SNY In Talks With Local Stations About Providing Sports Coverage

SportsNet N.Y., the Mets' cable channel, is "in talks with local stations about providing sports reports for their newscasts," according to Michael Starr of the N.Y. POST. Sources indicated that SNY is talking with WPIX-CW and WNBC-TV "about eventually doing away with their own sportscasters and replacing them with SNY reporters." WPIX airs around 25 Mets games each season and "already has a substantial relationship with SNY." SNY President Steve Raab "declined to confirm which stations he'd been talking with," but he said, "We've had what I would consider fairly in-depth conversations with two stations, and both have different questions and would potentially go about using (SNY) in different ways." He said of SNY's role with the two networks, "We'd be creating their sports content. It's not really why we went into this business, but we've invested in an area where others are pulling back -- and we're focused on nothing but the sports news and information that New York sports fans are focused on." Raab added that he is "not sure how the SNY reports would be branded if used by local stations." Raab: "My response would be that we see the SNY brand as an attribute in the equation -- not a deterrent" (N.Y. POST, 6/8).