Since 1986 I have been a subscriber to Time Warner Cable. It is hard to believe that there was a time that all we could get was the local broadcast stations. We have been sports fans for many years as well and have watched the Knicks, Rangers, Islanders and Devils over the winter months. There has been a very bitter dispute between Time Warner and MSG over a license fee hike. It seems that both parties agreed to a 6.5 % increase. but MSG reneged on that deal and is demanding a 53% increase. As of 12 midnight 2.3 million viewers can not get the MSG Networks.
I must blame the greedy executives at MSG for this dispute. As I reported a few weeks ago in this Journal the ticket prices were raised so high that it is a financial burden to go to a professional game at the Garden. The sports fans have to pay for the renovations and the outrageous salaries of the players. Now MSG wants cable TV subscribers to pay for this as well.
This is a lose-lose situation. MSG is trying to encourage Time Warner subscribers to change to another cable or satellite provider. They already cut off Dish Network subscribers and can do the same to Verizon Fios and others when their contracts expire. MSG is losing money since they will have to lower their advertising rates since their viewership is now significantly. For this reason I think they will settle within a few days. In the meantime I can watch sports on broadcast and other cable networks. We supported the Knicks and Rangers during some poor seasons and now they try to screw us.
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