Television Industry News Sample

Jun 17, 2002 23:52:13

CABLEVISION: NY Judge Dismisses Yankees Fans’ Suit Over Games Broadcast

FREDERICK, Maryland (SunStream News) -- A federal judge dismissed a class action, filed in April by Cablevision subscribers - five Yankees fans - who said that Cablevision violated racketeering and antitrust laws by not showing the New York Yankees games carried by the YES Network, according to a report by Associated Press Newswires. The impasse, if left unresolved, would mean that three million Cablevision subscribers in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Long Island, the northern New York suburbs, New Jersey and Connecticut, would miss 130 games this season. US District Court Judge Thomas Platt Jr. said in his 38-page ruling, “While they (the fans) did allege a contractual right to receive some Yankees baseball games from Cablevision this season, they did not plead any contractual right to receive broadcasts of every Yankees game.” The Company applauded the judge’s decision to dismiss this lawsuit, saying in a news release that it (the lawsuit) “was entirely without merit. In a separate lawsuit pending in Manhattan federal court, YES has charged Cablevision with antitrust violations based on its refusal to carry the network “on reasonable, non-discriminatory terms.” The YES Network accuses Cablevision of locking the network out in order to limit competition against its own sports networks, including Madison Square Garden Network and Fox Sports Net New York. YES has insisted that Cablevision make the new channel part of its basic service package, which would put it in all subscribers’ homes. Cablevision, looking for a return on the expense, wants to put YES on a “premium tier,” available only to those customers who pay an extra fee. YES is scheduled to show 130 of the regular season's 162 games. Another 20 games will be carried on WCBS-TV, and the remainder will appear on ESPN or FOX.

ss/bal

Source: Class Action Reporter

Publication Date: 2002-06-18

 

NWS:	LAW
	OFR

COY:	CVC

IND:	TVN

GEO:	n-us-ct
	n-us-nj
	n-us-ny

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