With New York Yankees fans spanning the country, YES Network's "national" feed is now playing on its first cable system on the West Coast.
Bright House Networks' system serving Bakersfield, Calif. is now presenting YES National, the service that shows the regional sports network's programming, save for its telecasts of New York Yankees MLB and New Jersey Nets NBA games.
Bright House, which was the first cable operator to carry YES National when it made the service available to its systems in Orlando and Tampa, Fla. in 2009, launched the network in California on March 1, before rolling it out in Birmingham, Ala. the following day.
All told, YES National counts some 14 affiliates, a roster that also includes DirecTV, Time Warner Cable (which handles programming negotiations for Bright House), Verizon FiOS, AT&T U-verse, Mediacom and Metrocast. YES has more distributors and subs for its national product than any other RSN, according to company officials.
In addition to Yankees and Nets pre- and post-game coverage, Bright House customers and other YES National subscribers can check out interview series Center Stage with host Michael Kay; Mike'D Up: Francesa on the FAN, a live weekday simulcast of Mike Francesa's top-rated WFAN sports talk radio show in New York; and encores of Arsenal soccer matches and related programming from the Barclays Premiere League side.
Among the Bronx Bombers-oriented shows Bright House customers can watch: Yankees Batting Practice Today, the weekly manager series, The Joe Girardi Show, Yankees Magazine, Yankees Classics games, Yankees Baseball Daily and a pair of Emmy-winners, the bio series Yankeeography and kids show, Yankees on Deck.
Additional programming includes Forbes SportsMoney, a monthly half-hour program that takes swings at latest sports business news and trends; This Week in Football, a weekly studio show encapsulating all of the action around the NFL, with a particular focus on the New York Giants and Jets; and Nets Magazine, the weekly magazine show covering the pro basketball club that is Brooklyn-bound next season.
