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| MSG | |
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| Launched | October 15, 1969 |
| Owned by | MSG Entertainment, a division of Cablevision |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV) |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | American English |
| Broadcast area | NY metro area; nationwide |
| Headquarters | Pennsylvania Plaza |
| Sister channel(s) | MSG+ |
| Website | MSG.com |
| Availability | |
| Satellite | |
| DirecTV | 621 |
| Dish Network | 412 |
| Cable | |
| Available on select cable systems | Check local listings for channels |
The Madison Square Garden Network, now shortened to simply MSG, is a regional cable television and radio network serving the Mid-Atlantic and focused on New York City sports teams. The network takes the name of Madison Square Garden and has long been the producer of radio and television broadcasts of the NBA's New York Knicks, NHL's New York Rangers, WNBA's New York Liberty, which play their home games at the Garden. MSG is also the home of MLS's New York Red Bulls who play at Giants Stadium and the NHL's Buffalo Sabres; the Rangers do not air west of the Syracuse media market, while the Sabres do not air south of the Albany or Binghamton markets. MSG also has a sister station, MSG Plus, which is the primary home to the NHL's New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders (plus Sabres games for viewers outside Buffalo and Rochester when there is a conflict with the Knicks) as well as national FSN programming.
MSG rebranded on October 5, 2006 with a new logo, new graphics and the removal of Network from promotion of the station's name. Since the relaunch, more entertainment-oriented programming has aired on the network. This programming includes 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) in the past and continue to occur to this day.
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What would become MSG debuted on October 15, 1969 with a game between the Rangers and the Minnesota North Stars. MSG Network, thus, 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 was not even named, was carried by Manhattan Cable Television under a one-year, 125-event deal that was signed in May 1969. At the time, the cable company, which had televised Knickerbocker and Ranger post-season games the previous spring for a $25,000 rights fee, had only 13,000 subscribers.[1]
The Garden renewed the deal with the cable company, then called Sterling Manhattan Cable Television, in the fall of 1970 for five years at an estimated rights fee of $1m to $1.5m. Charles Dolan, who later headed MSG and Cablevision, was the president of the cable company at the time.[2]
In 1972, the network was owned by Gulf+Western along with its namesake sports arena; the company would rename to Paramount Communications in 1989.
Games from the Garden later appeared throughout the early days of Home Box Office. By 1978, the first mentions of the "temporarily named" Madison Square Garden Network appeared in print. [3]
By the mid-1980s, MSG was using both the full name "Madison Square Garden Network" and its new abbreviated form. By the early 1990s, the channel's name became MSG. In the mid-90s, MSG used the slogan "The Best in the Game". In 1994, Paramount Communications was acquired by Viacom, who in turn sold it to Cablevision and ITT Corporation, which had 50% ownership each. ITT would sell its share to Cablevision three years later.
Between 1989 and 2001, the network was the cable home of the New York Yankees. MSG paid an average of $55 million a year for those rights, and the deal is widely credited as having started a national trend towards greater team coverage on regional sports networks, with more games being broadcast than over-the-air stations' regular programming schedules could usually permit. MSG also produced the Yankees radio broadcasts from 1994 to 2001, which aired on WABC-AM. MSG also owned the over-the-air broadcast rights to Yankee games, which they sold to long-time broadcaster WPIX from 1989-1998 and WNYW from 1999-2001. In 2002, the Yankees left MSG to form the YES Network. From 2002 to 2005, MSG aired games from Major League Baseball's New York Mets on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, games which previously aired on FSNY (MSG, FSNY, and WPIX each carried about 50 games a season on consistent days of the week). Like the Yankee deals, Cablevision also owned the broadcast TV rights, placing games on WWOR before moving to WPIX in 1999. After the 2005 baseball season, Mets games moved to SportsNet New York, a cable network partially owned by the Mets, although WPIX retained a reduced slate of games. Comcast and Time Warner, which generally control whatever NYC-area (and in Time Warner's case, most of upstate New York) cable systems Cablevision doesn't, are the other partners.
MSG is available in most of Upstate New York. Rangers, Devils, and Islanders games are blacked out in the Sabres' primary broadcast territory, which is the Buffalo and Rochester Nielsen markets, but Knicks games are broadcast on Time Warner Sports 26 or a temporary alternate channel when there is a conflict with the Sabres, except for Chautauqua County, part of which is within 100 miles (160 km) of Cleveland and gets only Cleveland Cavaliers games on FSN Ohio as per NBA rules. The Knicks are also subject to blackout in eastern-most Connecticut, within 100 miles (160 km) of Boston. However, most of Erie (including Buffalo) and Niagara counties, a territory located within the 100-mile (160 km) radius of Toronto, do not have Knicks games blacked out in favor of the Toronto Raptors. This is most likely because the Raptors' exclusive territory ends at the U.S. border, although select games did air on Empire while that network operated and no CBC Sports programming is usually blacked out by U.S. cable operators offering a CBC station.
Most of upstate New York (notably Albany, Binghamton, and Syracuse) gets every Sabres game but also the Rangers, Islanders, or Devils under certain conditions. A maximum of 50 to 60 games per team can be broadcast outside the New York City DMA 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 how the NBA and NHL schedules come out. MSG's website lists what 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 Albany market led to some controversy, because most non-Adelphia cable systems in that market had not carried Empire for several years, and the fan-base for the Sabres is widely thought to be smaller than that of the New York City-area teams (and even Boston-area teams, as WSBK served the region for several years before each upstate market got local affiliates of the now defunct UPN and WB networks).
Time Warner Cable and Cablevision have made deals so that both MSG Plus and SportsNet New York are available on analog basic in most upstate markets (excluding Buffalo and Rochester), although some only get MSG Plus through digital cable boxes. In the former case, viewers can see Knicks, Sabres, and New York Mets games without upgrading their package or switching to satellite TV.
The radio division of MSG, known as the Madison Square Garden (MSG) Radio Network, produces Knicks and Rangers broadcasts for 1050 ESPN Radio and other stations across the region. Prior to the fall of 2004, MSG-produced Knicks and Rangers games aired on WFAN. The coordinating producer of MSG Radio is Frank Moretti.
All home Knicks games and selected Knicks away games have Spanish-language SAP that is a simulcast of its radio coverage on WADO. Red Bulls games have Spanish-language SAP that is a simulcast of its radio coverage on WADO or WQBU.
Along with MSG and MSG Plus, MSG also operates MSG2 and MSG Plus 2 channels, mainly to assist in scheduling the many sporting events it carries.
Selected New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils games also air on MSG when both teams play at the same time, with one airing on sister-channel MSG Plus, which along with MSG and its alternate channels are officially referred to as MSG Media. In turn, selected Rangers games air on MSG Plus when the Knicks are on MSG and no live game is airing on MSG Plus at the same time. Any programming to which MSG owns the 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 network - except when a late start time is involved, in which case the Rangers will air. In all other cases, the Rangers air 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 use the TV Guide Network, while satellite systems 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.
This situation has become even more complicated in recent years, as MSG also owns the rights to the Buffalo Sabres after the collapse of Empire Sports Network and its parent, Adelphia. The Sabres service is broadcast to Upstate New York customers (defined as virtually all of the state outside the New York City Nielsen DMA). The Sabres control the entire broadcast, including the sale of advertising and production of an exclusive post-game show. Aside from Sabres games, MSG controls the broadcasts of all other local teams that it carries (with teams usually retaining the right to approve or reject MSG's choice of announcers). The two sides agreed to a 10-year contract in 2006. [1]
There has been a certain amount of controversy regarding the Nielsen ratings for the Sabres' broadcasts on MSG. Traditionally, Buffalo's hockey ratings are among the highest in the United States. Regular season Sabres games on Versus and NBC generally register 15-20 shares in the Buffalo market, and approach 30 in the playoffs. However, Sabres games on MSG registered only 6-10 shares, even in the playoffs during 2006-07. This led to speculation that an inaccurate reporting method was used; the issues were apparently resolved after the season. In upstate New York (see above), another alternate channel is created for the New York Knicks if they are not on Time Warner Sports 26.
From the fall of 1998 until the spring of 2005, Cablevision chose not to open up an additional MSG2 channel, instead placing games on their MSG Metro Channels, which were only available in a limited coverage footprint. Sometimes, games were also placed onto Riverhead-based WLNY. During this era, when two of the teams that the MSG Networks covered played against each other, only one broadcast would usually be produced using one of the team's announcing teams (this was either due to MSG's TV contracts or a desire to show a different sporting event at the same time). With the discontinuation of Metro, and the loss of the New Jersey Nets from their winter lineup, the MSG Networks now produce two broadcasts when two of their teams are playing against each other.
MSG and MSG Plus also broadcast MAAC basketball, NEC basketball, America East basketball, Pac 10 football and basketball, Big 12 football and women's basketball, and ACC basketball. The latter three are part of national FOX Sports Net broadcast contracts, while the others are either produced by the conferences themselves or ESPN Plus.
MSG formerly carried Big East games, along with the coaches shows for Rutgers University 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.[2] However, MSG will retain rights to a reduced schedule of Big East games.
MSG's flagship program, added in October 2006, is called MSG, NY. It is a daily sports and entertainment highlights show, which is shown numerous times during the day. Formerly the sports-focused MSG Sportsdesk, the show changed as part of MSG's 2006 rebranding to focus on anything taking place at MSG, although sports remains the primary focus. The show however, gives expanded coverage to the teams which the network carries, treating it as an expansion to the network's post-game coverage. Other New York area teams are covered, but usually to a lesser extent. Along with coverage of Garden-related entertainment news, this keeps the show out of direct competition with SportsNite on SportsNet New York. MSG, NY is taped in a street-level studio, with a window looking at Madison Square Garden across the street. The show did not originally air on Sundays and Mondays, probably because they were considered "low-viewership nights". However, the show was expanded to seven nights a week in 2008, as well as one hour, based on improved ratings over its Sportsdesk predecessor.[3] The studio is also used by Cablevision-owned Fuse.
MSG's website, MSG.com, has had exclusive podcast programming only available via download starting in 2006. These include:
MSG HD is a high definition simulcast of the best programs from MSG Network, including home games of the Knicks, Liberty, and NHL teams, and select away games. Red Bulls home games and college football games produced by FSN may also sometimes be in HD. MSG HD can be seen on DirecTV, Cablevision, Time Warner Cable & Comcast. MSG HD is not currently available on Verizon FiOS TV, Dish Network, RCN, or AT&T U-verse TV.
| Preceded by SportsChannel 1981–1988 |
Over-the-air (cable) Home of the New York Yankees 1989–2001 |
Succeeded by YES Network 2002–present |
| Preceded by SportsChannel/FSN New York 1980–2005 |
Over-the-air (cable) Home of the New York Mets 2002–2005 (split with FSN New York) |
Succeeded by SNY 2006–present |
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