MSG Net In Talks With Time Warner For New Carriage Deal

MSG Network’s carriage deal with Time Warner Cable "expires at the end of this year," and sources said that the two sides "have had productive talks so far and have traded proposals" for a new agreement, according to John Ourand in this week's SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. Sports media veterans "are keeping an eye on these talks, which will mark Time Warner Cable’s first RSN renewal since it jumped into the NBA rights game in a big way earlier this year by picking up the Lakers’ local rights." Ourand notes now that the net is "a player in local NBA rights, it will be interesting to see how Time Warner Cable handles negotiations for the local rights holder of the Knicks, which is as dominant a basketball brand in New York as the Lakers are in Los Angeles." SNL Kagan figures indicate that distributors collectively "pay less for MSG Network and MSG Plus ($4.91 per subscriber per month) than they do for a combined rate of New York’s other two regional sports networks" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 11/28 issue).