YES network is telling fans to say no to Comcast.
Fox-owned Yankees Entertainment and Sports is escalating its feud with the television provider by spending millions on an anti-Comcast ad campaign, Philly.com reports. It will appear in mass transit stations, newspapers, television, social media, and on billboards in New York and central New Jersey.
One full-page newspaper ad entitled “Comcast Xfinity Strikes Out” warns YES viewers that the provider has removed the network. The ad asks YES-watchers to “Drop Comcast today and find another TV provider” so they don’t miss out on the upcoming baseball season.
Comcast got rid of YES back in November claiming that Fox (FOX) attempted to leverage it as a way to get the provider to expand distribution of some of the parent network’s other channels. Comcast also said that YES’s fees were excessive, especially since very few Comcast subscribers actually watched it.
YES disputes that last claim, alleging that Comcast used “voodoo data” to validate it. YES said that according to Nielsen data it was the top cable network in New York during 2015’s baseball season on days that the Yankees played. It added that after Comcast dumped YES, it also increased its cable rates and tripled its regional sports network fee, “making their customers pay more for less.”
The Yankees’ season is scheduled to begin on April 4, and YES CEO Tracy Dolgin told Philly.com that there are “no facts to indicate that a deal will be done” by that point. Comcast spokesperson John Demming told the website that there has been “low consumer interest” in reviving YES.