The Yankee Entertainment and Sports (YES) Network, a regional channel broadcasting games from the New York Yankees, Brooklyn Nets and the New York Liberty, is introducing direct subscription so you don’t need cable to watch the channel.
The new direct plan is sold in monthly and yearly packages of $24.99 per month or $239.99 per year. You can subscribe through the YES app, which is available in a browser or through various smart TV app ecosystems. And if you want to save a few bucks, YES Network offers introductory deals of $19.99 per month (a price you can keep until the end of 2023) and $199.99 if you subscribe before April 30.
You must be in YES Network’s “regional coverage area” to subscribe, which means I can’t get this subscription where I’m in Oregon. (It’s okay, I’m not a fan of the teams.) If you already get YES through your cable subscription, you can continue to use the app to stream games at no extra cost.
Where to watch Yankees games became a controversial topic during Aaron Judge’s race to break the American League home run record. On September 23, Judge was on the verge of breaking the record during a game that was to be televised free at Apple’s Friday Night Baseball. But New York Attorney General Letitia James confusedly called for the game to be transferred to JA before later softening. (Anyone could have watched that game for free on Apple TV Plus, but James still argued that it created “burdens” for Yankees fans.) Days later, Amazon, an investor in YES, made a Yankees game available on the cable network. For some, it may be a comforting option to know that they can simply subscribe to this new direct offering to watch games broadcast on the YES cable channel.
Apple will also stream two Yankees games on Friday Night Baseball this season. That said, you should know that Friday Night Baseball is only available to paid Apple TV Plus subscribers this season.