MSG and Optimum strike deal to end carriage dispute

Since 12:01 a.m. on January 1, MSG Networks (home of the New York Knicks, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils, and Buffalo Sabres) have been off Optimum’s cable offerings thanks to a carriage dispute between Optimum owner Altice and MSG parent Sphere Entertainment.

That standoff has led to a remarkable amount of public back-and-forth between the sides, including propping up figures like Rangers’ broadcaster Sam Rosen. But a deal has finally been struck.

The two sides put out a joint release on Saturday.

MSG Networks and Optimum are pleased to announce they have reached an agreement for the relaunch of MSG Networks on Optimum video lineups.

MSG Networks and Optimum would like to thank everyone for their patience as we partnered to reach this new agreement to benefit our fans and Optimum subscribers.

Specific terms of the agreement were not released.

As noted, there was a lot of public drama here, starting with the lead-up to the dispute and continuing from there. The key issue appears to be one often seen in these disputes, with Optimum looking to move MSG to a higher tier and the regional sports network resisting that push.

With terms not yet released, it’s unclear how that was resolved.

But this dispute stood out from the pack thanks to the amount of public-facing comments on it. That included contrasting claims on who walked away from negotiations (and how serious various offers were), plus actual or threatened action from politicians, including New York governor Kathy Hochul and the NY, CT, and NJ attorney generals. And that’s before various PR efforts like MSG’s ad featuring Rosen switching to Verizon’s Fios TV.

This is just one of many challenges in current carriage agreement renewals. In general, those are seeing multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) try hard to limit their costs and push back against content providers’ direct-to-consumer efforts (of note, MSG not only has their own DTC initiative but has partnered with YES for the Gotham Sports app), with that sometimes involving attempts to put particular linear channels on higher tiers. Meanwhile, channels (especially RSNs) are looking for increases or at least flat per-subscriber fees, as well as maintaining or expanding their tier.

That’s not an easy divide to bridge, and that’s why these disputes sometimes lead to removed channels. But it is notable to see Optimum and MSG strike a deal here. And the timing is good for many fans of these teams who still have Optimum, as crucial parts of the NBA and NHL seasons are approaching. However, we expect to see more RSN-MVPD disputes along these lines elsewhere.