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Mike Vorkunov: MSG Networks makes its debt restructuring deal official, via a SEC filing. It will reduce its annual media rights fee by 28% to Knicks and 18% to Rangers, and eliminate annual increase. MSGN also reduced rights fees to "certain other" teams. MSGN also broadcasts Sabres, Devils, Islanders, Gotham FC
James Dolan's MSG Networks reaches deal to avoid bankruptcy
MSG Networks on Friday announced a deal with its lender JPMorgan that allows the regional sports channel to avoid bankruptcy — and potentially pave the way for a merger with the YES Network. Under terms of the out-of-court debt restructuring, MSGN — which carries the Knicks, Rangers, Islanders, Devils, Sabres and Gotham FC — slashes a JPMorgan loan to $210 million from more than $800 million. In exchange, Knicks owner James Dolan — whose Sphere Entertainment owns and controls MSGN — has agreed to reduce the rights fees that MSGN pays the Knicks and Rangers, increasing the network’s ability to make its interest payment, the sources said.
Under terms of the deal, MSGN — which carries the Knicks, Rangers, Islanders, Devils and Sabres and Gotham FC — will win a debt refinancing in which JPMorgan agrees to reduce it to around $600 million from a current bill of roughly $800 million, sources close to the talks said. In exchange, Knicks owner James Dolan — whose Sphere Entertainment owns and controls MSGN — would agree to reduce the rights fees MSGN pays the Knicks and Rangers, increasing the network’s ability to make its interest payment, the sources said.
New York sports fans who subscribe to Optimum can finally rejoice. MSG Networks was back on Altice-owned Optimum in time for Saturday’s Rangers-Sabres game after the two sides came to a new agreement to put MSGN’s channels back on the airwaves. Optimum stopped carrying Knicks, Rangers, Islanders and Devils games for its estimated 1 million New York City-area customers on Jan. 1. After weeks of fighting, the two sides reached a multiyear deal that gives Optimum the ability to sell lower-priced packages without MSG, which was on its basic tier, a source told The Post. MSG Networks is lowering the price it charges Optimum per subscriber from about $10 to $8, the source said.
Mike Vorkunov: MSG Networks and Optimum have reached a deal to get MSG channels back on the cable subscriber, the two companies announced. That will put Knicks, Rangers, Devils, Sabres and Islanders games on air.
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New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin joined New York AG Letitia James and Connecticut AG William Tong and other government officials in “imploring Altice USA and MSG Networks to reach a deal” to resolve its dispute that has taken the networks’ programming off Optimum’s lineup since Jan. 1, according to a statement Friday released by MSG. “MSG Networks agrees with the Attorneys General,” the statement read. “We don’t want Optimum subscribers to miss another Knicks, Rangers, Islanders or Devils game. That’s why we offered to submit the matter to binding arbitration. “If Altice USA agrees, MSG Networks can immediately bring back the games Optimum subscribers are desperately missing while MSG Networks remains off the air.”
The ongoing saga between MSG Networks and Altice — the parent company of Optimum — has taken another turn, with talks off and the sides exchanging scathing statements Friday night as users still can’t watch local games. According to MSG Networks, Altice walked away from negotiations after pulling its last proposal as the search for an agreement that would include allowing Optimum customers to regain access to Knicks, Rangers, Islanders and Devils games dragged on.
On Jan. 9, Tonja Stelly had to be in two places at once. That’s nothing new to her. It’s become a tradition over the past three years, whenever the NBA and NHL schedules collide in just the right way. The Knicks were playing the Portland Trail Blazers inside the world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden, that Tuesday. Her son Quentin Grimes, a guard with the Knicks at the time and currently with the Detroit Pistons, had a 7:30 p.m. tipoff. Twenty miles to the east, her son Tyler Myers, a defenseman for the Vancouver Canucks, had a game at the same time, against the New York Islanders in Elmont, N.Y.
MSG Networks is set to announce new details of its upcoming direct-to-consumer streaming offering Wednesday as teams continue responding to seismic changes in how games are distributed locally. MSG+ will launch this summer, charging $30 per month or $310 per year for access to all MSG-produced Knicks, Rangers, Islanders, Devils and Sabres games, plus 24/7 access to the company’s linear channel content. The platform will also sell single games for $10 each, in a first for regional networks.
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Madison Square Garden (MSG) Entertainment is delaying the launch of a planned direct-to-consumer (DTC) version of its MSG Network regional sports network (RSN) until the start of the 2023/24 National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Hockey League (NHL) seasons. MSG Network, which has the local rights to the NBA’s New York Knicks and the NHL’s New York Rangers, New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils, had originally planned to go live for the final few months of each team’s current campaign.
Deger and Osnowitz are among about 565,000 Comcast subscribers in New Jersey and Connecticut without MSG Network, which broadcasts the Knicks, Rangers, Devils, Islanders and Red Bulls. On the surface, it’s a familiar battle between companies operated by billionaires. Typically, these are over quickly because money is squandered during the mudslinging. But the declining subscribers to pay-TV across the country, plus Comcast’s ugly standoff with another independent regional sports network in Denver (more on that later), makes this feel more ominous than the run-of-the-mill dispute.
But that price is almost three times the amount of StubHub's get-in price for Game 1 of the Nets' opening series at Barclays Center. Not even the Islanders can compete - the cheapest ticket for their first game against the Penguins at home - even after Sunday's overtime win - is a measly $229, before SeatGeek's fees. That $968 is also over 17 times higher than the cheapest Yankees-White Sox ticket for this Friday, also through StubHub.
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