It has been a long, cruel January for Knicks and Rangers fans — if you’re an Optimum subscriber, that is.
While both teams have notched spectacular wins at Madison Square Garden this month, more than 1 million Optimum customers have been blacked out for three-plus weeks because of a stubborn standoff between MSG Networks and cable giant Altice USA.
Both sides on Friday continued to trade blame in the so-called carriage dispute, signaling that the blackout may not end anytime soon. Fans will continue to be real the losers in the game — forced to either wait it out, switch to another cable service if they can, or shell out for a pricey streaming app.
“This can end today if Altice is willing to agree to binding arbitration with a neutral third party, and the games customers are missing will be back on Optimum immediately,” Knicks and Rangers owner James Dolan, who also owns MSG Networks, said in a Friday statement to The Post.
That was after Marc Sirota, the chief financial officer for Optimum’s owner Altice USA, claimed in an interview that Dolan last week had nixed a proposed agreement that would have seen his cable channel return to Optimum subscribers after the two sides came close on terms.
“I thought we were making pretty constructive progress with MSG leadership,” the Altice USA CFO told The Post.
When asked to provide the terms of the nearly-agreed-upon deal, Altice declined.
“I did get on a call and was told that Jim was in the room and he said he was here to shut this down, which I expressed that we were disappointed to hear that,” Sirota said, adding: “We thought we were making constructive progress.”
On Friday, MSG officials denied this in a statement to The Post, saying an agreement was never close. What really happened, according to an MSG spokesperson, was that Dolan “jumped on the phone and was reiterating our position – which they swatted away.”
MSG on Friday said its position called for either a renewal of the contract on the exact same terms as the previous agreement, deal on the same terms MSG had recently agreed with another major operator; or a renewal accepting the same terms and conditions that Altice recently concluded with the YES Network.
MSG Networks, which airs the Knicks, Rangers, Islanders, Devils and Buffalo Sabres ,has been blacked out for around 1 million households in the New York tri-state area since Jan. 1 after the Optimum carriage agreement expired.
An MSG source said the two sides “were much closer” to a deal on Dec. 31 than they are today but that Altice USA “pulled the last proposal off the table” and “refused an extension” so that talks could continue while the games continued to be broadcast for subscribers.
Details of the previous contract have remained murky. Optimum has accused MSG Networks of demanding “exorbitant programming fees” and overly wide distribution that would inflate its customers’ cable bills. MSG Networks has countered that it’s asking for even less than what it got paid last year.
Last week, Optimum issued a press release demanding that MSG Networks issue a $125 million refund to its cable TV customers, citing an “estimated $10 per month, per subscriber MSG Networks announced its sports programming is worth.”
Optimum added that MSG Networks effectively tripled fans’ costs to $30 per month through MSG Plus and the Gotham Sports apps.
An MSG spokesperson called the claims “BS,” countering that Optimum owed its TV customers $5 in January for losing access to channels that they previously had in December.
Justin Brannan, a city council member who represents parts of Brooklyn, is backing MSG Networks, demanding that Altice USA submit to binding arbitration.
“Once again, NYC sports fans are getting a raw deal. This ongoing dispute is robbing fans of watching the Knicks, Rangers, Devils & yes even the Islanders,” Brannan wrote on X earlier this week.”
“These 2 major corporations must put the fans & the public first for once,” Brannan added. “Get serious about arbitration and while that process moves forward, MSG Networks should be put back on air immediately.”
Meanwhile, Altice claims that Dolan is trying to pull a fast one on Knicks and Rangers fans by intentionally killing any prospect of a deal in order to steer customers toward the $30-a-month Gotham app while trying to line his pockets by tanking MSG Networks into bankruptcy.
Altice executives say Dolan and the Garden are engaging in a public relations exercise by feigning outrage over the blackouts when in reality the chairman stands to personally make a $200 million profit if MSG Networks goes bankrupt — thus wiping out $900 million in debt off Sphere’s balance sheet.
But a source close to the situation disputed this, telling The Post: “If we didn’t want to get a deal done why would we offer going to a third party to get this, putting our fate in a neutral third party.”
“Why would we be working so hard to get a deal done if we just want to get our customers to buy the Gotham app?” the source said.
When asked to address MSG’s claim that Altice is dodging arbitration, an Altice spokesperson told The Post: “Jim shut down negotiations on Friday and then they issued a PR on Tuesday about arbitration. It’s a stunt.”
“We remain open to negotiations with them that reflect the current RSN (regional sports network) landscape and ensures fans get the content and non viewers don’t have to pay,” the spokesperson told The Post.
An Altice spokesperson told The Post that the company has been in touch with more than 100,000 customers and that customer service representatives “have been giving them options,” including helping to defray the cost of purchasing the Gotham app.
“Our technicians are in the field helping customers set up with our newest stream” so that they can buy Gotham app at a “more affordable” price, according to Altice.
Altice produced a web site that includes offers and instructions for Optimum subscribers who wish to purchase the Gotham app at a reduced price through Optimum’s internet service.
Additional Reporting by Josh Kosman
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