MSG Network


The MSG Network is an American regional cable and satellite television network, and radio service owned by MSG Networks, Inc.—a spin-off of the main Madison Square Garden Company operation.
Primarily serving the Mid-Atlantic United States, its programming focuses on events featuring and other programs about New York City sports teams, including live game broadcasts of the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association, the New York Rangers, New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League, and the New York Red Bulls of the Major League Soccer. The channel is named after the Madison Square Garden sports and entertainment venue in Midtown Manhattan, home of the Knicks and Rangers.

History

What would become MSG debuted on October 15, 1969, with an NHL hockey game between the New York Rangers and the Minnesota North Stars. As a result, it became the first regional sports network in North America, and one of the first of its kind in the world. The channel, which at the time did not even have a name, was carried by Manhattan Cable Television under a one-year, 125-event deal that was signed in May 1969. At the time, the cable provider, which had televised New York Knicks and Rangers post-season games the previous spring for a $25,000 rights fee, had only 13,000 subscribers. Madison Square Garden renewed the deal with what was now Sterling Manhattan Cable Television in the fall of 1970, in a five-year deal at an estimated rights fee of $1–1.5 million. Charles Dolan, who later headed MSG and Cablevision, was the president of Sterling Manhattan at the time.
Games held at Madison Square Garden later appeared on premium cable network Home Box Office during the network's early years. On September 22, 1977 the current channel debuted as UA-Columbia/MSG and was later sold to Gulf+Western, along with its namesake sports arena; the company would rename itself to Paramount Communications in 1989. By 1978, the first mentions of the "temporarily named" Madison Square Garden Network appeared in print advertising.
On April 9, 1980, the channel began using both the full name "Madison Square Garden Network" and its new abbreviated form "MSG Network". In December 1988, MSG Network became the first cable network to secure all local television rights to a Major League Baseball team's game, signing a 12-year deal with the New York Yankees that would give it exclusive rights to 150 games per season from 1991 through 2000. Sources placed the value of the agreement at approximately $500 million. By the early 1990s, the channel's name became MSG full-time. In 1994, Paramount Communications was acquired by Viacom, which in turn sold the MSG properties to Cablevision and ITT Corporation, which each held a 50% ownership stake; ITT would sell its share to Cablevision three years later.
On October 5, 2006, MSG underwent an extensive rebrand with the introduction of a new logo and graphics package, and the removal of the word "Network" from the channel's promotions. Since the rebrand, the channel has incorporated more entertainment-oriented programming, including concerts and professional boxing and wrestling cards that have taken place at Madison Square Garden or Radio City Music Hall. In February 2010, Cablevision spun off MSG Network, the Madison Square Garden venue and other related properties into The Madison Square Garden Company.
In September 2015, the MSG Networks division and the sports ownership and entertainment arms were spun off into two separate companies. The Madison Square Garden Company spun off the sports and entertainment properties into a new company and then renamed itself to MSG Networks, Inc.; the spun off sports and entertainment operations became the new incarnation of “The Madison Square Garden Company”.
MSG controlling owner James L. Dolan began exploring a sale of the network in April 2017.

Programming

Among other teams, it has long produced radio and television broadcasts of the NBA's New York Knicks, the NHL's New York Rangers and the WNBA's New York Liberty, which play their home games at the Garden. Upon its launch in 2014, MSG also became the television home of the Westchester Knicks, the New York Knicks' farm club in the NBA Development League.
MSG also holds television rights to MLS's New York Red Bulls and, beginning in 2017, the NASL's New York Cosmos. In 2010, MSG began broadcasting exclusive content from the NFL's New York Giants. Buffalo Bills content was added in 2016.
MSG also owns the television rights to the NHL's Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders. Islanders and Devils games air on MSG Plus, while Sabres games air on MSG Western New York in Western New York and are split between MSG and MSG Plus in the rest of upstate New York.
The network also broadcast nightly highlights of races held at tracks sanctioned by the New York Racing Association, as well as a weekly magazine show; live races also air on select Saturday afternoons. MSG Network broadcasts soccer events from the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League.
It also runs extended highlights from concerts held at MSG or other venues owned by the Dolan family through the Cablevision Systems Corporation, along with other shows focused on New York musicians – which are frequently used as filler programming in blackout zones; as well as movies – generally sports-related, in addition to some Hollywood blockbusters and several New York sports-related fiction or documentary programs that were originally broadcast on ESPN, which are most commonly seen during the summer NHL and NBA offseason.
During the period of time in which sister station MSG Plus was a primary affiliate of Fox Sports Net, MSG also acted as a secondary FSN affiliate, airing Fox Sports-produced programming in certain timeslots and contributing footage to FSN shows. This ceased when the FSN branding was removed and FSN New York became MSG Plus, and FSN programming has since been split between MSG Plus and the YES Network.

Collegiate sports

MSG and MSG Plus also broadcast basketball games from the Metro Atlantic Athletic, Northeast, America East and Atlantic Coast Conferences; football games from the Southeastern Conference; and football and basketball games from the Pac-10 and Big 12 Conferences. The Pac-10, Big 12 and ACC telecasts are carried though Fox Sports Networks, while the other games are either produced by the conferences themselves or through ESPN Plus. Additionally, MSG offers locally produced games from Hofstra University and other area colleges.
MSG formerly carried games from the Big East Conference, along with the coaches shows for Rutgers and St. John's University. In July 2008, the Big East and SportsNet New York announced a multi-year deal which gave SNY exclusive regional rights to Big East coaches shows and ESPN Plus-produced games. However, MSG retains rights to a reduced schedule of Big East games, including any St. John's basketball games played at Madison Square Garden.

Original programming

''MSG, NY''

MSG, NY, a daily sports highlights and entertainment program which served as the network's flagship program, debuted in October 2006. Aired numerous times during the day, the program originated as the sports-focused MSG Sportsdesk, until a format change that occurred as part of MSG's 2006 rebranding and reformatting in which sporting events remain the primary focus while a secondary focus was placed on all events at Madison Square Garden.
The show however, gave expanded coverage to area sports teams that the channel holds game telecast rights; other New York City area teams were covered on the program, usually to a lesser extent. Along with coverage of Garden-related entertainment news, this was intended to prevent direct competition with SportsNite on SportsNet New York. MSG, NY was taped inside a street-level studio, with a window overlooking Madison Square Garden across the street. The program originally aired as a half-hour broadcast on Tuesday through Saturdays, before expanding to an hour-long nightly broadcast in 2008, based on improved ratings over its predecessor Sportsdesk. The studio is also used by SiTV Media Fuse. The show was cancelled in January 2009, due to the declining ratings; in its place, MSG usually offers team-specific post-game shows.

Archival programs

MSG's website, MSGNetworks.com, has offered exclusive podcast programming since 2006. These include:

New York Yankees (1989–2001)

From 1989 to 2001, the channel held cable television rights to the New York Yankees Major League Baseball franchise. MSG paid an average of $55 million a year for the broadcast rights, a deal that is widely credited with starting a national trend towards greater team coverage on regional sports networks, with more games being broadcast than the programming schedules of broadcast television stations could usually permit due to other programming commitments. MSG also produced radio broadcasts of Yankees games from 1994 to 2001, which aired on WABC. MSG also held the over-the-air broadcast rights to Yankee games, which it sold to longtime broadcaster, independent station WPIX channel 11 from 1989 to 1998 and Fox owned-and-operated station WNYW from 1999 to 2001. In 2002, the Yankees terminated their agreement with MSG to form its own regional sports network, YES Network.

New York Mets (2002–2005)

From 2002 to 2005, MSG held rights to Tuesday and Wednesday night games from the New York Mets, obtaining the rights from Fox Sports Net New York. Like the Yankees deal, MSG also maintained broadcast television rights, placing games on WWOR-TV before the games moved to WPIX in 1999.
Mets games moved to SportsNet New York, a regional sports network that is partially owned by the team, after the 2005 season; although, WPIX retained rights to a reduced slate of games.

On-air staff

Current on-air staff

Hockey

Devils
New Jersey Devils on MSG
SeasonNetworkPlay-by-PlayColor analystIce level reporterStudio hostStudio analyst
1999–2000MSGMike Emrick
Matt Loughlin 		Chico ReschMatt Loughlin

New York Rangers on MSG
SeasonNetworkPlay-by-playColor CommentatorIce level reporterStudio host
1993–94MSG
MSG II 		Sam RosenJohn DavidsonAl Trautwig
Bruce Beck 		Al Trautwig
Bruce Beck

Channel carriage and blackout restrictions

Upstate New York

MSG is available on most cable providers in Upstate New York. Rangers, Devils and Islanders games are blacked out in the primary broadcast territory of the Buffalo Sabres – the Buffalo, Rochester and Albany Capital District television markets. However, Knicks games are broadcast on a temporary alternate channel when there is a conflict with the Sabres – except in Chautauqua County, part of which is within of Cleveland, in the market area of the Cleveland Cavaliers, which broadcast rights with Fox Sports Ohio. The Knicks are also subject to blackout rules in the eastern-most areas of Connecticut, within of Boston. However, Knicks games are not blacked out in favor of the Toronto Raptors in most of Erie and Niagara Counties, a territory located within the radius of Toronto. This is most likely because the Raptors' exclusive territory ends at the U.S. border, although select games did air on the Empire Sports Network during its existence and CBC Sports programming is usually not blacked out by U.S. cable operators offering a CBC station.
All Sabres games as well as games featuring the Rangers, Islanders or Devils under certain conditions are viewable on MSG in most of upstate New York. A maximum of 50 to 60 games per team can be broadcast outside the New York City designated market area each season under current NHL rules; this also covers broadcasts in parts of the Hartford/New Haven and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre media markets. The exact number of games aired in outer markets varies each year, depending on that season's NBA and NHL schedules. MSG's website lists which games are subject to blackout, and where, with each region designated as a "zone". Outside Buffalo and Rochester, Knicks games always air on MSG, while MSG Plus carries the Sabres, should both play at the same time.
The presence of Sabres games in the Utica and Albany market led to some controversy, because most cable systems in that market that were not served by Adelphia had not carried the Empire Sports Network for several years, and the fanbase for the Sabres is widely thought to be smaller than that of the New York City-area teams.

Retransmission negotiations

MSG was dropped from Dish Network due to a contract dispute in October 2010; the dispute remains unresolved. MSG was removed from Time Warner Cable at midnight on December 31, 2011 as the two companies could not agree on a new carriage contract; the network was restored on all TWC systems on February 17, 2012. MSG HD was not available on Verizon FiOS until several months after a court order forced MSG to provide the network's HD feed to that provider.

Alternate channels

Along with MSG and MSG Plus, MSG also operates secondary channels, MSG2 and MSG Plus 2, which mainly serve to assist in scheduling the many sporting events it carries. Select New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils games also air on MSG when both teams play concurrently, with one airing on MSG Plus, which along with MSG and its alternate channels are officially referred to as MSG Media. In turn, select Rangers games air on MSG Plus, when Knicks telecasts are shown on MSG and no live game is airing on MSG Plus at the same time. Any sports event to which MSG holds the broadcast rights could air on either channel.
If more than two of the four local teams it carries are playing at the same time, MSG normally goes to the Knicks – the highest-rated property on the channel – except for instances when that night's game is scheduled for a late start time, in which case a Rangers game will air instead. In all other cases, Rangers games are broadcast on MSG2. Devils or Islanders games air on MSG Plus 2. If any teams are out of playoff contention, MSG will sometimes switch the order of priority among its teams.
In the cases of MSG2 and MSG Plus 2, the alternate channels vary. Many cable providers use TVGN to carry the overflow/alternate feed, while satellite providers use an alternate channel. In some cases, these channels are not available outside the New York City area; however, they are offered by DirecTV, Dish Network and Comcast. In order to help alleviate confusion, MSG directs viewers to a special .

MSG Western New York

Following the collapse of Empire Sports Network and its parent, Adelphia, MSG also picked up rights to the Buffalo Sabres, and agreed to a 10-year contract in 2006. The Sabres, through its broadcast arm, the Sabres Hockey Network, control the entire broadcast, including the sale of advertising, and pre- and post-game programming.
During the inaugural season, all regionally-televised Sabres games were available to viewers outside of the New York City area, falling within MSG's "Zone 3" and "Zone 2". In Zone 3, all Sabres games were shown on the main MSG channel, but some games aired in Zone 2 on MSG Plus instead.
As part of a contract extension for the 2016-17 season, MSG entered into a joint venture with Terry and Kim Pegula's ownership group to create an expanded opt-out feed known as MSG Western New York over the former Zone 3. The feed is carried in place of MSG's main network within the Sabres' television market of Upstate New York. In addition to coverage of Sabres games, the feed also carries Pegula-produced studio programming dedicated to the Sabres and their sister NFL team, the Buffalo Bills.

Metro Channels

From the fall of 1998 until the spring of 2005, Cablevision chose not to launch an additional MSG2 channel, instead placing games on its MSG Metro Channels, which were only available in a limited coverage footprint. Sometimes, games were also carried by Riverhead-licensed WLNY-TV. During this period, when two of the teams that the MSG channels maintained game broadcast rights to played against one another, only one broadcast would usually be produced using one of the team's announcing staffs.
With the discontinuation of Metro, and the loss of the New Jersey Nets from the network's winter lineup, the MSG channels now produce two broadcasts when two of the area teams with broadcast rights held by the network are playing against each other. Since 2009, the channel now has gone back to producing a single unified broadcast, though it will use two sets of commentators.

MSG HD

MSG HD is a high definition simulcast feed of MSG Network, which broadcasts in the 1080i resolution format, with the vast majority of content from MSG and Fox Sports Regional Networks broadcast in HD; as of 2017 only archived and paid programming is broadcast in standard definition. MSG HD is available nationally on DirecTV, Cablevision, Spectrum, Comcast, RCN, AT&T U-verse and Verizon FiOS.
On January 22, 2009, the NHL and MSG became involved in a contract dispute which has resulted in MSG HD and MSG+ HD's broadcasts being pulled from NHL's GameCenter Live service for viewers outside of the primary markets for the New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, New York Islanders and Buffalo Sabres, with games presented in standard definition and upconverted to a stretched widescreen format. On March 17, 2010, beginning with the game between the New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins, MSG HD and MSG+ HD broadcasts returned to NHL Center Ice.
Since its launch, MSG Network had blocked Verizon and AT&T from carrying MSG HD on any terms through a controversial guideline imposed by the Federal Communications Commission, that was implemented to encourage investments in local programming, which stated that television channels that do not transmit via satellite uplink – MSG HD's programming is distributed to cable television providers through a terrestrial infrastructure using only microwave and fiber optic relays – have the authority to decide which pay television providers can have access to its programming. Because the network was once owned by Cablevision, MSG fought attempts by the telco providers to carry it despite the significant rights fees it could collect from carriage deals with those services. On September 22, 2011, the FCC ordered MSG to negotiate with both Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-verse for carriage on each system. MSG and Cablevision used every appeal available to keep the HD channels from being carried by both distributors; however on December 14, 2011, a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals denied Cablevision/MSG Holdings' petition for review. Verizon FiOS began carrying MSG HD and MSG+ HD on its New York City area systems the next day, and AT&T U-Verse began carrying the HD feeds on its Connecticut systems later that month.

MSG 3D

On March 24, 2010, MSG Network launched a 3D feed, MSG 3D, available only to Cablevision subscribers in the New York City area on channel 1300; its inaugural broadcast was a game between the New York Rangers and the New York Islanders. This was a one time broadcast and MSG elected not to produce any more telecasts. Channel 1300 was eventually deleted from the system.

Radio division

The radio division of MSG, known as the Madison Square Garden Radio Network, produces Knicks, Rangers and Red Bulls broadcasts for New York City ESPN Radio station WEPN-FM and other radio stations across the region. Prior to the fall of 2004, MSG-produced Knicks, Rangers and MetroStars games aired on WFAN. The coordinating producer of MSG Radio is Frank Moretti.
MSG Network also presents certain game telecasts with a Spanish-language audio track, accessible through the second audio program feature on most television sets, through simulcasts from its radio partners; all Knicks home games and selected away games that are simulcast from WADO, while a Spanish-language track of Red Bulls and Rangers games are simulcast from ESPN Deportes Radio station WEPN.