YES programs, including Yankees and Nets pre- and post-game shows, are produced in studios that are located in Stamford, Connecticut.

YES is the product of a holding company founded in 1999 called YankeeNets, created out of a merger of the business operations of the Yankees and the New Jersey Nets.

Two years earlier in 1997, Cablevision – which at the time had owned the Nets' television broadcaster, SportsChannel New York (later known as Fox Sports Net New York, and now known as MSG Sportsnet) – became the sole owner to the television rights of all seven Major League Baseball, NBA and NHL teams in the New York City market when it acquired the competing MSG Network (previously owned by Viacom through its 1994 purchase of the network's former parent Paramount Communications), which had held the broadcast rights to the Yankees since 1989.

This led to monopoly-like tactics, including the shift of some games to the cable-exclusive MSG Metro Channels, which had very limited distribution as Cablevision, Comcast and Time Warner Cable routinely fought over carriage agreements.

In April 2001, the suit was settled such that in June 2001, YankeeNets paid MSG to take the Yankees' TV rights in-house.

IMG had been replaced by other investors, Goldman, Sachs & Company, the Quadrangle Group, Leo Hindery Jr., chief executive of the network, and Amos Hostetter Jr., a billionaire cable veteran, who in total had a 40% share of the channel.

At its launch, YES was available on DirecTV and to subscribers of all major New York area cable providers except Cablevision which would refuse to add the network for the 2002 season (see below).

[14] On December 14, 2017, the Walt Disney Company (which owned ABC owned-and operated station WABC-TV) announced plans to acquire 21st Century Fox following the divestiture of certain assets.

[16] Bloomberg News reported that the sale of stakes in YES to Fox contained a clause giving the Yankees rights to buy them back in the event of a change in ownership.

[17] On November 11, 2018, the New York Post reported that the Yankees had invoked the right of first refusal to acquire YES in the event that the sale of Fox Sports Networks to was successful,[18] formally bidding 9 days later in a joint deal with Blackstone Group to get the 80% stake back.

[19] The Yankees also appointed the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, RedBird Capital Partners, and Mubadala Investment Company to assist with their bid for the network.

[23] Mubadala Development Company, a United Arab Emirates’ sovereign wealth fund, and RedBird Capital Partners were reported as minority investors.

YES has only televised one RailRiders game, Masahiro Tanaka's minor league rehab start, the team also has local coverage within its Scranton/Wilkes-Barre market.

[27][28] In 2024, YES also acquired rights to St. Bonaventure University men's and women's basketball, airing nine games split between the two squads on YES during the 2024–25 season.

For a couple of years during the early 2000s, YES and NBA TV also both aired reruns of the basketball-centered drama series The White Shadow.

Yankee Global Enterprises owns a 20% minority stake in the club, which is majority-owned by City Football Group.

[31][32] This continued until 2023, when all regional MLS broadcasts were abolished as part of the league's agreement with Apple Inc.[33] YES also acquired the local broadcast rights to the WNBA's New York Liberty in 2019 after the team was sold by the Madison Square Garden Company to Brooklyn Nets minority owner Joseph Tsai.

[36] In June 2024, Willow announced that it had sublicensed MI New York Major League Cricket matches to YES Network for the 2024 season.

The feed is carried in both standard and high definition on most cable providers in the New York metropolitan area and nationwide on DirecTV and Charter Spectrum.

This feed differs from the satellite feed of the network available on DirecTV, in which Yankees and/or Nets games can be viewed outside of the teams' markets through a subscription to MLB Extra Innings and/or NBA League Pass and the rest of the YES schedule can be viewed through a subscription to the DirecTV Sports Pack.

Former YES minority owner Goldman Sachs also maintains an ownership stake in Dish Network parent Echostar.

[47] In 2003, Don Zimmer (then employed with the Yankees as a bench coach) expressed criticism of team owner George Steinbrenner in interviews with certain local media outlets.

YES was roundly criticized for this move, including its decision to use a fixed camera shot focused tightly on correspondent Kimberly Jones as she described the events surrounding her in general terms.

[48] Perhaps due to this incident, YES broadcast the majority of the ceremonies honoring the Red Sox' celebration of the 100th Anniversary of Fenway Park in 2012.

For the 2006 and 2007 seasons, Torre, who had been paid a fee by YES to give exclusive interviews after each Yankees game, ended his agreement with the network.