Sportsnet N.Y. Unable To Reach Cablevision Deal For Launch

The Mets’ new SportsNet N.Y. (SNY) did not reach a carriage deal with Cablevision in time for its 5:00pm ET launch Thursday, but talks are ongoing and a deal “remains likely in time for” the Mets’ April 3 season opener, according to Neil Best of NEWSDAY. SNY “also believes it will strike a deal with DirecTV by then” (NEWSDAY, 3/17). In N.Y., Richard Sandomir writes SNY and Cablevision “have agreed on economics — Cablevision will pay a monthly fee of $1.70 to $1.75 a subscriber –- but lesser issues are unresolved.” Cablevision “was so optimistic” about striking a carriage deal for yesterday’s launch that some of its customer agents told subscribers that they would see SNY on Thursday (N.Y. TIMES, 3/17).

FIRST-DAY JITTERS: NEWSDAY’s Best reports SNY on its debut night “had numerous technical problems on a Time Warner cable feed viewed in midtown Manhattan. It lost sound and/or picture during chunks of its first show, a writers’ roundtable, as well as the news show and pre-game show that followed.” Early in the Braves-Mets Spring Training game, the broadcast “missed a few pitches and Spanish language play-by-play could be heard in the background.” But problems “are not uncommon for a new TV enterprise,” and it was “evident SNY eventually will offer slickly produced shows” (NEWSDAY, 3/17). The N.Y. TIMES’ Sandomir notes “few networks escape their first day without technical problems” (N.Y. TIMES, 3/17). In N.Y., Bob Raissman notes during YES Network’s debut on March 19, 2002, viewers “got an out-of-sync, fuzzy picture and poor audio for an entire Reds-Yankees exhibition tilt.” Raissman reports some Time Warner Cable analog subscribers on Thursday “could not even get SNY,” getting either the “City Classics” channel or the OTB channel in its place. (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 3/17).