MSG Networks this week began alerting sports fans in the New York City metropolitan area that some of their favorite teams might soon be unavailable if they subscribe to Optimum’s cable television service.
On Monday, MSG Networks’ multiplex cable channels began running a ticket over normal programming that warned of a potential carriage dispute with Optimum, which could prevent subscribers from watching locally-televised games played by the New York Rangers, New York Knicks, New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils, among other teams.
As is typical, the likely dispute centers around fees that cable and satellite TV providers are required to pay broadcasters and programmers in exchange for the rights to their channels.
In a statement emailed to The Desk late Monday evening, a spokesperson for Optimum’s parent company Altice USA said MSG Networks was “demanding exorbitant programming fees, which could raise our customers’ cable bills.”
“To add insult to injury, MSG Networks is requiring us to make their channels available to the vast majority of Optimum video subscribers, which would force customers to pay for content they may not want to watch,” the spokesperson said.
Historically, broadcasters enjoyed wide latitude in controlling how their channels are sold to subscribers. Some entertainment and sports programmers require cable and satellite companies distribute their channels in base programming packages, which help ensure the widest possible reach on pay TV systems. But that stipulation also forces cable and satellite customers to pay for channels that they do not want or otherwise don’t watch.
Over the past few years, cable and satellite companies have resisted efforts for higher demands and distribution terms that are favorable to programmers, at a time when similar news and sports programming is available on streaming platforms.
MSG Networks is one such broadcaster that makes its live channels and sports programming available beyond the cable bundle, with the Gotham Sports app offering MSG Networks for $30 per month or $280 per year. MSG Networks also offers pay-per-game access to live sports for $10 per event.
Related: Gotham Sports app launches with streaming access to YES Network, MSG Networks
“We refuse to allow any entity to force our customers to pay more than they can afford, and with direct-to-consumer options like MSG Plus available on the Gotham Sports app, customers who want to watch it have alternatives so that non-viewers don’t have to pay for content they don’t want,” Optimum said on Monday.
For its part, MSG Networks said it has been working with Altice USA toward “a fair, market-based deal,” though the programmer didn’t explicitly deny that it was seeking more money for its channels.
“Unfortunately, Altice has rejected all of our offers,” a MSG Networks spokesperson said on Monday. “For the benefit of our mutual customers, we call on Altice to bargain in good faith and to avoid a blackout of MSG Networks.”
MSG Networks further claimed that it has “offered to keep our programming on air while we continue to negotiate, so fans don’t miss out on our programming,” but noted that Altice USA has rejected that extension, too.
Early Tuesday morning, a spokesperson for Optimum said that “an extension was neither offered nor declined.”
“With that said, Optimum wants to partner with programmers who are putting customer choice and flexibility at the center of every decision,” the spokesperson affirmed. We would be happy to agree to an extension if they approached these negotiations like partners and worked with us to find solutions that benefit our customers and their viewers. Unfortunately, that has not been their approach to date.”
In its earlier statement, Optimum characterized MSG Networks’ demands as “anti-consumer, unsustainable, and aligns to a broken and outdated model that they are refusing to deviate from.”
“Regional sports networks, such as MSG Networks, represent the most expensive content on television, and as viewership becomes increasingly fragmented across various services and platforms, programmers like MSG Networks are trying to squeeze customers for more money to watch their content,” Optimum said.
Coincidentally, the potential dispute between Optimum and MSG Networks comes just a few days after Cablevision founder Charles Dolan passed away at the age of 98. Dolan was instrumental in wiring parts of the New York City area for cable television in the 1960s and 1970s; the Manhattan cable TV business was sold to Time in the early 1970s, and Cablevision was sold to Altice USA in 2016, becoming Optimum.
Dolan later founded MSG Networks. Sphere Entertainment, the current parent company of MSG Networks, is owned and controlled by Dolan’s family.
