YES Network is taking an unconventional approach to its negotiations with Comcast.
The regional sports network, which is the television home of the New York Yankees and Brooklyn Nets, is slated to go dark on Comcast’s cable systems at 11:59 p.m. ET on Monday amid an ongoing carriage dispute. As the cable provider has done with many other regional sports networks across the country, Comcast is insisting that YES Network move to a more premium, expensive tier on its Xfinity cable systems. YES Network is insisting it stay on a more inexpensive, expanded basic cable tier.
This has been a common dispute between any number of regional sports networks and pay TV providers for years. But on Sunday, YES employed an unorthodox strategy to get fans on their side.
During the Yankees’ game against the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday afternoon, YES Network CEO Jon Litner joined the broadcast to sharply criticize Comcast’s negotiating tactics and urge fans to call the cable provider and insist it reach a deal with YES. However, Litner made certain claims about Comcast throughout his remarks that were easily refuted.
YES Network CEO Jon Litner joins the Yankees broadcast to throw Comcast under the bus amid a carriage dispute. ⚾️📺🎙️ #MLB https://t.co/d98E2WII3a pic.twitter.com/77JwY6gOGl
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 30, 2025
“I just want to come on and explain to our great fans who watch the Yankees on Comcast/Xfinity what Comcast has told us will happen to the YES Network tomorrow night at midnight,” Litner began. “Despite our attempts to negotiate a new carriage agreement with them, Comcast has refused to negotiate. Instead they have informed us that they will drop the YES Network from their programming lineup Monday night at midnight.”
Litner then began to explain what he sees as preferential treatment that Comcast gives to regional sports networks it has an ownership stake in (such as another New York-area network, SNY) compared to networks it does not own.
“So what is happening right now with Comcast, based on their unwillingness to carry YES in the same package as their own network, SNY, is this,” Litner continued. “They are demanding that YES move to a more expensive, digital package that will cost you, its loyal customers, $20 more per month. At the same time, Comcast continues to give their own networks, including SNY, preferential treatment by keeping them in the less-costly package. And this is exactly the bullying tactic Comcast used against MSG Networks a few years ago which resulted in MSG being dropped by Comcast. I guess it’s the Comcast playbook to favor their own networks and disadvantage networks they do not own,” he concluded.
While that’s a solid narrative for Litner to tell fans that aren’t informed about Comcast’s recent business practices, it’s easily refuted. Comcast has, in fact, placed many of its wholly-owned NBC Sports regional networks into higher, more expensive tiers, as recently as January. So any suggestion that Comcast isn’t treating its own networks exactly the same way it is treating other networks is factually incorrect.
But that didn’t stop Litner from attempting to win the PR battle against Comcast by going on a Yankees broadcast and urging its fans to call the cable provider and complain.
“What I’d like to say is that [fans] should call Comcast and demand that Comcast get to the negotiating table — they have yet to negotiate — or their elected officials. Or, switch to other distributors who value the Yankees and the YES Network. It’s as simple as that,” Litner said.
These types of public overtures are commonplace during carriage disputes, but taking to an actual game broadcast, as Litner did on Sunday, is far less common.
In response to Litner’s on-air remarks, Comcast has issued the following statement:
“We have offered to distribute YES Network in the same package that has been accepted by 20 RSNs in over 100 DMAs across the country in order to provide fans with access to YES programming and a choice for consumers who do not want to pay the additional fees for the games. YES Network has insisted we pay higher fees when nearly 90% of customers watched fewer than 5 of the ~130 Yankees games it aired last season. If we lose the rights to carry YES, we will credit our customers between $7-$10 a month. Xfinity customers can also subscribe directly to the Gotham Sports App to watch the games.”
Between Litner’s remarks and Comcast’s public statement, the likelihood of any agreement coming to fruition before the Monday deadline seems to be fleeting. Yankees fans that rely on Comcast to watch games can purchase the team’s direct-to-consumer streaming service, Gotham Sports, for $24.99 per month.
