Cablevision Chair Charles Dolan said that if his
company agrees to pay almost $2.5B for the rights to
televise Yankees games on MSG Network over the next ten
years, sports fans "may balk at paying sharply higher" cable
fees, according to Berkowitz & Zipay of NEWSDAY. Dolan also
said that the cost of the Yankees TV extension "would be
about" $1.5B "if the company pays it all upfront, but, he
said, 'nobody does that.'" Dolan said the deal, when paid
year by year, "adds up to" $2.5B, which is "six times what
was paid for those rights over the last ten years." On
Friday, YankeeNets sent a letter to MSG that said its
investment banker, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, "had valued
the rights at" $1.4B. YankeeNets Chair & CEO Harvey
Schiller said the future value of the TV rights was "about"
$2.3B, and that the figure was "based on revenue projections
derived from calculations on what cable companies can
charge" per subscriber, advertising rates for both cable and
over-the-air telecasts and inflation. Dolan, on "possible
effects" on subscriber fees for MSG, or overall cable
service: "Their costs would increase substantially without
any change in the service that has been provided to them in
the past." Dolan, on the rights fee: "Will that price work
in the marketplace and how will we relate to that? I don't
know." Schiller, when told Dolan felt that the fee was "too
high," said, "Then let him pass" (NEWSDAY, 9/13). Dolan
also said he had "no idea" when a deal might be reached with
YankeeNets (MULTICHANNEL NEWS, 9/12).
