• by Aaron Baar , April 13, 2009

Yankees fans are everywhere, except perhaps in Queens, N.Y., where the Mets play. To appease them, Verizon will carry the YES Network, home to regional sports programming in New York, nationally through its FiOS digital TV service.

"The Yankees have one of the largest fan bases of almost any team in sports, even outside the New York area," says Verizon representative Deidre Mulcahy. "YES programming is a great way for Yankee fans -- and baseball fans in general -- to get more behind-the-scenes and in-depth programming on the Yankees."

The YES Network, which stands for Yankee Entertainment and Sports, will be the first regional sports network available in all of the Verizon's FiOS markets, and will be offered at no additional charge. Outside of the network's New York and New Jersey base, however, the programming will not include Yankees and Nets games.

Instead, those customers will see substitute YES programming, such as "Batting Practice Today" (featuring news, analysis, match-ups and BP coverage of the Yankees and opponents), "Yankeeography" (a Yankees biographical series) and the "Joe Girardi Show."

Mulcahy did not know how, or if, the company plans to promote national coverage of the network.

As of now, Verizon has no plans to promote other regional sports networks to its national slate of programming, although Mulcahy says the company is "always looking at new ways to deliver the best in sports programming to our subscribers."