Cablevision forces Islanders into a low-def world

Was at my mom's house Saturday, and after dinner, I went to the TV to watch the Islanders play the Panthers in Florida.

Punched in 717 on the remote for MSG Plus HD, and there were the Devils. Backed up a spot to 716, MSG HD, and there were the Rangers. Where was this game? Not in HD, although I checked 701 just in case. Because I can never remember that C-SPAN2 is the carryover channel -- the cleverly named MGS Plus 2 -- I went to the iO channel guide to find that the game was on Channel 14, which is normally the channel guide channel.

We should be used to this by now. Neil Best wrote about the Islanders' second-class status here, addressing the opening-night fiasco where the Islanders opener didn't appear on CSPAN2 untio after the first period was OVER because of a "technical error." Yeah, sure.

It's certainly one of the most frustrating things about being an Islanders fan: the local cable monopoly, Cablevision, also owns the Rangers, the Isles' chief rival.

Cablevision claims it is all about ratings, but I want to see the numbers that say the Devils -- a team that still has trouble selling out a building that is the Taj Mahal of NHL arenas, a building with terrific public transportation access -- have better television ratings than the Islanders.

It's baloney. Cablevision has absolutely no incentive to help the Islanders out and will stick it to them every chance they can. Whenever the Devils and Islanders have a conflict, the Devils get the regular channel, and the HD channel, and the Isles end up on the overflow channel, and not in HD.

It's enough to make me want to switch to Verizon FiOS -- except FiOS does not carry the MSG channels in HD. Auugh! I know, having FiOS wouldn't allow me to see the Isles in HD, but at least I wouldn't be paying Cablevision for screwing us fans.

And don't hold your breath about the situation changing anytime soon. The Isles' deal with Cablevision was extended to 2031, and the team gets roughly $20 million a year from it. So unless Cablevision dedicates an HD channel for the Isles, at least for when they conflict with the Devils and Rangers, Islanders fans who enjoy their hockey in HD will have to settle for watching the Isles in awful low-def, which is very tough to go back to.

Best also mentions the radio deal and Chris Dey's detailed explanation, but I have no beef with it because I happen to get WMJC pretty well where I live and could never hear Bloomberg Radio at night anyway.

It's my lot in life. Like many others, I'm a Mets-Jets-Islanders fan, a second-class citizen all the way. That's OK. It makes it that much sweeter when they win.

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Oh, and about that Panthers game? At least Rick DiPietro played and did pretty well. Otherwise, the 2-0 shutout loss wasn't much to write about. Consider it the first of many such games we'll experience this year as the offense struggles to score and the team struggles to find its identity and get in the flow of Scott Gordon's system.

Goodbye, MSG? And hello, Yashin?!

Almost choked on my lunch when I saw this on ESPN.com today:

NEW YORK -- The National Hockey League is threatening to kick out Madison Square Garden, the owners of the New York Rangers, as punishment for accusing the league of violating antitrust laws.

That's right, kids! The league, in a letter signed by Gary Bettman, "asked a judge to agree MSG has breached its contract by challenging league rules and that it can force out MSG."

It all dates back to the Rangers protesting the league's control over all the team websites. Say what you want about the Islanders' past ownership squabbles, but at least the league never threatened to kick one of them out of the league.

That James Dolan is something, isn't he? From the Knicks disaster and Isiah Thomas to this, he seems like one sharp dude. Sharp as a marshmallow.

Just the kind of news that makes me smile. Unlike the report that the Islanders are thinking about bringing back Alexei Yashin.

God help us, no! I don't care what his numbers were for Yaroslavl in the Russian Superliga. And yes, the Isles' offense was pathetic last season. But they bought him out FOR A REASON. They guy is an albatross. There's no way Ted Nolan is on board with this, is there?

Not the kind of news we want to read as we prepare for the NHL Draft on Friday, when the Isles will have a chance at drafting a truly exciting Russian, Nikita Filatov.

Yea on Filatov, nay on Yashin.

Newsday's Greg Logan breaks down the Islanders' possible draft strategy here, noting that Snow could opt to trade down. That would be a mistake. If Filatov is there, you take him. If not, you grab one of the top defensemen who slid down. The Isles have extra picks and should grab the best player they can in the first round, and then use the later picks by either taking players with them or consolidating them into a higher pick at some point.

We'll find out for sure tomorrow night. See you there!