Fox Sports and Religion of Sports will profile the memorable 2004 New York Yankees-Boston Red Sox American League Championship Series in a new sports documentary debuting October 18. 

The Game That Changed Everything: Yankees vs. Red Sox ‘04 ALCS will focus on Game 4 of the baseball series in which the Red Sox — already down 3-0 in the series — scored a come-from-behind win, which served as a prelude to the team’s historic defeat of the Yankees in the series and eventual World Series championship. 

The documentary will feature interviews with players involved in the series, including Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, David Ortiz, Mariano Rivera, Johnny Damon, Kevin Millar, Dave Roberts and Orlando Cabrera. 

The Game That Changed Everything: Yankees vs. Red Sox ’04 ALCS is executive produced by Gotham Chopra, Ameeth Sankaran, Victor Buhler, Eric Shanks, Mark Silverman, Charlie Dixon and Barry Nugent.

“Fox Sports is thrilled to commemorate one of the most iconic stories in baseball as retold through varying perspectives of some of the best players and sports personalities in Major League Baseball,” Fox Sports VP of development and original programming Barry Nugent said in a statement. “As Fox is the exclusive home of the ALCS this postseason, we’re excited to present a never-before-seen interpretation of arguably one of the greatest games in ALCS history to reignite fan enthusiasm behind this iconic series.”

YES Network said that it launched a YES Rewards loyalty program for users of its streaming app.

The program, created with LiveLike, lets users who sign up to earn gift cards for watching live New York Yankees baseball games (and Brooklyn Nets or New York Liberty basketball games in the future), watching other YES programming or playing games on the app.

“The YES App was designed to connect fans to their favorite teams while offering an innovative and engaging feature set,” Jonathan Zarrilli, manager of strategy and business development at YES Network, said. “YES Rewards, powered by LiveLike, will tie all of these features together into one ecosystem intended to reward our most engaged fans. We look forward to exploring all the ways that ‘YES Rewards’ can be used to build community and expose users to everything that the YES App has to offer.”

The YES app is available to viewers of the New York-area regional sports network who are traditional pay TV subscribers and as a direct-to-consumer product.

“As the sports streaming landscape changes, it is more important than ever to be bringing value to fans and subscribers year-round, and the YES App has invested a lot of resources into developing innovative features that put fans first and lean into the power of community,” Miheer Valavalker, co-founder and CEO of LiveLike, said. “We are delighted to be working closely with the YES team to now incentivize fans to use these features and reward them for showing their passion for their New York sports teams.”

This weekend’s lineup of live tv sports events starts on the basketball court as the WNBA tips off its 2023 season.

The league, which is coming off a strong ratings run during its 2022 campaign and which welcomes back star Brittney Griner after her detention in a Russian prison, will feature two Saturday games on ABC pitting the Atlanta Dream against the Dallas Wings, and the defending league champions Las Vegas Aces against the Seattle Storm.    

In the NBA, ABC will air Game 3 of the Western Conference championship between the Denver Nuggets and the Los Angeles Lakers, with Denver up two games to none in the series. On Sunday, TNT will air Game 3 of the Boston Celtics-Miami Heat Eastern Conference championship series.

On the ice, TNT will televise Game 2 of the Florida Panthers-Carolina Hurricanes NHL Eastern Conference Finals while ABC on Sunday will air Game 2 of the Dallas Stars-Vegas Golden Knights Western Conference Finals. 

In the boxing ring, ESPN Plus Saturday will distribute a pay-per-view card headlined by the Devin Haney-Vasiliy Lomachenko undisputed lightweight championship fight. ESPN Plus will also distribute a Saturday UFC Fight Night card featuring a main event women’s strawweight bout between Mackenzie Dern and Angela Hill. 

On the baseball diamond, Peacock on Sunday will stream the New York Yankees-Cincinnati Reds game, while ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball telecast will pit  the Cleveland Indians against the New York Mets. 

ESPN and CBS will offer final round weekend coverage of the PGA Championship golf tournament, while Fox on Sunday will air the Professional Bowlers Association’s Super Slam Cup tournament. 

On the football field, week six of the USFL season kicks off Saturday with USA Network's telecast of the Pittsburgh Maulers-Memphis Showboats game while Fox airs the Birmingham Stallions-Michigan Panthers matchup. Sunday’s action includes FS1’s New Orleans Breakers-Philadelphia Stars telecast and Fox’s New Jersey Generals-Houston Gamblers game. 

On the track, NBC on Saturday will air The Preakness Stakes, the second leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown. 

DirecTV for Business said it reached an agreement with Amazon that will bring all 20 New York Yankees games that will be streamed on Prime Video to DirecTV business customers in the New York area.

DirecTV for Business services establishments such as restaurants, bars, hotel lounges and retail stores.

“For decades, DirecTV has given sports fans all over the country access to their favorite teams how and where they want to watch them,” DirecTV chief content officer Rob Thun said. “There arguably isn’t a more fervent fan base in sports than that of the New York Yankees. We look forward to bringing those fans even more Yankees games to watch at their favorite local bars, restaurants and other commercial establishments where DirecTV already delivers our market-leading sports content offering.”

DirecTV for Business also offers Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football,
and Apple TV Plus’s Friday Night Baseball and MLS Season Pass soccer.

DirecTV for Business had long beamed NFL Sunday Ticket into business establishments. But after the NFL moved Sunday Ticket from DirecTV to YouTube, it entered into a joint venture with RedBird Capital Partners to stream Sunday Ticket into bars and restaurants. DirecTV said it was in talks with RedBird about continuing to deliver Sunday Ticket to establishments via satellite.

The 20-game regular season schedule on Prime Video begins Tuesday when the Yankees host the Philadelphia Phillies.

As it promised, the YES Network, the regional sports network home of baseball’s New York Yankees and pro basketball’s Brooklyn Nets and New York Liberty, is launching a direct-to-consumer streaming product in time for the Yankees’ 2023 regular season opener. 

Starting Wednesday, consumers in the New York region can pay $19.99 a month, or $199.99 for a full year, to stream the YES Network sans a pay TV subscription via the YES app. 

Those who sign up after April 30 will pay the regular price of $24.99 a month or $239.99 annually. 

YES remains distributed, for now, on Altice USA’s Optimum, Charter Spectrum, Verizon Fios TV, Comcast Xfinity, DirecTV and DirecTV Stream, Blue Ridge Communications and Cox Contour, among other pay TV platforms.

Customers of those services can still stream YES, TV Everywhere style, via the RSN's app at no additional cost. 

The YES app is widely supported by Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Google TV, Apple TV and Samsung-connected TV operating systems, 

“For more than 20 years, YES has provided fans with a best-in-class sports viewing experience,” said Jon D. Litner, CEO of the YES Network, in a statement. “Fans continue to tune in to and engage with YES in record numbers for the most in-depth and most innovative coverage of our teams and our other award-winning programming. With this new direct-to-consumer offering, we are broadening our reach by making YES available to more fans in our regional footprint than ever before.”

Notably, just like last season, 20 YES Network-produced Yankees telecasts will be exclusively distributed by Amazon Prime Video, with the SVOD’s subscribers able to stream the games at no additional cost. 

The Yankees are YES’s largest shareholder, but the channel is co-owned by Byron Allen's Entertainment Studios ... and Sinclair Broadcast Group, which recently filed for bankruptcy for its fully owned collection of Bally Sports-branded regional sports networks. 

The broader regional sports networks business has suffered recently, as cord-cutting has eroded its distribution base while sports team constituents continue to up their licensing demands. 

A number of RSNs have gone over the top, but it remains to be seen if this is a long-term solution for their distribution woes … or if it will merely alienate their struggling pay TV operator partners. 

The Bally Sports channels went DTC last summer, but with only five of the 14 Major League Baseball teams under the RSNs’ banner agreeing to license their digital rights for Bally Sports Plus.

Sinclair, which operates its RSNs through its Diamond Sports Group subsidiary, has yet to release any customer metrics on Bally Sports Plus, which first entered beta in June of last year. 

Just prior to the Bally Sports Plus launch, New England Sports Network, RSN home of MLB's Boston Red Sox and the NHL’s Boston Bruins, hoisted NESN 360. But NESN, too, has been cagey about releasing DTC uptake data. ■

Amazon said the Yankees are coming back to Prime Video.

This season, 20 regular-season New York Yankees baseball games will be available to Amazon Prime members at no additional cost, starting with the Bronx Bombers playing the Philadelphia Phillies on April 4.

The games are available to viewers in the Yankees’ home viewing area of New York State, Connecticut, Northern and Central New Jersey and Northeast Pennsylvania.

Also Read: Digital Sportsplay: YES Network Keeps Taking Big Tech Swings

YES Network’s broadcast team, in collaboration with Prime Video, will return to produce the 20 Prime Video games. YES Network’s Michael Kay will handle play-by-play, joined by YES analysts David Cone, Paul O’Neill, John Flaherty and Jeff Nelson. 

Yankees games on Prime Video will again feature Amazon’s X-Ray technology, powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS), allowing viewer access to live in-game stats, team and player details, and real-time play-by-play information

Prime Video’s 30-minute pregame show also returns, with YES’s Meredith Marakovits hosting before home games. ■

ESPN will shine a light on the storied history of the New York Yankees baseball franchise in a new documentary series.

The eight-part documentary, The Yankees Win, will look at the most successful franchise in baseball history with 27 World Series championship wins, with a focus on the team’s 50-year run since iconic owner George Steinbrenner bought the team in 1973, according to network officials.

The series will chronicle every chapter of Yankees history, told through interviews with players, managers, coaches, executives, writers, commentators, and fans, said the network. 

ESPN Films along with Major League Baseball, Words + Pictures, Hock Films, Bad Robot and Zipper Bros Films will produce The Yankees Win. J.J. Abrams, Glen Zipper, Connor Schell, Libby Geist, Annie Sundberg, Ricki Stern, Nick Trotta and Sean Stuart will serve as executive producers for the documentary series. ■

Major League Baseball will launch its first ever Wild Card Series round of postseason games Friday, with ESPN, ABC and ESPN2 airing all games from four, best-of-three game series.

The new format, which added new Wild Card teams in both the American and National Leagues, debuts October 7 with first games of four three-game series: Cleveland Guardians-Tampa Bay Rays on ESPN; St. Louis Cardinals-Philadelphia Phillies on ABC; Toronto Blue Jays-Seattle Mariners on ESPN; and New York Mets-San Diego Padres on ESPN, according to network officials. 

Saturday's games include Tampa Bay-Cleveland (ESPN2), Seattle-Toronto (ESPN), San Diego-Mets (ESPN) and Philadelphia-St. Louis (ESPN2). 

If necessary, Sunday’s games start with Seattle-Toronto (ABC), Tampa Bay-Cleveland (ESPN), San Diego-Mets (ESPN) and Philadelphia-St. Louis (ESPN2).

The winners of the two American League Wild Card Series will play the two highest-seed division champions, the New York Yankees and Houston Astros, while the National League Wild Card series winners will face the top-seeded division champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves. ■ 

The live TV sports schedule for the first weekend of fall begins on the baseball diamond, as ESPN on Sunday will showcase New York Yankees’ star Aaron Judge’s historic season as the Yankees host the rival Boston Red Sox. 

Going into Friday night’s Yankees-Red Sox game, Judge was one home run away from Tying Roger Maris’ American League regular-season record of 61 round trippers, and was on pace to become the league's first triple crown winner since Miguel Cabrera accomplished the feat in 2012.

On the college football front, top-ranked Georgia faces Kent State on ESPN Plus while second-ranked Alabama hosts Vanderbilt on the SEC Network. Third-ranked Ohio State plays Wisconsin on ABC and fourth-ranked Michigan hosts Maryland on Fox. Fifth-ranked Clemson battles No. 21 Wake Forest on ABC. 

Other games include No. 6 Oklahoma-Kansas State (Fox), No. 7 USC-Oregon State (Pac-12 Network), and No.10 Arkansas-Texas A&M (ESPN).

In the boxing ring, retired former boxing champion Floyd Mayweather will fight mixed martial arts fighter Mikuru Asakura Saturday night in a pay-per-view exhibition fight from Japan. PPV.com will distribute the event, which carries a suggested retail price of $29.99. 

On the soccer field, Peacock, USA and NBC will air eight live Premier League games on Saturday, while FS2 airs three UEFA Nations League games on Sunday.

On the links, NBC and Golf Channel will feature final round coverage of the President’s Cup golf tournament, while on Sunday CBS will televise coverage from the Professional Bull Riders.

Action from the the third week of the NFL season begins Sunday afternoon with regional game coverage on CBS and Fox, as well as NBC's Sunday Night Football telecast of the San Francisco 49'ers-Denver Broncos matchup.■ 

ESPN will shine a light on the 1970s rivalry between baseball's New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers in a new documentary set to premiere September 27. 

The documentary, Yankees-Dodgers: An Uncivil War, follows the story of the two legendary franchises as they met in back-to-back World Series in 1977 and 1978. The documentary, produced by Mark Shapiro and Peter Guber, highlights a rivalry filled with colorful characters, seismic controversies and unforgettable moments, said the network. 

Yankees-Dodgers: An Uncivil War features interviews with former Yankees and Dodgers players including Reggie Jackson, Steve Garvey, Ron Guidry, Bucky Dent, Tommy John, Willie Randolph, Ron Cey, Dusty Baker and Graig Nettles, as well as writers and reporters who covered the teams at the time, ESPN said.

“I love baseball and I love heavyweight boxing ... the chance to do a heavyweight fight in baseball was irresistible,” Guber said. “There was no ‘crying in baseball’ unless you were the loser in the ’70s of the Dodgers vs. Yankees uncivil war.” ■ 

Amazon Prime Video will kick off its exclusive NFL Thursday Night Football package on September 15 when the Los Angeles Chargers meet the Kansas City Chiefs. The regular-season schedule highlights the streaming service's growing lineup of live sports programming.

But TNF, which premiered on August 25 with an exclusive Houston Texans-San Francisco 49ers preseason game, is just part of a mix of live sports events the streaming service hopes to use to lure in fans. The Prime Video lineup also includes regular-season WNBA basketball games, mixed martial arts events from One Championship and exclusive in-market New York Yankees baseball games and Seattle Storm WNBA games.  

Amazon VP of global sports video Marie Donoghue recently spoke to Multichannel News about Prime Video’s live sports aspirations and what the genre adds to the overall value of the streaming service. Here’s an edited transcript of that discussion. 

MCN: How do you see live sports programming fitting into the overall value proposition for Prime Video? 

Marie Donoghue: As you know, Prime is a membership benefit, and so live marquee sports is what we call a headline benefit. We have the NFL — probably the most popular sport in the U.S. — with our Thursday Night Football deal, which we’re really, really excited to launch this season with our first game on September 15. It’s a massive investment for us and we've based it on our track record working with the NFL over the last several years, as well as the experience we've had in Europe. We've been showing top-tier sports for several years with the Premier League in the U.K. and the Champions League in Italy and Germany, Ligue 1 in France and the U.S. Open tennis tournament in the U.K. We know for sure that top marquee sports programming really resonates with our customers, so it's become an essential part of our service in several countries. 

MCN: What drew Prime Video to the WNBA and how has it performed for the streaming service?

MD: We’re huge fans of the WNBA, and overall we saw increased viewership this season for the WNBA. Last year they were developing the Commissioner’s Cup (the WNBA's mid-season tournament), so we thought it would be an awesome opportunity to serve our fans. I think fans really liked it because you get to see the top teams compete.

MCN: Along with the NFL and WNBA, Prime Video has also streamed live local games for such teams as the WNBA’s Seattle Storm, Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees and MLS’s Seattle Sounders FC. Is that a strategy that you will look to continue with other teams in other sports? 

MD: Yes, we look at everything. We always consider whether there is a way for us to improve the experience, the accessibility and the value for fans. We found with the Sounders, the Yankees and the Storm that that was all true. We were able to reach an audience that isn't reached by the traditional pay TV bundle, and we've also been able to provide great value to our subscribers — you get the games with your Prime membership. 

MCN: Prime Video has also stepped into the combat-sports ring with One Championship. Does that franchise offer a different sports appeal to Prime Video subscribers than the WNBA or NFL fotball? 

MD: One Championship is the world’s largest martial arts organization, and we’re bringing them live in primetime to the U.S. and Canada exclusively. They are primarily based out of Singapore, but next year we’ll have some events from the US. Those fans are incredibly passionate and engaged and the One Championship organization is fairly unique, and I’m particularly pleased that they treat female athletes equally. We’re really excited about working with them. ■

This weekend’s lineup of live TV sports action starts on the baseball diamond as the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox continue their longtime rivalry.

On Saturday night Fox will televise the Yankees-Red Sox game from Fenway Park, while ESPN on Sunday will air the rubber game of the series as part of its Sunday Night Baseball presentation.

Also from the baseball diamond, Peacock on Sunday will stream the San Diego Padres-Washington Nationals game.

In the boxing ring, ESPN on Saturday will televise the Teofimo Lopez-Pedro Campa junior welterweight fight, while in the octagon ESPN will air the Marlon Vera-Dominick Cruz UFC bantamweight fight.

On the links NBC and Golf Channel will offer final round coverage of the PGA St. Jude Championship golf championship, while on the soccer field USA, NBC and Peacock will air a combined nine Premier League games over the weekend.

ABC will offer a Sunday WNBA doubleheader telecast featuring the Minnesota Lynx-Connecticut Sun and the Seattle Storm-Las Vegas Aces games. ■  

This weekend’s list of live TV sports events starts on the tennis court with the final round of the Wimbledon tennis tournament on ESPN. On Saturday Ons Jabeur will face Elena Rybakina in the women’s finals, while on Sunday Nick Kyrgios will battle top-seeded Novak Djokovic for the men’s title. 

ABC will replay the women’s finals match on Saturday afternoon and the men’s finals event on Sunday afternoon. 

On the racetrack, FS1 on Saturday will televise the NASCAR Truck O’Reilly Auto Parts 150 race, while USA Network offers up coverage of the Xfinity Alsco Uniforms 250 race. On Sunday ESPN will televise the Formula One Australian Grand Prix while USA televises the NASCAR Cup Quaker State 400. 

On the links, NBC will televise the final rounds of the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament, while CBS and the Golf Channel will provide weekend coverage of the DP World Scottish Open golf tournament. 

Peacock’s Sunday afternoon baseball game features the Los Angeles Angels against the Baltimore Orioles while ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball telecast will pit the New York Yankees against the Boston Red Sox.

In the boxing ring, Showtime on Saturday will televise the Mark Magsayo-Rey Vargas World Boxing Council featherweight title fight. In the octagon, ESPN will carry Saturday’s Brian Ortega-Yair Rodriguez featherweight match.■  

YES Network is celebrating the first anniversary of its streaming app by continuing to develop technological innovations to enhance sports fans’ viewing experience. 

The YES app, which launched last April and streams live New York Yankees baseball, Brooklyn Nets and New York Liberty basketball and New York City FC soccer action, is providing fans with unique, in-game interactive experiences with features such as in-game statistical overlays, watch party offerings, favorite player highlights and other information.

In March, YES added a free Pick-N-Play Live experience to Nets telecasts that allows users to predict in-game situations such as which players will score the most points in the game or which team will commit the next turnover. Users can keep track of their points through a live, onscreen leaderboard that’s updated during the live game telecast and compete for prizes like gift cards or team merchandise.

YES VP of strategy and business development Matt Duarte spoke to Multichannel News about the network’s continuing app development strategy. Here’s an edited transcript of that conversation.  

Also: Sinclair and Charter Reach Deal, Includes Bally Sports RSNs, YES Network 

MCN: How is YES Network positioning its app to increase usage and time spent on the offering?

Matt Duarte: We see the app as a new way to connect with our existing audience in a more engaging way that has multiple touch points throughout the day. We have a finite inventory on our linear channel, but with the app there are multiple ways for us to engage with and create a unique viewing experience tailored to individual fans through the introduction of the things that we've done with respect to stats, overlays, watch party features and free-to-play games. Our latest Pick-N-Play Live game that we recently introduced allows the user to really customize how they would like to watch the game. Some people are really stats-heavy and want to watch that way, while some people want to talk to their buddies down the road — this allows them a way to make that happen. It’s really become a digital destination for all of our fans across our teams. We’re able to really push the envelope from a technological perspective to create the best possible experience throughout our game and our other content.

MCN: The Pick-N-Play Live offering is not quite gambling, but do you foresee an opportunity where the app could be used for legal gambling at some point?

MD: I think it's a really good question, but for now we're really in the first steps in terms of what we're trying to do with this product, which is really engagement and lengthening the amount of time that we can get our fans to interact physically with our product and our content. I think the name of the game for [Pick-N-Play] specifically is to increase that engagement and watch time, and also to provide motivation for a larger group of fans who like to gamify the experience to really come in and watch a few games. I think down the line it could be more of a conversation of how exactly strategically we want to play in that field, but right now it's all about engagement, playing to those competitive juices and trying to play some games and win some prizes. 

MCN: Is there one particular feature users are gravitating to on a nightly basis? 

MD: I think there's been growth across all of the different features, but specifically it’s the live stats, given its longevity in terms of how long we've had it and the ways that we've improved upon it from a design perspective. We’ve added a live pitch cast from last year’s Yankees season that allows users to actually see the location of the balls and strikes on the screen and see the different matchups between hitters and pitchers over the last few years. It almost looks like it's part of the actual linear broadcast which is cool.

In addition, you will see factoids and trivia questions about our game that our digital team curates throughout the course of the game, which is really cool as well. For big games and big moments, the watch party feature has been really popular. If there's a close game with five minutes in the fourth quarter, viewers can go in and then invite a friend to watch Kevin Duran hit a game-winning jump shot. It's a really cool experience to be able to do that. 

MCN: Is there a specific metric you can provide to quantify the app’s usage on a game-by-game basis?

MD: We introduced a favorite player feature where we actually allowed fans to go into the app and select their favorite players. At that point, we’re able to curate and send highlights and different content around those different players to the actual fan. Between that and the rollout of the watch party feature, we’ve seen a 53% increase in viewership for the app since the [February] NBA All-Star break in terms of unique viewers per game for the Nets. I’m not going to say that the team’s performance didn’t also help increase viewership during that time, but you can see that the fan base is obviously interested in using the features when they tune in. We’re hoping to capitalize on that momentum and that wave heading into the Yankee season.

MCN: Is there any concern that the app becomes so popular with fans that it actually siphons viewers away from the linear YES Network? 

MD: It's really a companion where you can watch not only the game, but also interact with it as a second-screen experience. We think those play really well, especially the free Pick-N-Play game. I think it's all about optionality and offering our fans access no matter where they are and on whatever platform they have to really expand that usage and make sure they can watch their favorite teams whenever they can. ■ 

Tiger Woods’ return to PGA tournament competition leads this weekend’s list of televised sports events.

Woods is competing in this weekend’s Masters tournament less than 17 months after suffering severe leg injuries in a horrific car crash. The tournament, which airs live on CBS, is the first major PGA event for Woods since playing in the 2020 Masters tournament.

Also: Tiger Woods' Comeback Gives ESPN Masters Coverage 21% Boost in Viewers

On the diamond, Major League Baseball’s opening weekend showcases five live games on MLB Network, concluding with ESPN’s first Sunday Night Baseball telecast featuring a game between heated rivals the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. 

In the ring, DAZN will feature the International Boxing Federation middleweight title fight between champion Gennady Golovkin and challenger Ryota Murata. Showtime will feature a main event bout between junior middleweights Erickson Lubin and Sebastian Fundora. 

ESPN Plus will enter the octagon Saturday with the UFC 273 pay-per-view event featuring a main event featherweight championship matchup between titleholder Alexander Volkanovski and Chan Sung Jung.

On the ice, ABC Saturday will air the Washington Capitals-Pittsburgh Penguins NHL game, while on Sunday TNT will air a doubleheader featuring the Boston Bruins-Washington Capitals and the Nashville Predators-Penguins game. 

The NBA enters the final weekend of its regular season with Sunday games on ESPN (Indiana Pacers-Brooklyn Nets) and TNT (Boston Bruins-Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors-New Orleans Pelicans.)

USA, NBC and Peacock will feature more than nine Premier League games combined on Saturday and Sunday. ESPN and FS1 will feature Major League Soccer games over the weekend. NBC will feature the IndyCar Grand Prix of Long Beach auto race. ■    

Amazon Prime Video will begin exclusively streaming New York Yankees games later this month, with 19 of the 21 games in the package airing on Friday nights. 

Amazon Prime Video began streaming simulcast Yankees games with broadcasters and the YES Network in 2020,  but this is the first time it has exclusive rights for the games. The games will be available at no additional cost to Prime members in the Yankees’ home-team footprint of New York state, Connecticut, north and central New Jersey, and northeast Pennsylvania, with the first contest scheduled for Friday, April 22, as the Yankees host the Cleveland Guardians.

News of the exclusivity of the deal was first reported by The New York Post. 

Amazon’s X-Ray technology, which allows viewers to access live in-game stats, team and player details, and real-time play-by-play information for fans streaming on Android, iOS mobile, and Fire TV, will again be available to Amazon Prime subscribers. Games will be available for replay on Prime Video for 48 hours following their conclusion. Prime Video’s live Yankees games will be available to MLB.TV subscribers outside the Yankees’ home team footprint. 

The games and accompanying Prime Video studio shows will be produced by YES’ Emmy-winning broadcast team, in collaboration with Prime Video. Prime Video’s popular pregame show will return as an extended 30-minute segment hosted by YES’ Meredith Marakovits to preview the evening’s game, highlight marquee matchups and top players, and provide key insights and stats.

YES’ play-by-play announcer Michael Kay will be behind the mic for Prime Video’s Yankees in-game coverage, joined by YES analysts David Cone, Paul O’Neill, Carlos Beltran, John Flaherty, and Cameron Maybin, while Marakovits will be the clubhouse reporter. Prime Video’s coverage will also include a postgame wrap hosted by YES talent, featuring in-game highlights and live press conferences with Yankees manager Aaron Boone. ■ 

Here is the full schedule for exclusive games on Prime Video:

• Friday, April 22 vs. Cleveland Guardians – 7 p.m.
• Friday, May 6 vs. Texas Rangers – 7 p.m.
• Friday, May 13 @ Chicago White Sox – 8 p.m.
• Friday, May 20 vs. Chicago White Sox – 7 p.m.
• Friday, May 27 @ Tampa Bay Rays – 7 p.m.
• Friday, June 10 vs. Chicago Cubs – 7:05 p.m.
• Friday, June 24 vs. Houston Astros – 7 p.m.
• Friday, July 1 @ Cleveland Guardians – 7 p.m.
• Friday, July 8 @ Boston Red Sox – 7 p.m.
• Friday, July 15 vs. Boston Red Sox – 7 p.m.
• Friday, July 22 @ Baltimore Orioles – 7 p.m.
• Friday, July 29 vs. Kansas City Royals – 7 p.m.
• Friday, August 5  @ St. Louis Cardinals – 8 p.m.
• Tuesday, August 16 vs. Tampa Bay Rays – 7 p.m.
• Friday, August 19 vs. Toronto Blue Jays – 7 p.m.
• Tuesday, August 23  vs. New York Mets – 7 p.m.
• Friday, August 26  @ Oakland Athletics – 9:30 p.m.
• Friday, September 9 vs. Tampa Bay Rays – 7 p.m.
• Friday, September 16  @ Milwaukee Brewers – 8 p.m.
• Friday, September 23  vs. Boston Red Sox – 7 p.m.
• Friday, September 30  vs. Baltimore Orioles – 7 p.m.

All game times EDT. Schedule subject to change.

The live TV sports schedule for the last weekend of September starts on the baseball diamond as the race for the playoff heats up with only one week left in the regular season. ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball will telecast the game between bitter rivals the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox as they battle for an American League wild card playoff berth. 

In other sports NBC and Golf Channel will provide weekend coverage of pro golf’s Ryder Cup tournament. NBCSN will offer tripleheader Premier League soccer action on Saturday, while FS1 and ESPN air Major League Soccer telecasts on Sunday.

Week three of the NFL continues Sunday with regional action from Fox and CBS Sunday afternoon along with NBC’s Sunday Night Football game coverage between NFC rivals Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49’ers.

The WNBA playoffs continue on ABC with the Phoenix Mercury traveling to Seattle to meet the defending WNBA champion Storm. 

National broadcast and cable networks will carry college football games from nine of the top 10 ranked teams in action as the season enters its fourth week. The SEC Network’s cameras will follow top-ranked Alabama as the team travels to play Southern Miss, as well as second ranked Georgia as it plays Vanderbilt.

ESPN will air third ranked Oregon’s game against rival Oregon, ABC will televise No. 4 Oklahoma against West Virginia and FS1 will carry No.5 Iowa versus Colorado State. The rest of the games include No. 6 Penn State-Villanova (Big Ten Network), No. 7 Texas A&M-No. 16 Arkansas (CBS), No. 9 Clemson-NC State (ESPN) and No. 10 Ohio State-Akron (Big Ten Network). 

ESPN Plus will distribute the UFC 266 pay-per-view fight card featuring a main event match between featherweights Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega. 

This weekend’s list of live TV sports events starts on the baseball field with ABC's Saturday coverage of the Little League World Series semifinals between Ohio and South Dakota and Michigan and Hawaii. ESPN on Sunday will air the World Series Championship as well as the third place game.

ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball telecast will feature the New York Yankees against the Oakland A's.

In other sports, NBC and NBCSN will offer weekend coverage of the Paralympics events from Tokyo. NBC will also team with Golf Channel to offer weekend coverage of the PGA BMW Championship golf event. 

The 2021 college football season kicks off with several contests on Saturday, highlighted by the Nebraska-Illinois afternoon game on Fox. ESPN will televise the Hawaii-UCLA game while CBSSN offers coverage of the UConn-Fresno State contest.

NBC on Saturday will televise the NASCAR Cup Coke Zero Sugar 400 auto race, while ESPN on Sunday will televise the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix event. 

On the soccer field NBC and CNBC will offer live Saturday Premier League soccer game telecasts, while NBCSN will feature Saturday and Sunday morning league games. Fox will lead the weekend's MLS coverage with the LA Galaxy-LAFC contest, with FS1 and ESPN offering Sunday morning league coverage.

The NFL pre-season ends this weekend with several Sunday national broadcast TV airings including CBS' Miami-Cincinnati game and NBC's Cleveland-Atlanta contest.

Showtime on Sunday will distribute a pay-per-view boxing match between YouTube sensation Jake Paul and former mixed martial arts world champion Tyron Woodley. On Saturday, ESPN will televise a live UFC Fight Night card featuring the Edson Barboza-Giga Chikadze featherweight main event fight. 

The YES Network said Wednesday they have agreed to stream 21 New York Yankees games on Amazon Prime Video this year at no extra charge to Amazon Prime subscribers.

The games will be available in the Yankees’ home-team footprint, which includes New York state, Connecticut, northeast Pennsylvania, and north and central New Jersey, and will be simulcasts of games produced by YES airing on PIX11 and other over-the-air partners for Yankees telecasts. Fans can watch in or outside the home on hundreds of compatible Android, iOS mobile and Fire TV devices. They can also access the games by streaming from the web or by using the Prime Video app on smartphones, tablets, set-top boxes, game consoles, and select smart TVs. A list of compatible devices is available here.

The first game will air on April 28, when the team takes on the Tampa Bay Rays.  

The streamed games will feature X-Ray, the Amazon Prime Video feature that allows viewers streaming on Android, iOS mobile, and Fire TV devices to access live  in-game stats, real-time play-by-play information and more. Prime Video also will air a 15-minute pre-game show featuring YES Network on-air talent for the broadcasts. 

Schedule of Yankees games on Prime Video

Sunday, April 18             vs. Tampa Bay – 1:00pm

Friday, April 23               @ Cleveland – 7:00pm

Tuesday, April 27           @ Baltimore – 6:30pm

Friday, May 14               @ Baltimore – 7:00pm

Friday, May 21               vs. Chicago White Sox – 7:00pm

Saturday, May 29           @ Detroit – 4:00pm

Sunday, May 30             @ Detroit – 1:00pm

Saturday, June 12          @ Philadelphia – 4:00pm

Sunday, June 20            vs. Oakland – 1:00pm       

Friday, July 2                 vs. New York Mets – 7:00pm

Sunday, July 11             @ Houston – 2:00pm

Friday, July 23               @ Boston – 7:00pm

Tuesday, July 27            @ Tampa Bay – 7:00pm

Friday, July 30               @ Miami – 7:00pm

Sunday, Aug. 15            @ Chicago White Sox – 2:00pm

Tuesday, Aug. 17           vs. Boston – 7:00pm

Sunday, Aug. 22            vs. Minnesota – TBD

Saturday, Aug. 28          @ Oakland – 4:00pm

Friday, Sept. 17             vs. Cleveland – 7:00pm

Friday, Sept. 24              @ Boston – 7:00pm

Wednesday, Sept. 29     @ Toronto – 7:00pm

All game times ET.  Schedule subject to change.

HBO will highlight the life and career of baseball all-star CC Sabathia in a new documentary debuting Dec. 22.

Under the Grapefruit Tree: The CC Sabathia Story will look at the career of the famed pitcher, who won 251 games during his decorated 19-year career, the network said. Featuring behind-the-scenes footage from his final season with the New York Yankees in 2019, the documentary will follow Sabathia's career from his origins in Vallejo, Ca. through his battle with substance abuse and his eventual World Series championship year with the Yankees. 

“I couldn't be more grateful for the chance to give viewers an inside look into my career and to share my unfiltered story,” said Sabathia in a statement. “I struggled for a long time with alcohol addiction and anxiety, which I pretty much hid from everyone I knew. It’s my hope we can inspire athletes and non-athletes alike to open up and let their friends, family and teammates know that there is a path through this. You are not alone.”

Major League baseball took the first hit to its regular season start on Monday as two games were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Florida Marlins’ July 27 home opener against the Orioles was postponed after at least 14 Marlins players and staff tested positive for the virus, according to reports.

 The Marlins played a weekend series in Philadelphia against the Phillies. The team currently remains in its Philadelphia hotel pending further tests.

RELATED: Marlins Game Canceled as Players Test Positive 

Monday night's New York Yankees-Philadelphia Phillies game was also postponed after the league decided not to bring another club into the visiting clubhouse at Citizens Bank Park following the Marlins, according to reports.

The news puts a damper on an otherwise successful start of the season for baseball. Thursday night’s opening game between the Yankees and the Washington Nationals set a record ratings record for ESPN, averaging 4 million viewers. 

ESPN drew a record 4 million viewers for its New York Yankees-Washington Nationals Major League Baseball opening night telecast.

The game was the most watched regular season game on any network since 2011, and bested the previous record of 3.7 million viewers set by the St. Louis Cardinals-Chicago Cubs game in 2017, according to Nielsen. 

Last year’s Boston Red Sox-Seattle Mariners season opening night telecast drew 1.2 million viewers, said Nielsen.

ESPN’s San Francisco Giants-Los Angeles Dodgers telecast averaged 2.7 million viewers, making it the most watched ESPN late night game ever.

Both games opened baseball’s truncated 60-game regular season schedule after the coronavirus pandemic delayed baseball’s traditional season start by three months. 

Major League Baseball Thursday threw a post-season fastball prior to the first pitch of its truncated 2020 season, announcing that it is expanding the league’s playoff teams to 16 from eight.

The league, which Thursday launched its 60-game regular season three months after its scheduled start due to the coronavirus pandemic, will expand its playoff teams to include the champions and the second place finishers in each of the six divisions, as well as two wild card teams and two teams with the best record among the rest of the league, according to MLB officials.

League owners and the Major League Players Association hammered out the deal prior to the New York Yankees-Washington Nationals opening day game.

“This season will be a sprint to a new format that will allow more fans to experience playoff baseball,” said baseball commissioner Robert Manfred in a statement. 

In addition ESPN announced it will televise seven of the eight new first round series -- including exclusively all four National League first round series -- across a four-day period from Sept. 29 through Oct. 2.

“This is an exciting opportunity for ESPN and Major League Baseball to deliver a new, compelling live sports experience to fans. Innovation has been a cornerstone of our 30-plus year relationship with MLB, and that will be on display as we showcase these decisive games,” said Jimmy Pitaro, ESPN president and co-chair, Disney Media Networks in a statement. “We know fans have been craving live baseball and we’re proud to work with our friends at MLB to offer what will be a special four days this fall.” 

The New York Yankees and the YES Network have agreed to live stream 21 Yankees baseball games on Amazon Prime Video, beginning with an April 17 match against the Cincinnati Reds.

The games will be made available for free to Amazon Prime members throughout the Yankees home-team footprint in New York, Connecticut, north and central New Jersey and northeast Pennsylvania. The games will be simulcasts of games produced by YES for broadcaster WPIX New York and other Yankees’ over-the-air partners.

“We understand that fans are consuming content in a variety of different ways, and we believe our unique partnership with Amazon represents an exciting development in the realm of live sports,” said Yankees Global Enterprises CEO Hal Steinbrenner in a press release.

The telecasts will feature Amazon’s X-Ray technology, which allows fans streaming on Android, iOS mobile, and Fire TV to access live in-game stats, team and player details, and real-time play-by-play information as they watch. The Prime Video app is available on smart TVs, mobile devices, Fire TV, Fire tablet, Apple TV, Chromecast, game consoles, Comcast X1, or from the web.

“We are always looking for ways to enhance the value of a Prime membership for our customers, and we believe Yankees fans are going to love having a selection of games on Prime Video this season,” said Amazon Global Sports Video vice president Marie Donoghue in a press release. “We want to give Prime members access to the broadest selection of content across the broadest number of devices, and this deal gives Prime Video the opportunity to work with the top regional sports network in America and one of the most beloved franchises in all of sports.”

Amazon is no stranger to sports. In 2017 it secured the streaming rights to NFL Thursday Night Football, and is a minority partner in the YES Network. The streamer also carries MLB.tv as a separate subscription service.

“We are excited about teaming up with the New York Yankees and Amazon to make these 21 over-the-air games available through Prime Video,” said YES Network CEO Jon Litner in a press release. “As consumption habits among Yankees fans continue to evolve, we’re embracing new and innovative technologies to enhance the viewer experience.”

Here is the schedule of games set to stream on Prime Video:

Friday, April 17 Cincinnati 7:00 pm

Tuesday, April 21 @Detroit 6:30 pm

Saturday, April 25 Cleveland 1:00 pm

Friday, May 8 Boston 7:00 pm

Friday, May 15 @Houston 8:00 pm

Friday, May 22 Seattle 7:00 pm

Saturday, May 23 Seattle 1:00 pm

Wednesday, May 27 Minnesota 7:00 pm

Sunday, June 21 @Minnesota 2:00 pm

Wednesday, June 24 Baltimore 7:00 pm

Tuesday, June 30 @Baltimore 7:00 pm

Wednesday, July 22 Angels 7:00 pm

Friday, July 24 Boston 7:00 pm

Wednesday, July 29 @Mets 7:00 pm

Monday, August 10 @Kansas City 8:00 pm

Friday, August 21 Toronto 7:00 pm

Friday, August 28 @Cleveland 7:00 pm

Thursday, September 10 Boston 7:00 pm

Sunday, September 20 @Toronto 1:00 pm

Wednesday, September 23 Houston 7:00 pm

Friday, September 25 Tampa Bay 7:00 pm

The New York Yankees completed a deal to acquire the remaining 80% interest in the regional sports network that bears its name — the Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network — teaming up with online retailer Amazon and Sinclair Broadcast Group in a deal valued at about $3.47 billion.

Officially, YES Network was purchased by Yankee Global Enterprises, which includes the team and strategic partners Sinclair and Amazon from The Walt Disney Co. Additional equity investments were provided by RedBird Capital, funds managed by Blackstone’s Tactical Opportunities business and Mubadala Capital.

Sinclair said it paid about $346 million for a 20% interest in the network through its Diamond Sports Group subsidiary.

“We are excited about partnering with such a renowned franchise as the New York Yankees,” Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley said in a press release. “With this investment, we will have 23 RSN brands, including Marquee with the iconic Chicago Cubs, and 21 RSN brands acquired from the Walt Disney Company last week.”

According to New York Yankees president Randy Levine, the team has a 26% interest in the YES Network, while Amazon has a 15% stake with the right to go higher. The remaining 39% is split fairly evenly between RedBird, Blackstone and Mubadala.

The YES Network was one of 22 RSNs controlled by 21st Century Fox that were sold to Disney as part of a larger deal for certain assets valued at $71.3 billion. As part of the federal approval process for that deal, Disney agreed to divest the networks, selling 21 of them to Sinclair earlier this year for about $9.6 billion. The YES Network was separated from that sale because the Yankees had the right of first refusal to purchase Fox’s 80% stake.

Speculation that the Yankees had enlisted the help of Amazon and Sinclair has been rampant for months. Thursday’s announcement basically confirms those earlier reports.

In addition to Yankees games, YES Network offers content from the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets, Major League Soccer’s New York City FC, and the WNBA’s New York Liberty. The RSN is the most watched RSN in the country, according to the channel.

“This transaction brings the YES Network and all of its popular programming even closer to the organization that inspired its very development,” said Yankee Global Enterprises CEO Hal Steinbrenner in a press release. “Along with our partners, we look forward to greatly expanding the way that sports content is delivered and consumed by fans everywhere.”

Sinclair, which also owns The Tennis Channel in addition to the former Fox RSNs, will work closely with YES to manage traditional and virtual distribution relationships. Current YES Network president Jon Litner will remain in that role. 

The New York Yankees are reportedly in talks to buy the remaining 80% interest in regional sports channel YES Network from 21st Century Fox, and have been talking to potential backers to help finance the estimated $4 billion price tag, according to a report in the New York Post.

Fox agreed to sell its 22 RSNs, including YES, in July to The Walt Disney Co. as part of a larger deal valued at $71.3 billion. But one of the regulatory conditions on the deal was that Disney agreed to divest of the RSNs within 90 days after closing the larger transaction. The larger Fox-Disney deal is expected to close in the first half of next year.

Related: The Curious Case of the RSNs (Guest Blog)

Books on the RSNs went out in October, according to reports,  and interested parties were said to include Fox itself, tech giants like Google, Facebook and Amazon, Sinclair Broadcast Group, private equity firms and even rapper and entrepreneur Ice Cube.  It has long been speculated that the Yankees would move to buy the remaining interest in YES. The Yankees, which own 20% of the channel, have had the right of first refusal in the event of a YES sale ever since Fox increased its ownership stake in the network from 49% to 80% in 2014.  According to some estimates, YES is worth about $4 billion, which would mean the team would need to attract several partners to finance a deal.

According to the Post, the Yankees are willing to divvy up ownership of the network among several different parties.

Fox declined comment.

ESPN baseball commentator Aaron Boone has been named manager of the New York Yankees, the club said Monday.

The 44-year old former MLB all-star third baseman will take over the position formerly held by Joe Giraldi. Boone, who last played in 2009, joined ESPN in 2010 serving as an ESPN MLB commentator. Most recently, Boone had served as an analyst on Sunday Night Baseball, according to ESPN.

Boone, who has no prior managerial experience, played 12 seasons for six seasons, including the Yankees in 2003. Boone’s walk-off home run in Game 7 of the 2003 American League Championship Series against the Boston Red Sox sent the Yankees to the World Series.

“Words cannot express how humbled I am to wear the pinstripes again as the manager of the Yankees,” said Boone in a statement. “I want to thank the Steinbrenner family and Brian Cashman for entrusting me with this tremendous honor and responsibility. I believe we are entering into a special time in New York Yankees history, and I am so excited to be a part of it. I can't wait to get to work – and that work starts now.”

FS1 drew a record 7.2 million viewers for last night’s New York Yankees-Cleveland Indians American League Division Series-clinching baseball game.

The game, in which the Yankees defeated the Indians to advance to the AL Championship Series to face the Houston Astros, was the most watched League Division Series in FS1 history, said Nielsen. The game also set LDS ratings records for Fox Deportes and Fox Sports GO, according to the network.

Further, FS1’s Yankees-Indians and Boston Red Sox-Astros LDS coverage was the most watched in network history, averaging 3.8 million viewers over seven games, according to Nielsen.

NESN has apologized for remarks made by network baseball analyst Jerry Remy surrounding New York Yankees’ starting pitcher Masahiro Tanaka during NESN’s Yankees-Boston Red Sox telecast last night.

NESN in a statement said: “Relative to last night's NESN telecast from New York, NESN does not agree with any such views expressed by Jerry Remy and we know from talking to Jerry that he regrets making them. The network sincerely apologizes to anyone who was offended by Jerry’s comments,”

During the fourth inning of last night’s Yankees-Red Sox game, Remy commented that Tanaka, who speaks Japanese, shouldn’t be allowed to have a translator present when the team’s coaches visit the mound. Tanaka’s translator Shingo Horie joined Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild on the mound to speak to Tanaka.

‘‘I don’t think that should be legal,’’ Remy said, according to the Boston Globe. ‘‘Learn baseball language. You know, learn, it’s pretty simple. You break it down pretty easy between pitching coach and pitcher after a long period of time.”

The comment drew criticism on social media. 

 Remy also issued an apology via twitter:  

I sincerely apologize to those who were offended by my comments during the telecast last night.

— Jerry Remy (RemDawg) (@Jerry_Remy) June 7, 2017

Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network CEO Tracy Dolgin is stepping down as CEO of the network to become its non-executive chairman, a voluntary move that caps a decades-long career in the sports business with YES, Fox and HBO. Dolgin will effectively take his new role tomorrow (June 2), but he said the transition will be gradual.

“This is not goodbye,” Dolgin said, adding that he will continue to provide the continuity, advice and stewardship for YES as needed.  

The move comes at a time when many long-serving Fox executives sought and accepted a buyout package offered to employees in the film and TV businesses units with 15 years or more of service. YES, Fox and Dolgin declined comment on whether or not Dolgin opted for a buyout. 

READ MORE: Fox Sports Southwest GM departure leads to executive moves, RSN consolidation in Southern California.

Dolgin joined YES in 2004 from investment bank Houlihan Lokey & Zukin, but had spent several years as president of Fox Sports Network and chief operating officer of Fox Liberty Cable, then parent of Fox Sports, FX and other cable channels. He also served stints as executive vice president of marketing for Fox Broadcasting and senior vice president of Home Box Office’s HBO Video.

Early on Dolgin was in the front seat for YES oversaw Fox’s growing interest in the regional sports network. But about three years ago, Fox purchased effective control of the network and took over many functions that had previously been handled by executives at the network.

“When you are a CEO you run the entire business by yourself, not part of a larger, great, organizational platform,” Dolgin said. “At the point we started transitioning to the Fox platform, as that happened my job started to change from being a CEO to being a corporate executive, which is what I was in my previous life. That process has worked very well.”

Dolgin said he convinced Fox and the Yankees to allow him to transition once again into a broader organizational role. “To be able to focus on those and less on signing bills, that’s my goal and I think that’s why Fox and the Yankees were excited for me to be able to do that and remain with the company,” he said.

Dolgin said as non-executive chairman, he will be able to focus on big picture items – like OTT, global and strategic issues – rather than the day-to-day operations of the business. And it also allows him to pursue other opportunities as they present themselves.

Fox Sports generally runs its regional sports networks with a senior vice president who's also general manager at the helm. Fox Sports regional sports networks president Jeff Krolik said YES’s ultimate structure hasn’t been worked out yet. “In our world, we don’t have a job ‘CEO of a regional sports network,’ ” Krolik said. “How we’re going to organize YES is still under consideration.”

Krolik, a friend of Dolgin's who's known him for more than 20 years, said he was excited that his new role allows the company to continue to draw on Dolgin's expertise.

“Tracy is just a terrific resource,” Krolik said. “He’s built a great business at YES; it’s the preeminent regional sports network in the country. I am happy we will continue to have his service.”  

Dolgin’s transition also comes as YES is embroiled in a carriage stand-off with Comcast in the New York area. Comcast dropped YES in November for what it called exorbitant rate increases, which YES disputed. The blackout has affected about 900,000 Comcast homes in parts of New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania and Comcast has said it hopes to resolve the impasse but could live without the channel.

UPDATE:No Game, No Talks Between YES, Comcast

Barring a last minute — and unlikely — reprieve, the Opening Day games of two of the most popular teams in Major League Baseball — the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers — will be dark to more than 1 million pay TV customers on April 4.

The ongoing big-market disputes are a sign that perhaps sports programming, once thought to be bulletproof, is weakening in the era of skinny bundles and over-the-top video.

Comcast in November refused to pay what it called a 33% increase in fees charged by YES Network, the New York-area RSN that features most Bronx Bombers games. Comcast’s customers missed out on Brooklyn Nets National Basketball Association games, but many thought the operator would cave in by the start of the baseball season. YES, owned by Fox Sports Network Group and the Yankees, was carried in about 900,000 Comcast homes in parts of New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

L.A. FADEAWAY

Time Warner Cable’s SportsNet LA, home to the Dodgers, continues to be spurned by distributors in Southern California including AT&T, DirecTV and Cox Communications. Time Warner Cable, which carries the RSN in L.A. along with Charter Communications and Bright House Networks, even agreed to offer a one-year discount — later extended to six years — and was still rejected.

Distributors have complained about the high cost of sports programming for years, but as sports rights charges have climbed and fees for networks have hit the stratosphere, pay TV providers are pushing back.

Some analysts say sports programming, once thought to be must-have content because of its live viewing nature and predominantly young male audience, is vulnerable as operators attempt to create “skinny” bundles for price-conscious customers.

“Clearly, there’s an appetite for a lower-cost package with less sports programming,” Telsey Advisory Group media analyst Tom Eagan said.

Comcast executive vice president of consumer services Marcien Jenckes said he sees the YES dispute in simper terms: the operator’s perception of the value of the network doesn’t match the price. Comcast has claimed that its customers in the New York market aren’t big YES watchers and haven’t much missed the channel since it came off on Nov. 18.

At $5.93 per month per subscriber, according to SNL Kagan, YES is the priciest RSN in the country — and at about $2.50 per subscriber per month higher than another New York area RSN, MSG Network, according to Kagan.

“At a more reasonable price, they would be a great value proposition,” Jenckes said.

YES CEO Tracy Dolgin has taken Comcast’s argument to task. He said YES programming is rated No. 1 in Comcast’s New York area territories on game days. And he said YES also out-rated SNY, partly owned by Comcast, by a margin of 5 to 1 in its Connecticut footprint on game days.

About 40% of Comcast’s 900,000 subscribers in the New York area consider themselves Yankees fans, Dolgin said.

YES: RATE WAS NO SURPRISE

While Comcast has said it is looking for a lower price, Dolgin noted the operator had been paying the higher rate for more than eight months — its deal originally expired in February. Dolgin said it is misleading to say a price that it has been paying for nearly a year is suddenly too high.

Dolgin said that other RSNs vary in price depending on the market; operators on the fringes of a team’s territory usually pay less than those in the heart of the market. YES does not have so-called zoned pricing like others do, including Comcast-owned RSNs.

“What we charge for YES is less than what Comcast charges for some of their owned-and-operated regional sports networks in the intermarket where the Comcast subs are,” Dolgin said, calling the Kagan estimate “way over” what Comcast was paying.

YES will keep running ads urging Comcast customers to switch providers, Dolgin said.

“It’s not easy, but Yankee fans are very passionate. In the month of April there are 23 Yankee games and 20 are exclusively on the YES Network. If you’re a Yankee fan, you either feel like a victim, or you switch.”

Last night’s Chicago Cubs-Pittsburgh Pirates Wild Card telecast drew a record 8.3 million viewers, breaking the viewership mark set 24 hours earlier.  

TBS’ National League Wild Card telecast upended the 7.3 million viewers ESPN generated for its Tuesday night New York Yankees-Houston Astros American League Wild Card telecast, according to Nielsen.

The game, which the Cubs won 4-0 over the Pirates, is also the most watched baseball game on cable since the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals-Philadelphia Phillies NL Division series game drew 8.4 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

Wednesday’s NL Wild Card Game also delivered double-digit increases across Turner’s TV Everywhere platforms with live streaming coverage up 58% among unique visits, 23% in total minutes consumed and 15% in live video starts.

Tuesday night’s Houston Astros-New York Yankees American League Wild Card baseball telecast on ESPN drew a record 7.6 million viewers, according to Nielsen Fast Nationals.

The game, in which the Astros defeated the Yankees 3-0, was the most watched Wild Card game ever, besting the 5.5 million viewers generated by ESPN’s 2014 San Francisco-Pittsburgh Pirates National League Wild Card contest.

Last night’s telecast was up 46% over last year’s Kansas City Royals-Oakland A's AL Wild Card telecast, which drew 5.2 million viewers, according to ESPN.

The Astros-Yankees game also generated the largest audience for an MLB game ever on WatchESPN, setting records across metrics, including 445,000 unique viewers, an average minute audience of 127,000 viewers, and 25.7 million total minutes viewed across devices, said the network.

RELATED STORY: 'Home Run Derby' Pulls 4.9 Overnight Rating

Ahead of tonight's Major League Baseball All Star Game on Fox (July 14), the Harris Poll and digital network 120 Sports each released some stats of their own about America's favorite pastime.

Who's on First?
32% of Americans say they follow Major League Baseball (vs. 37% last year). Of those:
- 43% are men; 22% are women;
- 38% live in the West, 36% in the Midwest, 34% in the East and 25% in the South;
- 36% are suburbanites, 26% live in rural areas; and
- 41% are college grads, 39% have attended grad school, 33% have some college and 26% have a high school education or less.

Top 5 Favorite Teams

(1) New York Yankees
(2) Boston Red Sox
(3) Chicago Cubs
(4) Los Angeles Dodgers
(5) Detroit Tigers

Top 5 Picks to Win the World Series

(1) St. Louis Cardinals (17%)*
(2) New York Yankees (11%)
(3) Kansas City Royals (10%)
(4) Los Angeles Dodgers (9%)
(5) San Francisco Giants (7%)

*The last time the Cardinals were the top pick (in 2013), they made it to the series but were defeated by the Red Sox.

Instant Replay Reaction
- 75% of fans are aware of this season's new instant replay rule.
- 61% believe it has slowed down the pace of a typical game at least a little.
- 80% believe it has been good for the game overall.

SOURCE: The Harris Poll online survey of 2,200 adults, of whom 700 follow Major League Baseball; conducted June 17-22

120 Sports's Top 5 Millennial Players From the "MLB 25 and Under" List

(1) Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels, 23
(2) Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals, 22
(3) Giancarlo Stanton, Miami Marlins, 25
(4) Manny Machado, Baltimore Orioles, 22
(5) Anthony Rizzo, ChicagoCubs, 25

Random Notes About the Top 25 "MLB 25 and Under" Players
- 17 are on the 2015 All-Star team rosters.
- They represent 15 MLB teams, with the most coming from the Houston Astros and the St. Louis Cardinals (3 each).
- 16 are from the National League; 9 are from the American League
- 7 are pitchers, 1 is a catcher, 3 play first base, 2 play second base, 4 play third base, 1 is a short stop, and seven are outfielders.
- 14 were first-round MLB Draft picks.

SOURCE:120 Sports

The All Star Game airs live from Great American Ball Park (home of the Cincinnati Reds) at 6 p.m. on Fox.

Derek Jeter's last season for the New York Yankees helped the club's regional sports network become the most-watched of those services in the nation for the 11th time in 12 years.

YES Network rang up double-digit gains in both primetime and total-day within the New York DMA during 2014.

YES’ scored a 16% rise in average primetime delivery to 58,000 households in the DMA from Dec. 20, 2013 through Dec. 28, 2014, up from 50,000 during Nielsen's 2013. According to YES officials, that was 23% more than the second-most-watched RSN in the country.

On the demo watch, YES registered advances of 22% and 16% among men 25 to 54 and persons of that age, respectively.

Measured on a total-day basis, the RSN, which also televises Brooklyn Nets' NBA games, posted a 10% gain to 23,000 households in 2014,, an average that was 44% great than the RSN runner-up. Deliveries for men 18 to 49 and persons 18 to 49 climbed at 17% and 13% clips in 204.

·      

For their part, Yankees' game telecasts grew 15% to 223,000 New York DMA households from 194,000 in the 2013 campaign. Demo growth was ever greater: men 25 to 54 improved 28%; men 18+ jumped 20%; adults 25 to 54 increased 20%; persons 2+ were ahead 18%; and persons 18 and older moved up 17%.

Bronx Bombers' support programming also connected in 2014:  the pregame shows rose 25% to 45,000 from 36,000 in 2013, while post-game coverage advanced 23% to 86,000 from 70,000.

Yankees Batting Practice Today on YES enjoyed a 6% year-over-year increase to 18,000 in 2014 from 17,000.

Jeter’s final game at Yankee Stadium last Sept. 25 -- the captain delivered a game-winning single to right in the bottom of the ninth -- was the most-viewed program ever on the YES Network, averaging a 10.84 rating and 1.25 million viewers in the New York DMA.  The game telecast peaked at 1.99 million viewers from 10:15 to 10:30 p.m. (ET)  and a16.55 average rating, making it  the most-viewed quarter-hour in YES’ history 

·     

YES officials believe the Jeterian Yankee Stadium finale is the most-watched game in the history of RSNs.

Officials at YES Network said the channel widened its lead as the most-watched regional sports network in primetime and total-day during the third quarter.

The RSN, the cable home to the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Nets, averaged 73,000 households in the New York DMA during the third quarter, according to Nielsen data, a 26% jump from the 58,000 in the second quarter of 2014.  

As such, YES expanded its primetime delivery edge by 33% over the second-ranked RSN, FS Detroit, in the third quarter, versus a 23% advantage over NESN in the second quarter.

That primetime performance also gave YES an 87% lead over the 39,000 average for the next most-watched New York-based RSN, SNY, in the quarter. YES’s 73,000 average household mark nipped the combined 72,000 for SNY’s and MSG in the period.

Relative to total day, YES averaged 28,000 households in the New York market, up 17% from its second-quarter average of 24,000 in the second quarter. Those tallies pushed YES ahead of FS Detroit by 47% in the most recently completed quarter, up from 41% in the second quarter, when NESN placed second with this measure.

In New York, YES’ total-day delivery outpaced SNY and MSG’s 25,000 combined average through the third quarter.

YES’s prime product, New York Yankees game telecasts, averaged 223,000 households in the New York DMA during the 2014 season -- the last campaign for future Hall of Famer, Derek Jeter (pictured) --  a 15% year-over-year increase from the 194,000 for Bronx Bombers’ games in the 2013 campaign.

On the demo watch, 2014 Yankees’ telecasts registered a 28% advance among men 25 to 54; 20% against guys 18+ and adults 25 to 54; and 18% versus persons 2+ and those 18 and older.