YES Network to Disney as part of FOX merger? What it means for Yankees fans (UPDATE)

Disney and Fox are working on a merger involving several sports assets, including YES Network. Comcast may try to swoop in and beat Disney to a deal. Caught in the middle are Yankees fans.

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UPDATE (June 26th, 12:58 p.m.): The Department of Justice approved Disney’s $71 billion bid for 21st Century Fox. But according to the New York Times, one of the conditions of the deal is Disney must “divest all of Fox’s 22 regional sports networks, which include valuable channels like the Yankees’ YES network.”

UPDATE (June 20th, 3:03 p.m.): Disney raised its offer for 21st Century Fox to $71.3 billion. Comcast had submitted a bid of $65 billion last week. Disney originally bid $52.4 billion in December.

UPDATE (June 13th, 4:43 p.m.): Following federal approval of AT&T’s merger with Time Warner, Comcast submitted a $65 billion bid on Wednesday for 21st Century Fox, putting it in competition with Disney, who made a $52 billion offer for the same assets. However “the door remains open for Disney to make another offer in an attempt to match or outbid Comcast.”

Could the most iconic franchise in North American sports be joining forces with the Worldwide Leader?

It’s possible, if the proposed Disney-Fox merger goes through as outlined.

Shareholders for the two companies have started receiving literature detailing the deal.

Disney and Fox stockholders will vote on the deal at special meetings on July 10.

Under the terms of the deal, Fox, officially dubbed 21st Century Fox, Inc., will spin off some of its properties into a new company, called, appropriately enough, New Fox.

Going to New Fox will be the following assets: Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox Sports, Fox Television Stations Group, FS1, FS2, Fox Deportes and Big Ten Network.

Among the assets remaining with 21st Century Fox are YES Network, Fox Arizona, Fox St. Louis, Fox Cincinnati, Fox San Diego, Fox Sportstime Ohio, Fox Sports West and DraftKings. These properties would go to Disney if shareholders approve the proposed merger.

In July of 2014, 21st Century Fox agreed to take over the majority share of YES Network, bumping its ownership from 49 to 80%. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. However in December of 2012, Fox paid almost $600 million for the original 49% stake.

Bottom line: if the Fox-Disney merger is approved, YES Network will be owned by the same company which owns the ESPN empire.

Complicating matters, however, is cable giant Comcast.

The Philadelphia-based company is preparing an offer for 21st Century Fox.

In a conference call Monday with shareholders, CEO Brian Roberts told investors, “As we discussed during our recent conference calls and webcast, opportunities arise for us to create more value for our shareholders like we did with NBCUniversal. Our current offer for Sky as well as our announcement last month that we’re also considering and are in advance stages of repairing an offer for the businesses that Fox is selling, are perfect examples of this.”

Comcast owns NBC Universal and rivals Disney as a media behemoth.

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What all this means for Yankees fans is this: One way or another, the YES Network will find itself part of a larger, media conglomerate. With that comes more cross-promotion with other company-owned properties (i.e. the plugging of “Solo: A Star Wars movie” on several ABC and ESPN programs).

Both Comcast and Disney own several sports media outlets, so there will also be a chance for increased exposure of Yankees coverage to out-of-market fans, as well as exposure to Yankees fans of non-Yankees related content.

Being owned by Comcast or Disney would, in theory, help YES Network negotiate carriage agreements with other service providers, and perhaps avoid the type of spat between Comcast and YES which led to a two-year blackout of the channel, before a deal was struck in 2017.

For Yankees fans, that means not having to worry about missing games for a team that is setting itself up to contend for a World Series title for years to come.

One potential kicker. SNY, the television network home of the Mets, is owned by a conglomerate of broadcasting companies, including Comcast. So if Comcast acquires Fox (and as a result, YES Network) you will have one company (Comcast) with ownership stakes in the network homes to both of New York’s baseball teams.

Mike Rosenstein may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @rosenstein73. Find NJ.com on Facebook.