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April 12, 2002 -- THESE days, the toughest brand of hardball in town is being played not in The Bronx or Flushing, but in Bethpage, L.I.
The YES Network and its smooth-as-David-Wells'-belly CEO, Leo Hindery, may be winning the PR battle.

But Chuck Dolan and son are definitely winning the war.

That was clear yesterday at a hearing before the Suffolk County Consumer Protection Committee, a half-hearted attempt to broker a settlement between the YES Network, which has Yankee games to show, and Cablevision, which so far has refused to show them.

All along, Hindery has made great efforts to portray himself, the YES Network and its Boss, George M. Steinbrenner III, as humble servants of the people.

As such, he made the trip from the city to sleepy Hauppauge in a chauffeur-driven gold Cadillac sedan with tinted windows.

Before the legislators, he spoke earnestly of "ethical responsibilities" and "the public trust" and the plight of "people of lesser means" who would never be able to afford to watch a Yankee game if Cablevision had its way.

In rebuttal, Cablevision came disguised as an empty chair.

"We will not participate in a public negotiation that would be divisive and counterproductive," the Dolans sniffed in a statement released Wednesday night.

Consequently, Hindery won the hearing in a walk, which is what usually happens when only one guy comes to fight.

Uncontested, he pounded away at the YES Network's main complaints:

ÃŽ That Cablevision is acting as a monopoly by forcing the YES Network to operate as a premium channel.

ÃŽ That Cablevision is in violation of its public trust by depriving subscribers of their Yankees.

ÃŽ That Cablevision reneged on a promise to rebate its customers who subscribed to MSG expecting to see the Yankees and now have to settle for 50 Mets games.

ÃŽ And that Cablevision is acting in an irresponsible, vindictive manner because it lost a bid to buy the Yankees in 1998 and now has lost a sizable chunk of its programming on MSG Network.

Every one of them is a persuasive argument, and in many respects true.

But Hindery's testimony was much like the first nine games of the Yankees' 2002 season. Impressive, but seen and heard by practically nobody.

Of the 20 witnesses in the room, four were operating TV cameras, nine were taking notes and the rest looked to be lawyers and secretaries killing their lunch hours.

The truth is, there has been plenty of anguish but no real outcry over the blackout of the Yankees from 3 million Cablevision subscribers.

Opening Day came and went with hardly a murmur. This weekend's series against the Red Sox will likely do the same.

There has been no boycott of Cablevision's Bethpage offices. The "churn rate" - industry lingo for the number of people who drop the service in favor of satellite dishes - has not been high enough to get the Dolans' attention.

This is probably the most important New York sports story of the year - a summer without Yankee baseball on TV - but so far, the public seems to be dealing with it.

And time is only on Cablevision's side.

The YES Network, born of greed, now finds itself dying of apathy.

It was created because Steinbrenner's $54 million a year deal with MSG/Cablevision, the most lucrative local cable TV deal in the history of professional sports, suddenly was not enough.

With the Yankees on Cablevision's basic package, visions of a $150 million windfall danced in Steinbrenner's head.

Even without Cablevision, the YES Network has substantially increased Steinbrenner's cable-TV haul. But it is all about marketing and ad revenue. YES promised its advertisers an eight million home universe. It has delivered only five million. Ad rates have plunged accordingly.

"We're just getting killed," Leo Hindery said.

Then, more bad news: The Suffolk County legislators admitted they were powerless in this dispute. They advised Hindery to take the Dolans into a room and settle it like businessmen.

The Dolans, you see, have no reason to go into any room, with anyone. Not Leo Hindery or George Steinbrenner or four small-town legislators.

They're already in your living room and mine, and they've got $54 million they no longer have to pay Steinbrenner in their hip pockets.

Like they did with MSG Network in 1988, they can afford to sit this one out and wait for the YES Network to come crawling to them.

Everybody on Long Island hates them, but so what?

They are winning this war, and they haven't even raised a hand to fight.

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Trade Mike Stanton

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"Trade Mike Stanton!"

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