Comcast, YES Network Dispute: It's Time To Play Ball, CT Legislators Say

With less than a month to go before the Major League Baseball seasons opens, a bipartisan group of more than 30 Connecticut legislators are calling foul on both Comcast and the YES Network in their dispute that is currently keeping the Yankees off the cable system.

The group announced on Thursday that it is calling on Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and YES Network CEO Tracy Dolgin to put aside their differences and negotiate a new contact so Comcast customers can watch the Yankees on YES before the season opens on April 4.

“We’re calling on these CEO’s to do the right thing and ‘play ball’ with each other so that hundreds of thousands of Connecticut Yankees fans are able to watch the 2016 season when it begins less than one month from now,” State Rep. Sean Scanlon (D-Guilford), who authored the letter, said in a statement.

“The Yankees are Connecticut’s most popular baseball team and with Comcast claiming viewership is low despite evidence to the contrary and YES telling fans to simply switch cable providers, it is clear these two companies are far from an agreement. Unfortunately, time is running out and it’s time for them to get serious about resolving this corporate squabble so that the hard-working men and women of Connecticut can watch one of the networks they signed up for.”

The current impasse between Comcast and YES began in November shortly after the 2015 season ended when Comcast removed YES from its channel lineup citing low viewership.

However, the legislators say that according to Nielsen's ratings, there was an 18-percent increase in viewership of Yankees games on YES between the All Star Game and the end of the season in 2015 as the team made a postseason push.

As a result of this dispute, an estimated 900,000 customers in Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania are impacted.

According to a March 2015 Quinnipiac University poll, the Yankees are Connecticut’s most popular Major League Baseball team with support from 44 percent of baseball fans compared to 37 percent for the Boston Red Sox and 6 percent for the New York Mets.

Read the full letter sent from the legislators to Roberts and Dolgin below:

Dear Mr. Roberts and Mr. Dolgin:

With the start of the 2016 Major League Baseball season less than one month away, we are writing to you both on behalf of our constituents to respectfully urge you to resolve the current impasse that will soon leave Comcast customers who are also New York Yankees fans without a way to watch their favorite team play America’s national pastime.

As you know, 900,000 Comcast customers in Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania lost access to the YES Network last November. While Comcast has publicly claimed that declining viewership of the network justifies eliminating the YES Network, communication from our concerned constituents says otherwise. The Yankees have the largest Connecticut fan base of any Major League Baseball team in a crowded corridor between New York and Boston with 44 percent of our state’s residents supporting the team according to a 2015 Quinnipiac University poll.

Hundreds of thousands of our constituents rightfully expect to have the ability to watch Opening Day from the comfort of their homes on April 4, 2016 and we hope you will put aside your respective differences between now and then to ensure Connecticut’s Yankees fans – including all of boys and girls who are just learning to love the game – are not denied access to the 2016 season.

Thank you for your consideration of our request and the wishes of our constituents (and your customers).

Sincerely,

Rep. Sean Scanlon, 98th Assembly District

Rep. James Albis, 99th Assembly District

Rep. Themis Klarides, 114th Assembly District and House Minority Leader

Rep. Emmett Riley, 46th Assembly District

Rep. Matthew Lesser, 100th Assembly District

Rep. Christopher Rosario, 128th Assembly District

Rep. David Arconti, 109th Assembly District

Rep. David Baram, 15th Assembly District

Rep. Lou Esposito, 116th Assembly District

Rep. Linda Gentile, 104th Assembly District

Rep. Lonnie Reed, 102nd Assembly District and Energy & Technology Committee Chair

Rep. Devin Carney, 23rd Assembly District

Sen. Cathy Osten, 19th Senatorial District

Rep. Vincent Candelora, 86th Assembly District

Rep. Aundre Bumgardner, 41st Assembly District

Rep. Diana Urban, 43rd Assembly District

Sen. Art Linares, 33rd Senatorial District

Rep. Stephen Harding, 107th Assembly District

Rep. Bob Godfrey, 110th Assembly District

Rep. Mitch Bolinsky, 106th Assembly District

Sen. Joseph Crisco, 17th Senatorial District

Rep. Noreen Kokoruda, 101st Assembly District

Rep. Edwin Vargas, 6th Assembly District

Rep. Linda Orange, 48th Assembly District

Rep. David Yaccarino, 87th District

Rep. Pam Staneski, 119th District

Rep. Robert Sanchez, 25th Assembly District

Sen. John Kissel, 7th Senatorial District

Sen. Michael McLachlan, 24th Senatorial District

Rep. Theresa Conroy, 105th Assembly District

Rep. Joe Serra, 33rd Assembly District

Rep. Gayle Mulligan, 55th Assembly District