MSG Pulls the Plug

[steveb]

MSG and MSG + have been replaced with a Time Warner Cable splash screen saying that MSG has pulled the plug.

They are unlocking the sports pass channels for a full month, and offering a free preview of NBA League Pass until 1/8.

Here's the email I got:

"At Time Warner Cable, we're sports fans too – that's why we fight hard to keep the sports you love on the air at a price you can afford.

With the game clock running down, MSG Networks rejected all proposals, refused to engage in any meaningful way, and refused to allow us to keep the channel on. In the end, MSG pulled the plug on Time Warner Cable customers. We regret that MSG Networks has taken away their sports programming, but remind fans that even without MSG, Time Warner Cable will carry nearly 20 percent of this season’s remaining Sabres games, almost 40 percent of the remaining Knicks games, and most of the NHL and NBA playoffs. For information on where to find your favorite teams, visit www.twcconversations.com/MSG.

We don’t think that MSG’s actions are fair to sports fans, so Time Warner Cable is offering the following in appreciation of our customers:

• A special month-long preview of the Time Warner Cable Sports Pass, a package of more than 15 sports-oriented channels. This package—which normally costs $5.95 per month for residential customers—will be available from January 1 – 31, 2012. (Visit www.timewarnercable.com/sportspass to see the full list of channels and channel numbers.)

• A free preview of the NBA League Pass premium sports package which offers up to 40 live games per week. This offer is good through January 8th and more details are available at www.twcconversations.com/MSG.


We think MSG is being unreasonable – and unfair to fans. They continue to demand a 53% price increase for their programming, which just doesn’t make sense. We do want MSG to return to our channel lineup, and we will continue to work hard to reach an agreement that gives you the sports you love at a price you can afford to pay.

Don’t forget: every TV provider is at risk for blackout threats. Last year MSG pulled the plug on DISH – so switching is not a solution. If MSG really cared about the fans, they wouldn’t be holding your sports hostage.

Thank you for your patience and continued loyalty.

Tell MSG to Get Real and Do the Deal"

[hdtvfan]

Free preview for a month for the Sports Pass in place of MSG???

COME ON!!!

Most, if not all of the people that care about this MSG outage already have the Sports Pass. Is Time Warner going to refund us the $5.95 for the month for those that already subscribe to it or are they going to embezzle this cost out of us also?

I have the NHL Center Ice package and this impacts the NHL almost as much as the NBA.

As someone that lived through the year long YES Network/Yankees carriage dispute with Cablevision and Jim Dolan back in 2002 shortly before relocating to the Albany area, I can assure everyone that scumbag is at the epicenter of all this. MSG is a local sports/regional sports network that should be carried in the Albany area on a basic tier with minimal cost.

While Time Warner Cable is not in the right on this either, owning a cable company and a cable provider should be a conflict of interest. If this isn't sufficient proof, I don't know what is.

To the moderators of this site, please don't remove this post. I want everyone to share in the the frustration.

Anyone have any idea when this will be resolved if at all?

[adam]

This is making me strongly consider switching to Directv. This is the third time this month that Time Warner has lost points with me as a customer. It is starting to add up and when I get a chance I'm going to look into the financial aspects of dropping cable for DTV.

[steveb]

They've now put the NHL Network in place of MSG on channel 26, and NBA TV in place of MSG + on channel 54. Same goes for the HD feeds.

[xzi]

The only thing left keeping people from cord-cutting is live sports. DIRECTV gets that but it seems lost on every other provider.

If you have cable for sports at ALL, don't hesitate to switch to DIRECTV. They ALWAYS put sports as first priority, their sport package, PPV and technology (iPad app, dual-live buffered DVRs) prove it.

[mattbanks]

Debating switching to DIRECTV after this whole MSG debacle. One thing holding me back is no HD feed for My4 for Yankees games. The DIRECTV website doesn't show that as being available in HD. Does anyone know if there's an option for that?

[Chris]

Debating switching to DIRECTV after this whole MSG debacle. One thing holding me back is no HD feed for My4 for Yankees games. The DIRECTV website doesn't show that as being available in HD. Does anyone know if there's an option for that?

My brother-in-law has DIRECTV and I believe they do not have an HD version of that. He always switches to the MY4 OTA signal when Yanks are on haha.

[xzi]

Jan 4, 2012 17:55:44 GMT -5 Chris said:

Debating switching to DIRECTV after this whole MSG debacle. One thing holding me back is no HD feed for My4 for Yankees games. The DIRECTV website doesn't show that as being available in HD. Does anyone know if there's an option for that?

My brother-in-law has DIRECTV and I believe they do not have an HD version of that. He always switches to the MY4 OTA signal when Yanks are on haha.

WNYA is not in HD on DIRECTV but if you mention it they will probably give you an AM21 OTA tuner with your HD-DVR and it will integrate right into the DIRECTV guide so it's still decent.

[mattbanks]

Jan 4, 2012 20:45:47 GMT -5 xzi said:

Jan 4, 2012 17:55:44 GMT -5 Chris said:

My brother-in-law has DIRECTV and I believe they do not have an HD version of that. He always switches to the MY4 OTA signal when Yanks are on haha.

WNYA is not in HD on DIRECTV but if you mention it they will probably give you an AM21 OTA tuner with your HD-DVR and it will integrate right into the DIRECTV guide so it's still decent.

Interesting - did not know that was possible. With the OTA tuner, do I also need an OTA antenna or does the dish server that purpose?

[adam]

You would need an OTA antenna for that, the dish only receives satellite signals.

[xzi]

From Saratoga Springs you'd need a decent OTA antenna it looks like. You're about 35 miles away or so, so a medium-directional UHF would be in order.

[steveb]

They just reached a new agreement about an hour ago. Not sure if the networks will return to their old channel numbers or not.

[Chris]

Just checked. They've returned to their channel spots 1847 and 1849. That was quick!