MSG Network

The MSG Network (MSG) is an American regional cable and satellite television network, and radio service owned by Sphere Entertainment -- a spin-off of the main Madison Square Garden Company operation (itself a spin-off of local cable provider Cablevision).

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, Buffalo Sabres, and New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League and Gotham FC of the National Women's Soccer League. 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.[2] (The channel's coverage of the deciding game of the 1970 NBA Finals, in which the Knicks beat the Los Angeles Lakers, was the only live broadcast of the game shown in New York City; WABC-TV blacked out ABC's telecast.) 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.[3] Games held at Madison Square Garden later appeared on another of Sterling Manhattan Cable's ventures, premium cable network Home Box Office (HBO) during the network's early years.

In the meantime, an unrelated channel was launched on September 22, 1977, as a joint-venture of UA-Columbia Cablevision and the Madison Square Garden Corporation, and would brand itself the "Madison Square Garden Sports Network" in 1978 [4] before the Sterling Manhattan Cable channel could use the name. The competitor would change its name in 1980 to the USA Network.[5]

In 1977, the Madison Square Garden Corp, which included its namesake sports arena was sold to Gulf+Western. Around the same time, a separate network was created by the Madison Square Garden Corp. to distribute 125 events to New York-area cable systems. These events were in addition to the 250 already being produced for the national distribution.[6] It was this network which became known as Madison Square Garden Television that would evolve into the current MSG Network.

On April 9, 1980, the channel began using both the full name "Madison Square Garden Network" and its new abbreviated form "MSG Network". By August 1983, Barry Diller, who as head of prominent Gulf+Western division Paramount Pictures became the main shareholder in the USA Network when Gulf+Western transferred the network to Paramount in 1981, would increase the USA Network's relationship with the Madison Square Garden Network through a deal which included making the USA Network a source for MSG events.[7] 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.[8] By the early 1990s, the channel would affiliate with Prime Network.[9] In 1994, Paramount Communications was acquired by Viacom (itself a cable giant, having once owned various cable systems in the U.S. under the Viacom Cablevision banner and also owner of MTV Networks), 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. The new logo was designed by Jennifer Little for PMCD design. 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 (both operated by MSG Entertainment). (Full length broadcasts of Madison Square Garden WWWF/WWF wrestling shows had already been previously screened by the MSG Network since the 1970s.) 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 was spun out into a separate company, with The Madison Square Garden Company maintaining ownership of the venue and related properties.[10][11] The company was split further in April 2020, with the sports properties operating as Madison Square Garden Sports Corp., and the venue and entertainment properties spun out as the publicly traded Madison Square Garden Entertainment.[12][13]

On March 26, 2021, MSG Entertainment announced that it would acquire MSG Networks in an all-stock deal; the company stated that the purchase was part of an effort "to grow the company beyond its established collection of assets into one that is pioneering the next generation of entertainment."[14] The acquisition was completed in July 2021.[15] In April 2023, MSG Entertainment subsequently spun off its theatre and live events businesses under the MSG Entertainment name, with the remainder of the company renamed Sphere Entertainment (after an eponymous live events venue in Las Vegas).[16][17]

Facing an environment where its core leagues, the NHL and NBA, were increasingly diverting their game inventory to national broadcast and multichannel partners, MSG representatives stated that the actions jeopardized their ability to deliver the required number of games on the MSG networks to providers and subscribers under their retransmission agreements, reducing the fees they could collect from providers. This, along with the broader trend of cord-cutting and the similar declines of other regional sports network groups, placed MSG Networks at risk of bankruptcy by the end of March 2025.[18]

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 (until 2018) 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 G League. Since 2013, MSG has also aired games from the Hartford Wolf Pack, the New York Rangers' farm club in the AHL.

MSG also holds television rights to the NASL's New York Cosmos since 2017. In 2010, MSG began broadcasting exclusive content from the NFL's New York Giants.[19] Buffalo Bills content was added in 2016.

MSG also owns the television rights to the NHL's Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders and the AHL's Bridgeport Islanders and Rochester Americans. Islanders, Devils and (AHL Islanders) games air on MSG Sportsnet, while Sabres and Americans games air on MSG Western New York

On-air staff

Carriage disputes

MSG was dropped from Dish Network due to a contract dispute in October 2010; the dispute remains unresolved.[37] 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.[38] 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.[39] MSG was dropped by Comcast in September 2021 and remains unavailable.

On January 1, 2025, MSG was removed from Altice USA's cable systems. Altice bought the former Cablevision systems which was under the same ownership as MSG until its sale. The dispute has since been resolved.[40]

Alternate channels

Along with MSG and MSG Sportsnet, MSG also operates secondary channels, MSG2 and MSG Sportsnet 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 Sportsnet, which along with MSG and its alternate channels are officially referred to as MSG Media. In turn, select Rangers games air on MSG Sportsnet, when Knicks telecasts are shown on MSG and no live game is airing on MSG Sportsnet 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 Sportsnet 2. If any teams are out of playoff contention, MSG will sometimes switch the order of priority among its teams. For several years in the 1990s when Cablevision had the rights to seven professional sports teams, an MSG3 overflow feed was occasionally used.

In the cases of MSG2 and MSG Sportsnet 2, the alternate channels vary. Many cable providers use Pop 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 website.

Related services

Radio division

The radio division of MSG, known as the Madison Square Garden (MSG) Radio Network, produces Knicks, Rangers and Red Bulls broadcasts for New York City ESPN Radio station WHSQ (880 AM) 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 Ray Santiago.

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 (1280 AM), while a Spanish-language track of Red Bulls and Rangers games are simulcast from ESPN Radio station WEPN (1050 AM).

External links