NEW YORK, March 28 (UPI) -- YES Network -- the broadcasting arm of the New York Yankees -- said Friday that Cablevision has pulled out of a proposed deal that would have provided broadcast coverage of the 26-time world champions to nearly three million cable subscribers in the greater metropolitan area.
According to a release by the YES Network, Cablevision failed to sign a final version of the draft document that both parties exchanged on March 12.
"We really don't know why Cablevision has walked away from this deal, which reflected compromises on both sides of the table," YES Network chairman Leo Hindery, Jr. said. "After a series of meetings with the facilitators, we thought we had a framework on March 12 for the final agreements, and in good faith we participated in a press conference announcing the tentative deal.
"Though YES made numerous attempts to find common ground, Cablevision still refused to sign the agreements. Cablevision refused to meet with YES, set an arbitrary midnight deadline on Thursday for the conclusion of negotiations and despite executable agreements provided by YES and pleas by YES to continue the talks, Cablevision refused."
The dispute is the latest between the entities, which have been at odds since the Yankees decided to start their own cable channel in time for the 2002 season. Last year's impass, which stemmed from a rate dispute, kept Yankees games off Cablevision for the entire season and generated bitter feelings.
On March 12, the sides agreed to a tentative deal, a pact that was touted as the end of the feud and even resulted in an appearance by New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg, who brokered the entities to the negotiating table.
YES is slated to broadcast the Yankees' opener on Monday.
"We have been working to bring the YES Network to Cablevision's subscribers for over a year now and we provided significant concessions to Cablevision in the agreements," Hindery said. "We remain willing, as we always have been, to meet with Cablevision and to close the deal we jointly announced on March 12.
"This agreement can still be closed in a matter of hours if Cablevision will work with us to get the final documents signed. Right now, however, as hard as it is to believe, it seems that the YES Network will again be missing on Cablevision when their fans go looking for them."
The YES Network is available to viewers in New York, Connecticut, and large parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The cable channel is slated to broadcast 134 games in 2003.
