In N.Y., Bob Raissman wonders how long Yankees ownership will "remain composed if the losses mount and equate to a decline in ticket sales and TV ratings" on YES Network. The team's "atrocious April could not have come at a worse time." The slow start "took the steam out of Fox-owned YES’ campaign to force Comcast to restore the network to the cable operator’s 900,000 subscribers in New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 5/3).
FAILURE TO LAUNCH: In L.A., Bill Shaikin noted the latest attempt to end the Dodgers' TV blackout "ended in failure" last week when AT&T, parent company of DirecTV, "declined an invitation" from California state Rep. Janice Hahn to meet with Time Warner Cable in her office. Hahn, who "does not have any authority to compel the companies to meet, said she was disappointed that AT&T had declined." TWC "accepted Hahn's offer to facilitate a meeting, with or without her." But AT&T said any meeting with TWC should be "conducted on a business-to-business basis ... without unproductive public posturing" (L.A. TIMES, 4/30).
CARRYING THE TORCH: Golf Channel will carry more than 130 live hours of Olympics programming this summer, as golf makes its return to the Olympics for the first time in 100 years. The NBC Sports Group-owned channel will carry all of both the men’s and women’s competitions through the medal ceremony. The men’s tournament occurs Aug. 11-14 and the women’s is scheduled for Aug. 17-20. The net will supplement its coverage with the studio show “Golf Central’s Live From the Olympics” before and after the competitions. The broadcast channel, NBC, will provide live look-ins (John Ourand, Staff Writer).
OLD DOGS, NEW TRICK: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Amol Sharma writes tech giants like Apple, Google and Amazon have all "taken shots at creating an online TV bundle," but "for the most part, they haven’t delivered, thus far." Those tech firms now are "beginning to fall behind in this race to an unlikely group: the same pay TV companies -- from Dish to Disney -- that have propped up the traditional ecosystem." The latest evidence is news that Hulu is "launching an online cable TV bundle aimed at cord-cutters." The survival instincts of the old guard are "kicking in as it becomes plain that the ranks of cord-cutters are going to grow, not shrink" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 5/3).
