Optimum TV Loses MSG Networks In New Year’s Carriage Battle

By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man – Follow me on X.

Optimum TV, the cable TV service that services the tri-state New York area, early this morning lost the MSG Networks in a carriage dispute between the companies. MSG is the regional TV home of the New Jersey Devils, New York Knicks, Rangers and Islanders.

The fight appears to be over what MSG Networks wants Optimum to pay to carry the sports channels as well as which programming packages they would be offered.

“At Optimum, we have a clear mission: provide the programming that our customers want and give it to them at an affordable price. The problem: MSG Networks demanded that we pay an exorbitant amount in fees to be able to carry its content AND that customers who don’t want the content – who are the majority – have to pay for it anyway,” Optimum said in a statement after losing the channels.

However, MSG Networks suggested that Altice, which owns Optimum TV, is trying to save money because it’s losing subscribers. Like other pay TV services, Optimum TV has lost subscribers over the last several years due to cord cutting.

“As a last-ditch effort to save their struggling business at the expense of subscribers, Altice is trying to charge their customers more and give them less,” MSG Network said in a statement. “They just raised prices – nearly 50 percent for current Optimum subscribers and 70 percent for new Optimum subscribers (after expiration of a promotional offer) for the package that had included MSG Networks – and cut access to the Knicks, Rangers, Islanders, Devils and more on MSG Networks.  We offered Altice a number of fair and reasonable proposals that called for Altice to pay us less than last year. Altice rejected all of them, including our offer to keep MSG Networks on the air while we continued to try to reach a deal.  We remain ready to negotiate in good faith.”

Optimum TV said that a carriage fee increase would be unfair because MSG Networks now offers its channels directly via the Gotham Sports app with plans starting at $29.99 a month. The streaming app, which does not require a cable or satellite subscription, hurts Optimum TV’s subscription effort, the cable TV operator argued.

“It is unfair for MSG Networks to demand more money from their Optimum viewers, especially when there are ways for fans to get games directly from MSG through other direct-to-consumer options,” Optimum TV stated.

But MSG Networks contended that other major TV providers have accepted carriage terms offered to Optimum TV.

Optimum TV has established a web site to inform viewers of the carriage dispute with MSG. You can see it here. And you can see MSG Networks’ dispute web site here.

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The TV Answer Man is veteran journalist Phillip Swann who has covered television for more than three decades. He will report on the latest news and answer your questions regarding new devices and services that are changing the way you watch TV. See the bio for Phillip Swann here.