It’s not a certainty that YES Network will go dark on Comcast systems in New Jersey and Connecticut at midnight tonight when the latest extension to its current carriage deal expires, but consider this: YES Network already filed a complaint with the F.C.C. on Sunday night alleging that the cable operator wants to put it on “the Siberia of a tier.” And yesterday, while the Yankees’ Tim Hill was striking out the Brewers’ Jake Bauers in the top of the sixth, viewers heard the voice of YES president and C.E.O. Jon Litner warning of an expected blackout and accusing Comcast of “bullying” in negotiations. His rant lasted a solid three and a half minutes. Regular readers of this column have seen this movie multiple times over the past year. Comcast president of content acquisition Greg Rigdon has perfected a strategy that has methodically relegated costly regional sports networks to underloved digital tiers—a move that many in the industry have perceived as vindictive but is undeniably brilliant and driven by data showing the declining popularity of R.S.N.s. Rigdon even coined his own industrial nomenclature: the glide path (a managed journey to Siberia); the cliff path (a sudden ejection to the Vladivostok rail station); and my own addition to the lexicon: the grinfuck, the term of art for this pleasantly served-cold dish. Of course, this transition has not been without its fits and starts. Last summer, Main Street Sports (née Diamond Sports) went dark on Comcast systems for three months as C.E.O. David Preschlack protested the move. Other R.S.N.s had to follow suit, including many of the NBC Sports–branded networks owned by Comcast. Other high-profile R.S.N.s, such as NESN, which carries the Red Sox, were also relegated to the digital tier. In many ways, this feels like a typical cable carriage fight. But YES Network is counting on its uniqueness—it serves New York, after all, and broadcasts the most famous team in sports—to avoid the fate of its peers. There are also some other interesting features of the dispute. First, Comcast owns a small stake (less than 10 percent) in SportsNet New York, the R.S.N. that carries Mets games. (Charter also has a minority stake of 27 percent; Fred Wilpon’s Sterling Equities owns the rest.) YES Network and Litner hope to convince regulators and fans that Comcast is putting its proverbial finger on the scales. “I guess this is the Comcast playbook: to favor their own networks, and disadvantage networks they do not own,” Litner said on the YES Network telecast. Alas, this is all going to get messy. Contra Litner’s accusations of favoritism, Comcast has already moved its NBC-branded R.S.N.s to a digital tier, and it will certainly move SNY once its carriage deal is up in several years. Since Comcast only holds a minority stake in SNY, however, the conglomerate can’t move it to a digital tier without buy-in from the Wilpons and Charter—neither of whom would ever approve of such a move before the contract expires. This is where the F.C.C. comes in, and why it’s so noteworthy that YES Network already engaged the agency. Donald Trump’s F.C.C. chairman Brendan Carr, who has opened inquiries into ABC, CBS, and NBC News, posted on X yesterday afternoon that he “would encourage a quick and favorable resolution” to the Comcast–YES Network dispute, warning that “the FCC does have authority to step in and address claims of discriminatory conduct.” The president, meanwhile, called Comcast C.E.O. Brian Roberts “a pathetic loser” in a post complaining about NBC News’s Meet the Press. The shot at Roberts is noteworthy. After all, Yankee Global Enterprises owns a majority stake in YES, and Trump’s affection for Yankees brass goes back to his friendship with George Steinbrenner, when the two would prowl Manhattan nightspots with an entourage that might’ve included Rupert Murdoch, Reggie Jackson, and Roy Cohn. Earlier this year, Trump appointed Mindy Levine, the wife of Yankees president Randy Levine, to the board of the Kennedy Center. And whatever happens with YES, of course, has the potential to affect Comcast’s other R.S.N. deals. Could Rigdon finally end up getting grinfucked, himself?

On the Nielsen stat that around 3,000 people watched at least one minute of *every* first- and second-round March Madness game: “Only 3,000? That number seems low. We had two people watch at least a minute of every game in my house alone. (Having a four-TV setup helps…) —A D.C.-based telecom lawyer On NCAA start times: “What can we do about these late tip times in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament? It was 10 p.m. ET on a work night, and we still had two Sweet 16 games that hadn’t tipped. That has to lead to significant East Coast drop-off. I don’t understand why it’s so late.” —A bleary-eyed fan via X On NBC and USA Network: “How will rights work between NBCU and SpinCo? EPL, for example: Would NBC essentially be licensing out the coverage on USA Network? Could NBCU just make the Premier League exclusive to NBC/Peacock and no USA Network?” —A devoted reader [Ed. note: I expect NBCU to license rights across golf, EPL, and others for Golf Channel and USA Network, though nothing has been formally announced yet.]

See you Thursday, John