YES, the regional sports network home to the New York Yankees, remains on DirecTV's air after granting the DBS provider a contract extension.
The parties, whose contract was set to expire at midnight on April 2, will continue to negotiate with the goal of reaching a new agreement, before the new deadline of April 7, according to officials at the RSN and the nation's leading DBS provider.
With the extension, there should be no interruption of service, meaning DirecTV subscribers will have access to plenty of Yankees games. YES covered the Bronx Bombers' opening day win against the Tigers on March 31, while April 1 was an off day, and the April 2 game against Detroit will be televised nationally by Fox.
On Sunday, YES will cover the series' concluder against the Tigers at 1 p.m., before presenting Yankees-Minnesota Twins from April 4-6 at 7 p.m. each night.
The RSN also has the April 7 matinee against Minnesota at 1 p.m. It was unclear at press time when the conttract would cease that day.
SNL Kagan pegs YES's license fee at somewhere between $2.60-$2.82 per subscriber per month.
DirecTV had said earlier that it should pay the same amount as the other three top YES distributors in the market, Cablevision, Time Warner Cable and Comcast.
The YES/DirecTV renewals talks come, as Dish and SNY, the television home of the New York Mets disconnected on April 1. The RSN is dark to the No. 2 DBS provider's customers, which cost them the opportunity to see the Mets season-opener versus the Florida Marlins.
The Mets' first 14 games are on SNY, before Fox televises the Amazins' against the Atlanta Braves on April 16.
Some are questioning whether Dish wants to be in the RSN game in the New York DMA. With its benching of SNY, Dish does not distribute any of the Big Apple players: it has never reached an affiliate pact with YES, and has not carried MSG or MSG Plus since those contracts expired last Oct. 1.
Although Dish said it was continue to negotiate with SNY, sources indicate there haven't been any discussions since the DBS operator pulled the RSN.
