Thursday: The Yankees and the Tribune Company have officially announced the deal. WPIX will begin airing approximately 20 over-the-air games this coming season, though the schedule has not been finalized. So no more My9. The Yankees are back on WPIX just like the good ol’ days.
Tuesday: The Yankees are close to an agreement to broadcast over-the-air games on WPIX, reports John Ourand. It is expected to be a four-year contract worth $11M to $13M per year, and would cover approximately 21 games per season. The team’s deal to air games on My9 expired after the 2014 season.
WPIX aired the Yankees for decades until the team left the station in 1998. The new agreement is expected to be finalized soon, perhaps this week. Here’s more from Ourand:
WPIX already carries an over-the-air package of around 25 games with the Mets, a deal that still has a few more seasons to go. It is not clear how the station plans to schedule both teams’ games. YES’ deal with WWOR expired at the end of last season. Ironically, WWOR is a Fox owned-and-operated broadcast station in N.Y. and YES Net is majority owned by Fox. YES Net reps declined to comment for this story.
WPIX usually airs the Mets on the weekends and My9 aired the Yankees on weeknights, so I assume they’ll keep the same schedule and there won’t be any conflicts.
According to Bob Raissman, WWOR simply did not want to pay the fees necessary to air games on My9. WWOR likely lost money during their last contract with the Yankees, he says.
Either way, My9 or WPIX, the Yankees will broadcast their usual slate of free over-the-air games the next few seasons. Now when you turn on your television to see the Yankees aren’t on YES, you’ll change the channel to see they aren’t on MY9 either before realizing they’re on WPIX.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.