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MSG Unplugs From Time Warner Cable
By
Jen Chung
Published Jan 1, 2012
Modified Jan 1, 2012
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By
Jen Chung
Published Jan 1, 2012
Modified Jan 1, 2012
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As you contemplate how much your cable TV habit it costing you, Time Warner Cable has announced that the MSG Network pulled MSG and MSG Plus from the cable carrier. And MSG says that Time Warner dropped them!
MSG Media's president, Michael Bair, said, "We are disappointed that MSG and MSG Plus will be dropped from Time Warner Cable's lineup. All we have asked is for Time Warner Cable to value our programming in the same way as other TV providers--nothing more, nothing less. Unfortunately, they rejected every offer we made to them for almost two years." On the other hand, Time Warner Cable's statement says, "The decision to remove their programming from our lineup rests entirely with MSG. By making that decision well in advance of the deadline, MSG has again shown that they are more interested in holding New York sports fans hostage than in negotiating a deal."
TWC says MSG wanted a 53% increase in fees to carry the networks, "We regret that MSG Networks has taken away their sports programming, but remind fans that even without MSG, Time Warner Cable will carry nearly 40 percent of this season’s remaining Knicks games and nearly 30 percent of the remaining Rangers games, and 20 percent of the remaining Sabres games as well as most NBA and NHL playoffs."
MSG's statement is here; Bair also said, "Given Time Warner Cable's reportedly record-setting $5 billion investment in Los Angeles Lakers rights, we expected that they would be eager to continue to deliver top New York sports programming to their customers, who are unfortunately caught in the middle of this dispute."
Sports are a popular reason for people to subscribe to cable, but TWC told the Wall Street Journal that fees for sports networks are "turning into an astronomical problem."
Tagged
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knicks
msg
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time warner cable
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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