• by Wayne Friedman , September 30, 2005

Two major New York area cable operators, Time Warner Cable and Comcast Corp., have announced their expected new regional New York sports network, which will be called SportsNet New York.

SportsNet will telecast up to 125 regular season games of the New York Mets, starting in 2006. The new network will also carry up to 30 college football games, and up to 85 college basketball games featuring teams from The Big East and Big Ten.

The network intends to compete with other regional sports networks--such as Cablevision Systems Corp.'s MSG Network. Mets games are currently seen on Cablevision's MSG Network. The Mets paid $54 million in 2004 to exercise an option allowing them to leave at the end of this season.

Last fall, Cablevision filed suit, attempting to stop the Mets from launching a network with Comcast and Time Warner. But the suit was dismissed. Cablevision and Time Warner have a long and bitter history of channel carriage problems--including one that started last summer, when Cablevision did not air New York Mets games for the first few weeks of the 2004 season. The dispute was settled in May.

The partnership also includes Sterling Entertainment Enterprises (SEE), which is a media company formed by the owners of the New York Mets.

Jon Litner, formerly svp of programming for ABC Sports, will be president of the new network. Curt Gowdy, Jr., another veteran ABC Sports executive, will be vp of production and executive producer. Former Turner South sports network executive, Steve Raab, will become vp of marketing and business development. Gary Morgenstern, a 16-year veteran of ESPN, will hold the title of director of programming.

The new network will be available on the basic tier, and will reach about three million customers in the Tri-State area.

All programming will be shot exclusively in high-definition TV. The network will have studios located in midtown Manhattan in the Time-Life building.