With Cablevision's Fox Sports NY not televising three
of the first four Islanders games in the N.Y.-area, Richard
Sandomir of the N.Y. TIMES writes that Cablevision's control
of the area's local sports TV rights "may not be a legal
monopoly ... [b]ut what Cablevision has built is a de facto
sports monopoly, and it is acting as if there is no
countervailing market power." Cablevision "banned Islanders
games without a proper explanation or promise to rebate even
a teensy portion of subscriber fees." The Marquee Group
President Bob Gutkowski dismissed a soft ad market for the
Isles as the reason, saying, "They've always been a tough
sell." Gutkowski said that the Isles "could be the focus of
[Cablevision Chair Charles] Dolan's plan to re-price his
sports empire into various tiers, selling games on basic,
premium or pay-per-view levels, or in team-by-team plans."
Sandomir writes that making the Isles a "test case would be
wickedly perfect because it would exploit a team at its
weakest moment." Sandomir: "And where is the Fox in Fox
Sports New York?" Fox Sports Net "preaches the power of
local sports as its mantra through its array of sports
channels," and FSNY's Isles "strategy" is "mighty
antithetical to the Fox credo" (N.Y. TIMES, 10/20).
ISLES TRY DELAY-TACTICS: NEWSDAY's Steve Zipay reports
that team officials have "offered, and would again, to buy
unsold FSNY advertising units." The team also "reportedly
asked if the games could be shown on tape delay, and were
rejected." MSG Exec VP Joe Cohen called overflow games --
when three MSG/FSNY teams in the N.Y. market play at the
same time -- "a programming mess," adding that FSNY has
implemented a toll-free number for customers to find out
where overflow games may be televised (NEWSDAY, 10/20).
