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02/15/03 - Date of last update to this page. "I am looking into this situation and would like to assure you that I will do everything I can to encourage a resolution of this dispute that will enable Cablevision subscribers to view the Yankee games they have been looking forward to. I also support a bill before the Senate, S.7383, which would require municipalities to provide residents with a choice of cable television systems by giving the viewing public more options in cable television programming." January 28, 2003
NICHOLAS A. SPANO ____________________________________________________ The impasse between Cablevision and the YES Network is more than the question of whether we get the opportunity to view the Yankee and Nets games on our home TVs. It's about competition and choice and the use of monopoly power. An industry needs competition or regulation. The cable industry in the New York metropolitan area allows local monopolies but has virtually no regulation. Each city, town and village granted local monopoly status to a single cable company because of the high cost of wiring that municipality. Similar policy exists for our basic utilities: telephone and power. Ironically, both of those industries have moved closer to having competition. The cable industry has not budged. Cablevision is flaunting and abusing its monopoly position for three million people. The particulars are described below. This section is intended to present a call to action to achieve change, to introduce competition in the New York area cable industry. It should attract those who have a monopoly other cable company other than Cablevision. It should include Mets fans, not just Yankee fans. It should include non-sports fans. It should include those who already subscribe to a Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) such as DirecTV, which carries the YES Network. Here are some actions that can bring about this change: 1. Pressure the principles: YES and Cablevision. Do not buy tickets to Yankee games and tell the Yankees why you are doing it. Last season the Yankees set a team record for home attendance, which may well be the result of so many games not being carried on TV by Cablevision. Cancel Cablevision and switch to DirecTV and tell Cablevision why you are doing it. While this is not an option for most of us who live in apartments, people who have their own house can do this easily. However, entire apartment buildings can negotiate quantity discounts with DirecTV. This would both save money and provide physical access to those who do not have it. The FCC has a rule that people living in a apartment type complex have the right to receive DBS into an individual unit but this is not very practical because it requires that the unit have a private area such as a terrace on which the receiving dish can be placed and also an unobstructed line of sight to the satellite to the southwest. DBS to an apartment building really needs to be done by the entire building. 2. Pressure your elected representatives. In this instance, the most immediate power is held by those at the local level: the mayor and members of the municipal council. They granted the monoply to Cablevision and they can take it away. I filed a complaint with the New York State Public Service Commission. Here is the reply:
____________________________________________________ I sent a messages to Elliot Spitzer, the New York State Attorney General,
pointing out that the New Jersey Attorney General was taking action and he
should do likewise. No response. Here is the latest one:
____________________________________________________ I sent messages to my House members: Sue Kelly last year and Nita Lowey this year after redistricting. No response. Rep. Elliot Engels of the Bronx has spoken out. I sent messages to the mayor and council members in White Plains, NY. No response until ... I discovered that an Orange County, NY State Senator was introducing legislation to address the matter. It is S.7383. I sent a message to my own State Senator, Nick Spano, and got the response below. I then forwarded Spano's response to the mayor and council members in White Plains, NY and got the response from council member Bill King shown immediately below. The bottom line is: contact your elected represenatives, especially the locals. The most immediate action may come from the New York State Senate bill (S.7383), so contact your state senator and also your member of the state Assembly who will also have to vote on this bill. ____________________________________________________ I got this message from Bill King, member of the White Plains, NY Common Council. He responded to the message that I forwarded from New York State Senator Nick Spano. All council members received it. Sen. Spano's message is below that of Council member King. ____________________________________________________ Ken - I will discuss this with the other council members and the Finally some action! Below is a copy of an e-mail message from my New York State Senator, Nick Spano. He mentions bill S.7383. Contact your state senator and assembly person and encourage them to act. From: [email protected] Note: 8/8/02 - WSJ just reported that Cablevision lost $98,000,000 in the second quarter. ______________________________________________ Spring 2002: What am I missing here? Why isn’t some governmental body doing something about Cablevision? Cablevision is clearly attempting to stifle competition. Cablevision’s refusal to carry Yankee games on the new YES network is much more than a personal dispute between two millionaires, Dolan, who owns Cablevision, and Steinbrenner, who owns the Yankees. Cablevision is attempting to destroy YES because it is a direct competitor to Cablevision’s own network programming, which is carried on Cablevision’s cable facilities. Those cable facilities are granted monopoly status by various governmental entities. Cablevision has a clear conflict of interest. How can Cablevision be allowed to continue this way? YES
is basically owned by the Yankees (baseball), which own the NBA Nets
(basketball) and the NHL Devils (hockey). In
recent years Cablevision carried these teams on sports networks that Cablevision
owns: MSGNetwork:
Yankees Sportschannel:
Nets and Devils. MSGNetwork
also carries the NBA Knicks (basketball) and the NHL Rangers (hockey). Sportschannel
also carries the Mets (baseball). Cablevision
owns Madison Square Garden (MSG). MSG
includes:
Here are the ownerships in another format.
Note
that Cablevision has attempted to buy the Yankees and then attempted to buy the
Mets to further Cablevision’s stranglehold on sports broadcasting in the New
York City area. As
soon as their commitments to Cablevision networks are completed it is obvious
that both the Nets and Devils will switch from Cablevision owned networks to
YES. Cablevision’s position is a
de facto conflict of interest since only Cablevision owns the facilities and
only Cablevision makes the decisions about which programs are carried. With
neither of the two Cablevision-owned teams, the Knicks and Rangers, playing in
their respective league’s playoffs and with the Yankees having switched from
MSGNetwork after twelve years there to its own YES network, Cablevision was left
with no sports this spring on MSGNetwork. No
problem when you have a monopoly, which includes the facilities, and the only
two sports networks that carry local games in the New York City area: simply
switch a bunch of Mets games from Sportchannel to MSGNetwork.
Heck, Cablevision owns both Sportchannel and MSGNetwork.
The media is too busy concentrating on repeating the same superficial
stories based on its hatred of Steinbrenner to deal with the only real issue:
Cablevision’s abuse of government granted monopoly status and conflict of
interest. Which governmental entity will step up and do something about this travesty? _______________________________________________________ Links:
http://www.members.aol.com/_ht_a/jpcef/cablevision.html _______________________________________________________ J.D. Power and Associates
Reports Consumer Ratings: Cablevision dead last! http://www.jdpa.com/studies_jdpower/pressrelease.asp?StudyID=654 Click below and select Cablevision, DirecTV and Time Warner: http://jdpower.com/telecom/jdpa_ratings/FindCableSat.jsp _______________________________________________________ Newsday Feb. 5, 2003: Cablevision
Deal With YES? No
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