DirecTV has lost a marketing advantage it held in 2002 in many parts of New York when a major cable TV operator could not reach an agreement with the Yes Network to carry an estimated 130 games of the New York Yankees.

The absence of the perennial World Series contenders from programming packages offered by Cablevision Systems [NYSE: CVC] was seized as a golden marketing opportunity by DirecTV to entice some of the 3 million Cablevision subscribers in New York to switch to its satellite TV service offering the Yankees games. However, Cablevision this week struck a deal with the Yes Network to carry the games for the 2003 season, if customers subscribed to a regional sports network for $4.95 a month. That charge is below what Cablevision is paying to the Yes Network for its programming, Cablevision officials said.