The upcoming baseball season might very well be marred, or at least interrupted, if you are a New York resident, are a Time Warner cable subscriber and happen to be a Mets and/or Knicks fan. If one or more of these conditions doesn’t apply to you, then you will largely be unaffected; however, if any of these applies, as MSG Network's website seems to suggest, then be advised: Time Warner is preparing to remove Knicks’ and Mets’ telecasts from its broadcast.
However, while these two factoids should pretty much end the discussion, or at least my involvement therein, it’s a symptom of the modern cable company as monopoly that this has relevance to anyone who owns a television that doesn’t grab its content from the air via wire antenna, which, unless you live in a trailer park, is everyone in this country. Satellite subscribers have enough difficulty getting an actual broadcast from DirectTV or whomever else has duped them into signing up, so for the most part, this problem is only getting worse, not better.
To wit, several years ago, George Steinbrenner, in an apparent decision to become wealthier, opted to yank (no pun intended) the New York Yankee game telecasts from the MSG Network (owned by Cablevision, the same entity that owns Madison Square Garden, the New York Knicks, the New York Rangers and the New York Liberty) and created his own network dubbed the YES Network. YES, an acronym which stands for the Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network, broadcasted 90% of the Yankees’ games a couple years ago in its inaugural season, but due to a dispute with Cablevision, a cavalcade of wrangling and negotiations (ie show me the money), Yankee telecasts were non-existent on the Cablevision network.
Several years prior, in an effort to expand its roster of channels and influence throughout the galaxy, the Dolan family created several auxiliary channels to showcase a variety of sub-standard (and this is being generous) programming. One of these channels was dubbed Metro, and to legitimize and populate the viewership thereof, Cablevision decided to broadcast Ranger games, during nights when Knicks and Rangers games coincided, on the Metro channel. Watching Rangers telecasts, unfortunately, has been as dreadful an experience, if not moreso, than watching the Knicks. However, a die-hard core of dedicated Ranger fans (especially those given to fostering anti-monopolistic leanings) rebelled. The crux of the rebellion was yet another dispute, this time between Cablevision and Comcast Cable, yet another monopolistic cable entity. Apparently Cablevision required satellite cable companies, like Comcast, to broadcast Metro entirely and not just for those ancillary Rangers telecasts.
Comcast balked and those (relatively few) Ranger fans who were also Comcast subscribers went ballistic. In practice, I regarded their outrage with a degree of skepticism, if only because the Rangers are one of the worst teams in the league, so missing a few games of theirs – by an act of Cablevision, Comcast, or God – is nary something to lament. However, in principle, their argument was legitimate: why should a cable company be able to hold hostage another cable company and/or its subscribers merely to squeeze a few more dollars out of each subscriber simply based on geography?
This brings us to the present, showcasing the current dispute between Cablevision and Time Warner, front and center. With the political backdrop of the Jets proposed stadium and Cablevision’s/MSG’s outbidding of Woody Johnson, the Jets’ owner, for development rights of same, it’s relatively clear that these disputes, while seemingly minor (the Knicks and the Mets – anything but major) are going to escalate – quickly.
How quickly? The deadline of midnight tonight looms larger than Jennifer Lopez’s reputed derriere for fans of either/both of these teams.
Anyone who has a passing interest in professional sports knows that negotiation is a back-and-forth, and what is splashed across the sports pages is far from the extent of what’s actually happening in boardrooms and offices and war rooms occupied by the combatants. The problem, however, is that deadlines usually pass before deals are reached – if at all (wherefore art thou, NHL hockey?). In this situation, there’s little urgency because the Mets’ season has yet to start – there’s still snow on the ground and in the forecast – and the blackout of the Knicks could be presided over by Dr. Kevorkian as Euthanasia. But the principle remains the larger, and more disturbing, trend here.
Can and should cable monopolies be allowed to hold hostage the rights to televise sports teams which, for the most part, are “public” property? Firstly, the term monopoly applies because where one resides determines the cable company to which he/she can subscribe; aside from substandard satellite service, there is no choice involved. Secondly, being that there will be negotiation and back-and-forth – and given the two parties’ recent, rancorous history involving the Stadium project – this is going to get ugly, costly and messy, toot sweet.
I subscribe to Time Warner so I will be only marginally affected if they suddenly decide to inflate the cost of certain broadcasts, ie the Knicks, Mets, Rangers and/or Yankees; but above the two or three or seven dollars extra this dispute will wind up costing subscribers like me, what really is worrisome is the hostage tactics employed by these companies. What recourse does the typical consumer have if he/she has been wronged by a store? There’s a complaint department or at least some measure of customer service to which one can seek a solution; but when one is faced with a monolith like Cablevision, Time Warner Cable or George Steinbrenner’s wallet, odds are there will be a lot of unhappy and dissatisfied customers all around.
I am relieved that Giants (football) telecasts are, for the most part, broadcast weekly on network television – CBS, Fox or NBC (or even ABC) – and that reassures me that I won’t have to worry about these telecasts being omitted in the New York market (the NFL “blacks out” a telecast in the home city if the game is not sold out, but every ticket for every Giant game going back 20 years, and ahead another 10, is sold, so no worries there). So that’s clearly a good thing.
It’s disconcerting, however, to recall that there was a time when television – channels 2 (CBS), 4 (NBC), 5 (Fox), 7 (ABC), 11 (WPIX) and 13 (PBS) were once freely viewed with a pair of $1.59 rabbit ears. And it’s naïve to wonder where we as New Yorkers and cable subscribers are next headed, especially once these disputes are resolved and rich men get richer and the next big issue is a traffic-clogging, pollution-enhancing Stadium is built smack dab in the middle of the West Side.
Usually people spend their water-cooler time discussing what’s been on TV. For the second time in two weeks (the first being the NHL’s non-season), the story will be what’s not on TV.
Are you ready for some football?
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