Draft:YES Network

Credits

Descriptions by
AUnnamedDragon and others

Captures by
Camenati

Editions by
AUnnamedDragon

YES Network
Founded:	March 19, 2002

Background

The Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network (YES) is a regional sports network in the New York area, located in Stamford, Connecticut. It launched on March 19, 2002, and was created by YankeeNets (then the parent company of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and the New Jersey Nets of the National Basketball Association; the Nets now play in Brooklyn). Prior to the YES Network's formation, the Yankees broadcast their games on the MSG Network, while the Nets broadcast their games on Fox Sports Net New York (now MSG+), which is a RSN owned and operated by Cablevision.

The YES Network was created as a result of YankeesNets' deal with Cablevision, and their previous deal with the MSG Network expired after the 2001 MLB season; likewise, the Nets' deal with Fox Sports Net NY ended after the 2001-02 NBA season. Despite the Nets being part of the creation, their games weren't shown on YES until the start of the 2002-03 NBA season. YankeeNets (now Yankee Global Enterprises) sold 49% of the network to Fox, who would eventually get 80% control. The network is now owned by Yankee Global Enterprises, Sinclair Broadcasting Group and Entertainment Studios (now Allen Media Group), Amazon, and The Blackstone Group, RedBird Capital and Mubadala Investment Company, all of which own 13%.

To this day, the YES Network broadcasts coverage of games for both the Yankees and Nets (with the channel adding coverage of games for the New York City Football Club of Major League Soccer, a team they partly own with United Arab Emirates-owned soccer team Manchester City Football Club, and the New York Liberty of the WNBA), as well as original programming including Yankees Classics, CenterStage, and Yankeeography and that show's spin-offs.

1st Logo (March 19, 2002-2005)

Visuals: A blue light flashes on a black background, and several blue stadium lights appear, forming a circle of stadium lights. As the camera pans around the lights, a blue outline of the then-current YES Network logo, a blue rectangle with a frieze not unlike the one from Yankee Stadium and the bold silver stacked words "YES NETWORK" below the frieze, is formed by the lights, appearing as a series of ripples in the form of the logo before becoming more clear. The outline eventually flashes and fades into the logo as the camera zooms in at an angle and an blue ring is launched by the blast. The lights surround the fully-formed logo, which shines. The lights shine and rotate throughout the logo.

Variants:

• On the network's launch video, a short version of the logo, starting when the outline is being formed, fades in from the closing shot of the video.
• A alternate variant exists. Here, before the outline can flash, the screen fades to a different background with a different rotating circle of blue stadium lights. The YES Network logo, shown here as a white rectangle with navy blue pinstripes not unlike those found on Yankees uniforms, without the frieze and with the text in navy blue, flips in and sways back and forth. The lights shine brightly.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: The YES Network theme (composed by Edd Kalehoff), which is a loud, dramatic 16-note fanfare. The fanfare begins with two notes (the second one is held-out), followed by some drumbeats and five more notes. Three more notes are played quickly, followed by another three notes (the last note is held-out). Finally, three more notes are played; the last note echoes as the logo fades to black. There are also some whooshing sounds and the voice of Bob Sheppard, long time PA announcer of the New York Yankees, saying one of the following phrases:

• March 19, 2002-2004(?): "Your attention please, ladies and gentlemen. You're watching the YES Network, the home of champions."
• 2003(?)-2005: "Your attention please, ladies and gentlemen. You're watching YES: The Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network."

Audio Variants:

• On the launch video variant, this is accompanied by the music from the video, along with whooshing sounds. The video's male announcer is also heard saying "Welcome to the YES Network."
• At the end of original programming of the time (i.e. Yankees Classics and Yankeeography), an different male announcer (presumably John Sterling) says over the regular music, "The preceding has been an exclusive presentation of the YES Network."
• At the beginning of the Yankeeography episode "1998" and the CenterStage episode "Celebrating Black History", an different male announcer (again, presumably John Sterling) says over the music, "The following is an exclusive presentation of the YES Network."

Availability:

• During its original use, it served various capabilities, including appearing before coverage of Yankees and Nets games (including pregame coverage) and appearing at the beginning and/or end of episodes of their original programming of the time.
• It is left intact on YES Network reruns of Yankees Classics, Yankeeography and CenterStage episodes of the time. The "preceding has been an exclusive presentation" variant also strangely appears at the end (and sometimes the beginning) of post-2005 Yankeeography episodes, including a 2008 episode about the 1998 Yankees (the aforementioned "1998"; the "following is an exclusive presentation" variant was spotted at the start of that episode).
• The alternate variant was stopped at the end of the Yankeeography episode "Mickey Mantle" (with the "preceding has been an exclusive presentation..." announcement) and the beginning of the CenterStage episode "Celebrating Black History" (with the "following is an exclusive presentation..." announcement; no logo appears at the end of that episode).
• As with most other station idents, check those old tapes/DVR recordings.

2nd Logo (2005-2015?)

Visuals: On a blue, aura-like starburst background that spins and flashes throughout, the camera pans through a silver outlined blue rectangle. The word "YES", also in silver, can be seen during this. This then fades to the rectangle (with "YES") sliding past the camera before there is a flash, after which the rectangle zooms out in a tilted angle, revealing itself to be the current YES Network logo (a blue rectangle with a silver outline and "YES" on it). The logo tilts to its regular position and shines.

Variant: A variant aired before and after Nets-related programs (and presumably coverage for Nets games as well) shows everything blue in red. When the Nets moved to Brooklyn, New York, everything red turned to black to match the Nets' color scheme.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A slightly quieter, echo-less version of the YES Network theme with different whooshing sounds. The announcement used is the second Bob Sheppard announcement from the previous logo.

Audio Variants:

• At the end of original programming, the same "preceding has been an exclusive presentation" announcement from the previous logo is used.
• Sometimes, at the beginning of such programs, the "following is an exclusive presentation" announcement from the previous logo is heard.

Availability:

• As with the previous logo, during its original use, this logo served various capabilities, including the same ones listed above (excluding coverage of Yankees games).
• It is left intact on YES Network reruns of Yankees Classics episodes of the time. It also showed up on some episodes of Yankeeography: Moments of Glory (three of those episodes being "Aaron Boone", "Andy Pettitte" and "Tino Martinez").
• Again, check those old tapes/DVR recordings.

3rd Logo (2005-2015?)

Visuals: The same YES Network logo from the previous logo is shown, hiding behind a blue version of the Yankee Stadium frieze. Then the YES Network logo zooms in along with the frieze.

Technique: Appears to be CGI.

Audio: The same version of the YES Network theme as the previous logo. The announcement used is the second Bob Sheppard announcement from the last two logos.

Availability: This was used before coverage of New York Yankees games of the era. Check those old tapes/DVR recordings.

4th Logo (2015?-)

Visuals: Several blue and silver glass bars slide in over a black background. The bars almost completely cover the screen, and the YES Network logo is reflected on some of them and sliding toward the camera. There are also some rectangle-shaped glass screens with blue stadium lights reflected on them. Then, the bars flip out to reveal some new ones, and the camera pans toward the new bars, which also have the YES Network logo reflected on them while sliding again, ending up on a close-up of the logo; the stadium lights are still visible. The bars open, and the camera zooms in to reveal glass screens, also rectangle-shaped and with the YES Network logo reflected on them. This then cuts to some more glass screens with the stadium lights reflected on them. As the camera pans away from them, the YES Network logo moves onto the screen with an silver glass rectangle-shaped outline, with the camera continuing to pan until it stops at an angle. An blue light shines brightly on the logo and moves toward the right as the screens and stadium lights continue to slide around the background.

Variants:

• A short version, which starts when the logo moves onto the screen, exists.
• An extended version of the previous variant is used whenever the network joins a program already in progress.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: The version of the YES Network theme from the last two logos, with several whooshing sounds throughout. On Yankees-related programs (including coverage of Yankees games), the second Bob Sheppard announcement from the previous logos is also heard. On non-Yankees related programs and non-Yankees sports telecasts, an different announcer, NFL on CBS and NBA on TNT play-by-play commentator Ian Eagle, says "You're watching YES: The Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network."

Audio Variants:

• On the short version, the fanfare is shortened to cut out the first 6 or 7 notes. The announcement used is the Ian Eagle one used for non-Yankees related programming.
• On the "program-in-progress" variant, Eagle says over the full fanfare, "You're watching YES: The Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network. We now join our programming already in progress."
• At the end of original programming, the same "preceding has been an exclusive presentation" announcement from the first two logos is used.
• Since 2023, on non-Yankees related programming, yet another different male announcer says "You are watching YES: The Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network."

Availability: Seen before (and sometimes after) most programs on YES, including sports coverage and episodes of Yankeeography: History of the Yankees and Yankees Magazine.

5th Logo (September 2023-)

Visuals: The logo fades in on a light blue line drawing itself from the right on a blue background. As the camera zooms out, more light blue lines draw themselves from the right and left, and the camera zooms out further, revealing the lines are making pinstripes. More pinstripes draw themselves in as the camera continues to zoom out, revealing what appear to be two large light blue "S"s. Silver copies of the "YES" wordmark zoom out while spinning, forming a trail. At the end of the trail, "YES", now in navy blue, appears. The trail retracts itself into the logo as the rectangle outline, also in navy blue, zooms out with "YES" and the inside of the rectangle fills with white. The logo zooms out before stopping at a comfortable distance inside a white square. The background is now slightly blurred, with four large copies of the light blue word "YES" (the "Y" is only partly seen) covering the left side of the screen; two copies are seen at first before the other two are revealed. The camera continues to zoom out as the square and rectangle outline disappear and "YES" flips and zooms toward us with a rectangle cut out of the square. "YES" zooms back and lands on the rectangle, and the inside of the rectangle slides down and disappears, leaving the outside. White copies of the letters in the "YES" wordmark cover the navy blue version as the large "YES"s become light blue outlines that disappear. Lights shine on the pinstripes as the camera continues to zoom out before the logo fades to black.

Variant: A short variant, starting when the copies of the "YES" wordmark zoom out, exists.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: The YES Network theme with whooshes and the Bob Sheppard announcement from the previous logos, but shortened to "Your attention please, ladies and gentlemen. You're watching YES." On non-Yankees related programs and sports telecasts, the 2023 voiceover from before is heard.

Variant: Whenever the network returns to regularly scheduled programming after a live program, when the copies of the "YES" wordmark begin zooming out, a different male announcer says "We now join our regularly scheduled programming."

Availability: Seen before (and sometimes after) programming on YES since September 2023, including Yankees game telecasts and Yankees Magazine.