when it acquired the competing MSG Network (previously owned by Viacom through its 1994 purchase of the network's former parent Paramount Communications), which had held the broadcast rights to the Yankees since 1989. This led to
monopoly A monopoly (from Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situation where a speci ...
-like tactics, including the shift of some games to the cable-exclusive
MSG Metro Channels MSG Metro Channels was a series of local-minded New York City cable networks which launched on August 5, 1998, and closed in late 2005. Owned by Rainbow Media, the Metro networks were founded as a spinoff of the MSG sports network. The network was ...
, which had very limited distribution as Cablevision,
Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...
and Time Warner Cable routinely fought over carriage agreements. Cablevision attempted to buy the Yankees outright, but could not agree to acceptable terms with George Steinbrenner and his partners. To exit its MSG/Cablevision deal, the Yankees would have to give them the right to match any new right agreement and show a judge that a third party was willing to purchase their rights and launch a channel. Thus, new YankeeNets CEO Harvey Schiller hired IMG to provide a valuation for the prospective YankeeNets sport channel. IMG came back with an offer to partner on the channel with a guaranteed rights fees of $838 million. In 2000, YankeeNets and IMG proposed a forming a sports channel valued as high as $2.4 billion. Cablevision sued considering its valuing as "outlandish" to block the channel. In April 2001, the suit was settled such that in June 2001, YankeeNets paid to MSG to have the Yankee's TV right returned to them. IMG had been replaced by other investors, Goldman, Sachs & Company, the Quadrangle Group, Leo Hindery Jr., chief executive of the network, and Amos Hostetter Jr., a billionaire cable veteran, who in total had a 40% share of the channel.


Launch of a new network

The YES Network launched at noon on March 19, 2002 with a half-hour introductory show. The first game broadcast on YES was an exhibition game against in which the
New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one o ...
faced the
Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...
at 7 PM on the same day. At its launch, YES was available on DirecTV and to subscribers of all major New York area cable providers except Cablevision which would refuse to add the network for the 2002 season (see below). The first regular season game broadcast on YES was played on April 1 against the
Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. As one of the American League's eight charter ...
. In late 2003, the Yankees and Nets decided to part ways, with the Nets being sold to a group led by
real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more genera ...
developer Bruce Ratner. The sale did not include the Nets' ownership stake in YES (NJ Holdings), which remained with the pre-merger owners of the team. As part of the sale, the Nets signed a long-term deal to keep the team's game telecasts on YES. In 2004, YankeeNets was renamed Yankee Global Enterprises, which owns the Yankees and the minority share in YES as separate companies. Therefore, the Yankees technically don't own YES. The Yankees, however, receive a rights fee from YES that is somewhat higher than MSG previously paid.


Fox ownership, FSN affiliation

In 2007, Goldman Sachs' and former Nets owner Ray Chambers' share in the network was put up for sale. In November 2012, News Corporation agreed to terms on acquiring a 49% stake in YES. As a consequence, each of the network's previous owners had their ownership stakes reduced. As a result of the sale to Fox, the Yankees agreed to keep their games on the network through 2041, which would be the network's 40th year of existence. News Corporation's interest in YES was transferred to 21st Century Fox (owned by
Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...
, who also remained the owner of News Corporation), when the former company spun off its U.S. entertainment holdings into a separate company in July 2013. In September 2013, rights to Fox Sports Networks' national programming (previously held by MSG Plus, which had previously operated as FSN New York) were transferred to YES. On January 25, 2014, 21st Century Fox became the network's majority owner by purchasing an additional 31% share of YES Network from someone, increasing the company's ownership interest from 49% to 80%. In 2014, the YES Network announced an average 223,000 households in Yankees game broadcasts. On May 14, 2017, YES Network aired Derek Jeter's number retirement ceremony. It got an average 724,000 viewers and a 5.79 rating in the New York City area, the highest non-game program for the network.


Disney/Fox acquisition, reacquisition by the Yankees

On December 14, 2017,
The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...
(which owned ABC owned-and operated station WABC-TV) announced plans to acquire 21st Century Fox following the divestiture of certain assets. While it originally included the Fox Sports Networks chain and YES Network, the Department of Justice ordered that they be sold on antitrust grounds due to Disney's ownership of
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
. ''
Bloomberg News Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg Televi ...
'' reported that the sale of stakes in YES to Fox contained a clause giving the Yankees rights to buy them back in the event of a change in ownership. On November 11, 2018, the ''
New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...
'' reported that the Yankees had invoked the right of first refusal to acquire YES in the event that the sale of Fox Sports Networks to was successful, formally bidding 9 days later in a joint deal with Blackstone Group to get the 80% stake back. The Yankees also appointed the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, RedBird Capital Partners, and Mubadala Investment Company to assist with their bid for the network.
Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...
, who was expected to bid for other FSN networks, instead bid for the 80% stake that Yankees want back, desiring to provide streaming services for the network. On March 8, 2019, Fox News reported that the Yankees had reached a deal to re-purchase Fox's share in the network for $3.5 billion, with Sinclair (who ended up being the final suitor for Fox Sports Networks, and is also collaborating with the Chicago Cubs on a new regional network), Amazon.com, and
The Blackstone Group Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. Blackstone's private equity business has been one of the largest investors in leveraged buyouts in the last three decades, while its real estate ...
holding minority shares. Mubadala Development Company, a United Arab Emirates’ sovereign wealth fund, and RedBird Capital were reported as minority investors. The deal closed on August 29, 2019. In April 2020 during the early onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, WCBS-TV briefly broadcast its local newscasts from the YES Network studio set due to the unavailability of the
CBS Broadcast Center The CBS Broadcast Center is a television and radio production facility located in New York City. It is CBS's main East Coast production hub, similar to CBS Studio Center in Los Angeles as the West Coast hub. The Broadcast Center is one of tw ...
.


Programming


Original programming

In addition to live coverage of Yankees and Nets games, their respective pre-game and post-game shows and (as circumstances warrant) live
press conference A press conference or news conference is a media event in which notable individuals or organizations invite journalists to hear them speak and ask questions. Press conferences are often held by politicians, corporations, non-governmental or ...
s, YES has produced various original programs, some of which have won local New York
Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
s. Other original programming featured on YES includes: * ''Boston vs. New York Poker Challenge'' – a poker tournament matching Yankee fans against
Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eig ...
fans. Airing for two seasons, it was a co-production of YES and
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the capital city, state capital and List of municipalities in Massachusetts, most populous city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financ ...
-based regional sports channel New England Sports Network (NESN). * ''
CenterStage ''Centerstage'' is a Philippine television reality talent competition show broadcast by GMA Network. Hosted by Alden Richards and Betong Sumaya, it premiered on February 16, 2020 on the network's Sunday Grande sa Gabi line up. The show conclud ...
'' – a weekly program hosted by Yankees play-by-play announcer Michael Kay, featuring in-depth interviews with various celebrities. * '' The Michael Kay Show'' – a video simulcast of the radio show from ESPN Radio affiliate WEPN-FM (98.7 FM), featuring Michael Kay, Don La Greca, and Peter Rosenberg. * ''The Feed'' – Athletes share the stories behind their social media posts. ''The Feed'' won a New York Emmy Award for best Sports Interview/Discussion show in 2020. * ''Forbes SportsMoney'' – a financial magazine program produced as a joint venture between YES and ''
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
'', focusing on the financial aspects of the sports industry. * ''Homegrown: The Path to Pinstripes'' – a reality show that showcases the development of future Yankees players on their Class-AAA team, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. As of 2019 the series has expanded with the addition of a spinoff, ''Homegrown: The Bridge to Brooklyn'', a look into the lives of the players of the Nets' NBA G League team the Long Island Nets. * '' The Mike Francesa Show'' – a video simulcast of the popular WFAN (660 AM) radio show '' Mike's On'' with host Mike Francesa (2008–2014). YES also simulcasted Francesa's nationally syndicated radio show ''The NFL Now'' under the title ''Football Sunday with Mike Francesa''. * ''Nets Magazine'' – a weekly program featuring news, analysis and feature segments focusing on the Brooklyn Nets. * ''
Yankees Classics ''Yankees Classics'' is a program on the YES Network which features classic New York Yankees games. Each ''Yankees Classics'' episode is hosted by Yankees radio announcer John Sterling, who discusses the game's impact on Yankees history at the ...
'' – rebroadcasts of marquee New York Yankees games from previous years. * ''Yankees Magazine'' – a weekly program featuring news, analysis and feature segments focusing on the Yankees. * '' Yankeeography'' – a ''
Biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...
''-style program focusing on notable current and former Yankees personalities. * ''Yankees on Deck'' (formerly ''Kids on Deck'') – a children's program in which younger Yankee fans are given an inside look at what it is like to be a member of the Yankee organization. * ''Yankees-Steiner: Memories of the Game'' – a reality series based around Yankee-related, and other baseball and sports memorabilia; co-produced by Yankees-Steiner Collectibles, a joint venture of the Yankees and Steiner Sports Marketing and Memorabilia. * ''YES' Ultimate Road Trip'' (2005–2007) – a reality show that combined elements of '' The Real World'' and '' Road Rules'', following a group of Yankee fans following the team around the country throughout an entire 162-game season. * ''Yogi and a Movie'' – A showcase of sports movies featuring wraparound commentary segments hosted by Yankee Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra.


Minor league baseball and college sports

Since the network's debut, YES has aired select telecasts of the Yankees' minor league farm teams, primarily the Class-A (short season) Staten Island Yankees of the New York–Penn League. Those games are produced by YES, utilizing the same graphics and announcers as seen during game telecasts of the major league Yankees. From 2002 to 2006, YES also broadcast games from the Yankees' former Class-AAA team, the Columbus Clippers of the International League. Those games were produced locally in
Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, an ...
. After the 2006 season, the Yankees ended their affiliation with the Clippers, and became affiliated with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (formerly the Yankees and Red Barons). YES has only televised one RailRiders game, Masahiro Tanaka's minor league rehab start, the team also has local coverage within its Scranton/ Wilkes-Barre market. The network has also broadcast various college sports events including football and basketball games from the
Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schoo ...
, basketball games from the Big 12 Conference (through ESPN Plus) and rebroadcasts of Notre Dame Fighting Irish football games. It also carries the coaches' shows of Notre Dame and the Penn State Nittany Lions. In 2011, YES began airing live broadcasts of college basketball games involving the
Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...
. YES also airs college football and basketball games from the
ACC on Regional Sports Networks The ACC on Regional Sports Networks (also known as simply ACC RSN) is a package of telecasts produced by Raycom Sports, in cooperation with Bally Sports, featuring Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) college sports. The package is syndicated primarily t ...
produced by Raycom Sports.


Relationships with New York Giants and Manchester United

In 2000, YankeeNets entered into a marketing agreement with the
New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisio ...
; this included awarding YES the exclusive rights to the
NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...
franchise's magazine programs (including ''Giants Online'' and ''Giants on Deck'', which continued to air on the network after the YankeeNets breakup). The Giants' relationship with YES Network ended in 2007, at which time its team-related programming moved to
Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...
owned-and-operated station
WNYW WNYW (channel 5) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Secaucus, New Jersey–licensed MyNetworkTV flagship ...
(channel 5) and MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated station WWOR-TV (channel 9), a duopoly owned by
Fox Television Stations Fox Television Stations, LLC (FTS; alternately Fox Television Stations Group, LLC), is a group of television stations located within the United States, which are owned-and-operated by the Fox Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of the Fox Corp ...
(whose sister company, the Fox network, owns broadcast rights to most games from the Giants home conference, the National Football Conference). YankeeNets also maintained a similar relationship with English football club Manchester United. YES broadcast
tape-delayed In radio and television, broadcast delay is an intentional delay when broadcasting live material, technically referred to as a deferred live. Such a delay may be to prevent mistakes or unacceptable content from being broadcast. Longer delays las ...
and classic United games produced by the team-owned Manchester United TV in the network's earlier days.


Other sports programming

The YES Network also produces Yankees game broadcasts shown on Streaming Service
Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service p ...
using the same on-air talent seen on the cable network. From 2002 to 2004, WCBS-TV carried the Yankees broadcasts, with WWOR taking over those rights later. WLNY-TV held the local broadcast television rights to the Nets but no longer does. The Yankees package is also simulcast on other television stations in the team's designated market region. YES also offers a Spanish-language feed of all of its Yankees game telecasts through the
second audio program Second audio program (SAP), also known as secondary audio programming, is an auxiliary audio channel for analog television that can be broadcast or transmitted both over-the-air and by cable television. Used mostly for audio description or o ...
; this feed can also be heard on New York radio station WADO (AM), which current holds the contract to carry the Yankees' Spanish-language broadcasts. The network attempted to secure television rights to the New Jersey Devils, formerly owned by an affiliate of YankeeNets; after the team was sold to a different ownership group, the Devils opted to renew their contract with MSG Network and FSN New York in 2005, under a long-term agreement. YES broadcasts NBA TV's daily news and fantasy basketball shows (usually in the form of rebroadcasts, but occasionally showing live telecasts in the early morning drive time hours) and ''
The Marv Albert Show Marv Albert (born Marvin Philip Aufrichtig; June 12, 1941) is an American retired sportscaster. Honored for his work as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, he was commonly referred to as "the voice of basketball". From 1967 to 2004, he wa ...
''. For a couple of years during the early 2000s, YES and NBA TV also both aired reruns of the basketball-centered drama series '' The White Shadow''. The network also previously aired '' This Week in Baseball'' during the week throughout the Major League Baseball regular season, following each episode's original Saturday broadcast on Fox. The network had previously carried '' Major League Baseball: An Inside Look'' during the week throughout the league's regular season. As part of a multi-year agreement with MP & Silva, YES aired tape delayed broadcasts of Premier League,
FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...
and
UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...
matches involving
Arsenal F.C. Arsenal Football Club, commonly referred to as Arsenal, is a professional football club based in Islington, London, England. Arsenal plays in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The club has won 13 league titles (inclu ...
In addition to airing Arsenal matches, the network aired select archived match telecasts, as well as the team's magazine shows, ''Arsenal World'' and ''Arsenal 360''. This agreement ended at the start of the 2012–13 Premier League season. Arsenal would get picked up by ONE World Sports while YES would gain partnership with Manchester City FC. In December 2014, YES announced it had acquired local broadcast rights to New York City FC of
Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...
, a subsidiary of Manchester City FC. Yankee Global Enterprises owns a 20% minority stake in the club, which is majority-owned by City Football Group. YES also acquired the local broadcast rights to the WNBA's New York Liberty in 2019 after the team was sold by the Madison Square Garden Company to Brooklyn Nets minority owner Joseph Tsai. In August 2022, it was announced that the YES Network would start airing AC Milan soccer matches in Serie A,
Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity ...
and
The UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competiti ...
as a result of RedBird Capital Partners along with Yankee Global Enterprises acquiring the club on August 30, 2022.


On-air staff


Current on-air staff

* Carlos Beltran - alternate Yankees game analyst * David Cone – lead Yankees game analyst * Jack Curry – Yankees studio analyst/fill-in clubhouse reporter *
Chris Carrino Chris Carrino is an American sports play-by-play announcer who works for Compass Media Networks, Westwood One, and WFAN. He is one of Compass' main voices of National Football League radio contests and is the radio voice of the Brooklyn Nets of th ...
– alternate play-by-play broadcaster for Nets * Ian Eagle – lead play-by-play broadcaster for Nets games * John Flaherty – Yankees game analyst * Richard Jefferson — Nets game analyst * Ian Joy — NYCFC game analyst * Michael Kay – lead play-by-play broadcaster for Yankees games; host of ''CenterStage''; host of "The Michael Kay Show" simulcast on YES * Sarah Kustok – Brooklyn Nets primary game analyst/fill-in Yankees sideline and clubhouse reporter * Don La Greca – co-host of "The Michael Kay Show" simulcast on YES * Bob Lorenz – lead studio host/fill-in play-by-play * Meredith Marakovits – Yankees sideline and clubhouse reporter * Cameron Maybin - alternate Yankees game/studio analyst * Jeff Nelson — fill-in Yankees game analyst * Nancy Newman – studio host and host of ''Yankees Magazine'' * Paul O'Neill – lead Yankees game analyst * Peter Rosenberg – co-host of "The Michael Kay Show" simulcast on YES * Ryan Ruocco – host of ''This Week in Football''; alternate play-by-play voice for both the Yankees and the Brooklyn Nets; back-up Yankees studio host/sideline and clubhouse reporter. Filled in for Michael Kay in the summer of 2019 for Yankees play-by-play * Chris Shearn – producer/on-air wrap-around host of ''The Michael Kay Show''; host of ''Yankees Batting Practice Today''; sideline reporter for college game broadcasts; Liberty play-by-play * Jim Spanarkel – Nets game/studio analyst * John Sterling – host of ''Yankeeography'' and ''Yankees Classics'' and fill-in play-by-play for Yankees Games *
Joe Tolleson Joe Tolleson is an American sports broadcaster. He has been the play-by-play broadcaster for New York City Football Club on the YES Network since their inaugural season in 2015 and the public address announcer for the New York Rangers since 2002 ...
— lead play-by-play broadcaster for NYCFC matches *
David Wells David Lee Wells (born May 20, 1963) is an American former baseball pitcher who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for nine teams, most notably the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees. Nicknamed "Boomer", Wells was considered on ...
– alternate Yankees game analyst Since the network's launch in 2002, longtime Yankee Stadium public address announcer Bob Sheppard has served as a
continuity announcer In broadcasting, continuity or presentation (or station break in the U.S. and Canada) is announcements, messages and graphics played by the broadcaster between specific programmes. It typically includes programme schedules, announcement of t ...
for YES' network identifications and programming schedules. Recordings of Sheppard are still used occasionally even though Sheppard died in 2010. Ian Eagle also sometimes provides continuity for on-air promotions during the Nets season, beginning in 2019, he was joined by Joe Tolleson, who provides network continuity during NYCFC's season.


Former on-air staff

* Marv Albert – lead play-by-play broadcaster for Nets games (2005–2011; previously worked at
NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and it ...
, TBS, TNT &
CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street (Manhattan), 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS ...
. Retired) * Greg Anthony – Brooklyn Nets game analyst. Now at
NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and it ...
, TBS, TNT,
CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street (Manhattan), 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS ...
& NBA TV * Michelle Beadle – Nets sideline reporter, correspondent, ''Yankees on Deck'', host, ''YES' Ultimate Road Trip'' (2005–2009; now a part of the San Antonio Spurs broadcast team *
Keith Byars Keith Alan Byars (born October 14, 1963) is an American sports broadcaster and former American football fullback in the National Football League for the Philadelphia Eagles, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots and New York Jets. Early lif ...
– co-host of ''This Week in Football'' *
Tim Capstraw Tim Capstraw (born September 14, 1960), nicknamed The Capper, is a color commentator for the Brooklyn Nets and NBA TV. Prior to becoming a sportscaster, Capstraw was the head basketball coach at Wagner College from 1989 to 1999. Coaching Capst ...
– Nets game analyst * Mike Fratello – Nets studio analyst * Joe Girardi – Yankees sideline reporter and game/studio analyst (2004, 2007) *
Fred Hickman Frederick Hickman (October 17, 1956 – November 9, 2022) was an American sports broadcaster with CNN, TBS, YES Network, and ESPN. He was later an anchor and managing editor for the evening newscast of the African-American cable news channel Bl ...
– studio host (2002–2004; now sports director at
Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...
affiliate
WVUE-DT WVUE-DT (channel 8) is a television station in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. Owned by Gray Television, the station maintains primary studios on Norman C. Francis Parkway in the city's Gert Town sectio ...
in New Orleans) *
Mark Jackson Mark A. Jackson (born April 1, 1965) is an American former professional basketball player. A point guard from St. John's University, he played for the New York Knicks, Los Angeles Clippers, Indiana Pacers, Denver Nuggets, Toronto Raptors, Utah ...
– Nets game analyst (2005–2008; now at
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
) * Kimberly Jones – Yankees sideline/clubhouse reporter (2005–2012; was at NFL Network) * David Justice – Yankees studio analyst; host of ''Yankees on Deck'' (2005–2007) * Jim Kaat – Yankees game analyst (2002–2006; now with MLB Network) * Al Leiter – Yankees game analyst (2006–2018; left the booth to focus on his family, including highly rated pitching prospect son, Jack) * Donny Marshall – Nets game analyst * Tino Martinez – Yankees game analyst (2010; served as hitting coach for the
Miami Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The fra ...
for part of the 2013 season) *
Bobby Murcer Bobby Ray Murcer (May 20, 1946 – July 12, 2008) was an American professional baseball outfielder who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball between 1965 and 1983. He played the majority of his career for the New York Yankees, whom he later ...
– Yankees game analyst/studio analyst (2002–2008; died on July 12, 2008) * Lou Piniella – Yankees game analyst * Jen Royle – Yankees sideline/clubhouse reporter (2003–2006; now a private chef) * Chris Russo – former co-presenter of ''Mike and the Mad Dog'' (2002–2008) * Charley Steiner – occasional host of Yankees-related programs (2002–2004; now a radio play-by-play broadcaster for the
Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brookly ...
) * Buck Showalter – Yankees studio analyst (now manager of the
New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major leagu ...
) *
Ken Singleton Kenneth Wayne Singleton (born June 10, 1947) is an American former professional baseball player and television sports commentator. He played in Major League Baseball as an outfielder and designated hitter from to , most prominently as a member ...
– Yankees game analyst/alternate play-by-play * Kelly Tripucka – Nets game analyst (2003–2005; now a New York Knicks studio analyst on MSG Network) * Suzyn Waldman – Yankees clubhouse reporter (2002–2004; now the game analyst for WFAN-AM/ FM radio)


Related services


YES2

YES2 is a gametime-only overflow feed of YES Network, which broadcasts select Nets games on rare occasions when the Nets and Yankees are scheduled to play at the same time. The feed is carried in both standard and high definition on most cable providers in the New York metropolitan area and nationwide on DirecTV.


YES Network HD

YES Network HD is a 1080i
high definition High definition or HD may refer to: Visual technologies *HD DVD, discontinued optical disc format *HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format *HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tape * HiDef, 24 frames-pe ...
simulcast feed of the network, which is carried on select cable providers (including
Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...
, Cablevision, DirecTV, RCN, Charter Spectrum and Verizon FiOS). , YES is currently owned by YES majority owner Yankee Global Enterprises and before the Disney acquisition (Fox's SportsTime Ohio and other networks; all of those were acquisitions rather than Fox-launched networks) that transmitted their HD simulcasts in 1080i, rather than the company's preferred
720p 720p (1280×720 px; also called HD ready, standard HD or just HD) is a progressive HDTV signal format with 720 horizontal lines/1280 columns and an aspect ratio (AR) of 16:9, normally known as widescreen HDTV (1.78:1). All major HDTV broadcas ...
format. When it launched in mid-July 2004, YES HD initially only televised all Yankees home games, as well as away games involving the
New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major leagu ...
and
Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eig ...
, in high definition. In 2005, YES began televising all Yankees games played east of the
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it ...
in high definition, with the network's HD telecasts expanding to encompass virtually all of the Yankees and Nets games in 2006. In addition to game telecasts, the network now also broadcasts all of its studio shows in HD. All YES-produced Yankees and Nets game telecasts aired on WWOR-TV began broadcasting in HD in September 2006; however while the HD feed of the games is available to these outlets, the HD telecasts were not necessarily distributed to television stations outside of the New York City area that simulcast WWOR's game broadcasts. In April 2007, YES converted the aspect ratio of its primary standard definition feed from full-screen to a letterboxed 4:3 format, which is a downconversion from the 16:9 high definition feed. The network's use of the AFD #10 broadcast flag to transmit its HD feed in this manner for broadcast in SD predates its use by other national cable networks such as
Fox News Channel The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is ...
,
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
and CNN. YES Network borrowed time on Cablevision's "iO TV 1300" service and on DirecTV to carry the first baseball game ever transmitted in 3D on July 10 and 11, 2010, when the Yankees faced the Seattle Mariners; the 3D telecast of the game was also distributed to other cable providers.


National feed

YES Network maintains a national feed available to select cable providers outside of the New York City market – including
Spectrum A spectrum (plural ''spectra'' or ''spectrums'') is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary, without gaps, across a continuum. The word was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of color ...
(as well as areas once served by Bright House Networks (on its systems in Tampa and Orlando), Verizon FiOS (in certain markets). The feed does not include the network's live game telecasts (with alternate programming airing in their place), however it does carry the pre-game and post-game shows that bookend Yankees and Nets games aired by YES within the market. This feed differs from the satellite feed of the network available on DirecTV, in which Yankees and/or Nets games can be viewed outside of the teams' markets through a subscription to MLB Extra Innings and/or NBA League Pass. The YES national feed was launched on July 31, 2003 on cable systems in
Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...
, Dallas–Fort Worth,
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
and
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...
.


YES in Connecticut

In 2009, the network launched a feed for Connecticut: YES-CT.


Controversies


Carriage disputes

At its launch, YES became embroiled in a carriage dispute with Cablevision (which attempted to purchase the Yankees in 1998 and carried the team's games on MSG Network at the time of the channel's launch), leaving the Yankees' game telecasts not available to the provider's game telecasts for an entire year; this led the New York state government to intervene and serve as negotiator for a temporary carriage agreement between YES and Cablevision. In 2003, the two sides eventually signed a long-term contract to carry the network on Cablevision's New York area systems. This situation was very similar to another lengthy dispute that Cablevision entered into with MSG Network, after that network assumed the regional cable television rights to the Yankees in 1989 from Cablevision-owned SportsChannel New York.
Dish Network DISH Network Corporation (DISH, an acronym for DIgital Sky Highway) is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling TV ...
is the only pay television provider available in the New York City area that does not carry YES Network. The satellite provider has indicated that it would not offer the network unless it negotiates a lower per-channel subscriber fee due to concerns that the rates the network offered could force the provider to increase the pricing of its programming packages. YES, however, has a most favored nation clause with all of its cable and satellite providers, in which all of the network's other carriage agreements would be voided if it lowered its subscriber rate for a single provider. Former YES minority owner Goldman Sachs also maintains an ownership stake in Dish Network parent Echostar. Time Warner Cable relocated YES from channel 30 to channel 53 on its New York City area systems in March 2008, soon after the New York City Council approved a measure to provide the Yankees public funding to build a new stadium. Simultaneously, Time Warner Cable moved business news channel
Bloomberg Television Bloomberg Television (on-air as Bloomberg) is an American-based pay television network focusing on business and capital market programming, owned by Bloomberg L.P. It is distributed globally, reaching over 310 million homes worldwide. It is he ...
to YES' former channel 30 slot, all while renegotiating its ten-year contract with Mayor
Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner, co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He was Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a c ...
(owner of Bloomberg Television parent Bloomberg L.P.) and the city of New York. In 2016,
Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...
(who are part owners of Sportsnet New York) dropped the YES Network. The blackout ended on March 31, 2017, just in time for the start of the 2017 New York Yankees season.


Coverage issues

In 2003, Don Zimmer (then employed with the Yankees as a bench coach) expressed criticism of team owner George Steinbrenner in interviews with certain local media outlets. After this came to light, it was later rumored that, in response, Steinbrenner ordered YES not to show Zimmer on-camera during its Yankee telecasts. In April 2005, YES declined to broadcast pre-game Opening Day festivities celebrating the Boston Red Sox' 2004 World Series championship win prior to its telecast of a Red Sox home game against the Yankees at Fenway Park. YES was roundly criticized for this move, including its decision to use a fixed camera shot focused tightly on correspondent Kimberly Jones as she described the events surrounding her in general terms. Yankees players not only witnessed the ceremonies, but graciously applauded them from the top steps of their dugout. Perhaps due to this incident, YES broadcast the majority of the ceremonies honoring the Red Sox' celebration of the 100th Anniversary of Fenway Park in 2012. During the 2005 season, New York City area newspapers reported that the post-game questions asked to Yankees manager Joe Torre by Kimberly Jones were being sent to her by top-level team executives (quite possibly on directives from George Steinbrenner), and that Torre did not feel comfortable answering them. For the 2006 and 2007 seasons, Torre, who had been paid a fee by YES to give exclusive interviews after each Yankees game, ended his agreement with the network. YES now sends its reporter to the regular pre-game and post-game media sessions with other broadcast outlets.


Notes


External links

*
Official Information On YES HD
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yes Network Sports television networks in the United States Television channels and stations established in 2002 2019 mergers and acquisitions Companies based in Stamford, Connecticut Private equity portfolio companies Providence Equity Partners companies 2002 establishments in New York (state) Television stations in New York City Yankee Global Enterprises