Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network chairman Leo J. Hindery Jr. took a
minute Thursday to complain to the press about how ridiculous he thinks
Cablevision Systems Corp.'s request is for two years of discovery before YES'
antitrust lawsuit against Cablevision can proceed.
"Yankees fans are entitled to a much more timely day in court," Hindery said.
"YES has been around for three months. Everything we have is in one file
cabinet. It won't take 660 days to figure out the issues."
Having filed an antitrust suit against Cablevision in the federal district
court in New York, Hindery wants the trial to start this September.
Cablevision is obviously furious at the upstart network, accusing it of
trying to damage the entire cable industry: "Cablevision has a responsibility to
its shareholders, employees and customers to fully and appropriately defend
itself against such a broad and unwarranted legal assault on the company. In
fact, this lawsuit is not only an attack upon Cablevision, but also on cable-television providers, the media industry, vertical integration and many of the
market forces that have allowed an array of companies to provide new and
exciting levels of services to customers."
Cablevision and YES have been at each other's throats since YES took from
Cablevision the exclusive contract to carry Yankees' games.
YES wants Cablevision to agree to run the games on an expanded-basic,
advertising-supported tier at a price of about $2 per subscriber.
Cablevision has offered about 55 cents per subscriber, or a place on a
premium tier, and it is not backing down, Hindery said.
Hindery also said every other cable operator in the New York metro area has
agreed to YES' terms.
