SportsNet New York (SNY), New York’s new regional sports network, reached a long-term agreement with Cablevision Systems Corp. to be added to the cable operator’s Family Cable (expanded basic) service Thursday, just in time for the New York Mets pre-season game versus the Florida Marlins.
The agreement also allows Cablevision to deliver a high-definition version of regular-season home Mets games on SNY to its HD customers. The regional sports network will appear on channel 60, except in the Litchfield, Conn., area, where it will appear on 62.
“Cablevision’s service area represents the heart of the Mets’ fan base, so this is a landmark agreement for our network and for New York sports fans,” says SNY President Jon Litner.
SNY earlier this week inked a carriage agreement with Verizon to air on channel 67 beginning March 30 on Verizon FiOS TV, Verizon’s new fiber-optic TV service, which is currently available in the New York market in Massapequa Park, Nyack and South Nyack. SNY will be part of FiOS TV’s expanded basic package. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
SportsNet New York, founded by Sterling Entertainment Enterprises, Time Warner and Comcast, launched March 16. The 24/7 regional sports and entertainment network provides New York Mets telecasts, year-round coverage of the New York Jets, basketball and football games from the Big East and Big Ten conferences, live sports, and local news coverage to viewers in New York, Connecticut, most of New Jersey and northeastern Pennsylvania.
SNY currently has carriage agreements with Time Warner Cable, Comcast, Mid-Hudson Cablevision, Inc., MTC Cable and Warwick Valley Telephone Company.
Cablevision serves more than 3 million cable households in the New York metropolitan area and owns Madison Square Garden, the New York Knicks professional men’s basketball team, NY Rangers professional hockey team and NY Liberty professional women’s basketball team.
Based in New York, Verizon Communications Inc. operates a wireless network that serves 51.3 million customers nationwide, has a workforce of approximately 250,000 and generates annual consolidated operating revenues of approximately $90 billion.
