MSG Network
| Type | Regional cable television network |
|---|---|
| Country | |
| Availability | NY metro area; nationwide |
| Owner | Cablevision |
Launch date | October 15, 1969 |
Official website | MSGNetwork.com |
The Madison Square Garden Network, more commonly referred to as the MSG Network or simply as MSG, is a regional cable television and radio network serving the New York City area. The network takes the name of Madison Square Garden and has long been the producer of radio and television broadcasts of the NBA's New York Knicks and the NHL's New York Rangers, which play their home games at the Garden. MSG also has a sister station, FSN New York, which is the home to the NHL's New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders as well as national Fox Sports Net programming.
Other Sports Coverage
In addition to Knicks and Rangers games, MSG currently carries cable television broadcasts of the WNBA's New York Liberty and MLS's Red Bull New York (formerly MetroStars). The radio division of MSG Network currently produces Knicks and Rangers broadcasts for 1050 ESPN Radio.
MSG and its sister station FSN New York, also broadcasts MAAC basketball, NEC basketball, Atlantic 10 basketball, Pac-10 football and basketball, Big-12 football and women's basketball, and ACC basketball. The latter three are part of national FOX Sports Net broadcast contracts.
Selected New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils games also air on MSG when both teams play at the same time, with one airing on sister-channel FSN New York, which along with MSG are officially referred to as MSG Media, formerly MSG Networks. In turn, selected Rangers games air on FSN New York when there the other team is on MSG and no Islanders or Devils game at the same time.
MSG2 and FSN New York 2
If more than two of these four local teams are playing at the same time, either the Knicks or Rangers play on "MSG2," and the Islanders or Devils play on "FSN New York 2," which are different selected channels for each cable system, many being broadcast on the TV Guide Channel, while satellite systems will show them on a sports alternate channel. These channels are sometimes not available outside the immediate New York City area.
From the fall of 1998 until the spring of 2005, Cablevision chose not to open up an additional MSG2 channel, instead placing games on their MSG Metro Channels, which was only available in limited homes. During this era, when two of the teams that the MSG Networks covered played against each other, only one broadcast would usually be produced using one of the team's announcing duos. There were also times when games were scheduled on Metro and no game on MSG or FSN New York. With the discontinuation of Metro, the return of MSG2 and FSN New York 2, and the loss of the New Jersey Nets from their winter lineup, the MSG Networks now produce two broadcasts when two of their teams are playing against each other.
Local television listings: MSG2 & FSN New York 2
Original Programming
- MSG's flagship program is MSG SportsDesk , a daily sports highlights show, which is shown numerous times during the day. An abbreviated version of MSG SportsDesk is shown during halftime and intermissions of sporting events on MSG and FSN New York. This fall, the show will be renamed MSG 360 with increased focus on anything taking place at MSG. This is expected to keep the show away from competition with SportsNet New York's SportsNite.
- The Boomer Esiason Show features interviews and commentary from former NFL quarterback and current commentator Boomer Esiason.
- Unnecessary Roughness focuses on local NFL action, hosted by Jay Glazer with a guest each from the New York Jets and New York Giants each week.
- Hockey Night New York Live! was added in 2005 as a Thursday Rangers, Devils, and Islanders show, hosted by Al Trautwig.
- Live from the Play by Play was added in 2005 as a Knicks post-game show.
- High School Weekly focuses on high school football and basketball from around the region, hosted by Mike Quick
- The LAX Report, added in 2006, is a local high school lacrosse show similar to High School Weekly, hosted by Mike Quick
- MSG Soccer Report, added in 2002 (previously as the Metro Soccer Report, which underwent a format change in 2005), covers Red Bull New York and other soccer news, hosted by Ethan Zohn and Shep Messing.
- MSG Vault, added in 2006, is a series that features classic Knicks and Rangers games that have not been seen by the public in decades.
- SummerBall, added in 2006, is a series that highlights the major summer basketball leagues in New York City, featuring Hoops In The Sun, EBC at Rucker Park, Dyckman and the Uptowners Basketball League, hosted by Bobbito Garcia.
- Rangers 10 To Remember/Rangers Classics, added in May 2006 on a full-time basis, re-broadcasts ten memorable Rangers games from the past season during the summer off-season as chosen by the fans in an online vote, and other games from the Rangers' 1979, 1994, and 1997 playoffs. The series initially launched in June 2004 to mark the tenth anniversary of the Rangers' last Stanley Cup title (both MSG and WFAN rebroadcasted Game 7 on June 14, 2004, the exact anniversary date).
- WWE MSG Classics, added in 2006. Airs WWE Classic matches that have been held at Madison Square Garden, hosted by Mean Gene Okerlund.
- Make it Hot, added in 2006, is a car customization show similar to MTV's Pimp My Ride, hosted by former NBA forward Jerome Williams, who last played for the Knicks.
- The 50 Greatest Moments at Madison Square Garden, a look at the historic events that have gone on inside the famed arena, both sports and non-sports-related, to debut in October 2006. [1]
- Boston Sports Report, a production of FSN New England (which is partially owned by MSG Media), and its New York airing has been marketed to transplanted Bostonians now living in New York, as well as fans of the New York Yankees, to get in depth coverage of the arch rival Boston Red Sox.
Online Progamming
MSG Network's website, MSGNetwork.com, has had exclusive podcast programming only available via download starting in 2006. These include:
- This Week in Hockey, added in 2006, is a weekly hockey podcast hosted by Matt Loughlin, with guests from around the NHL and from MSG Networks, including Stan Fischler, Joe Micheletti, and, formerly, John Davidson, as well as the fantasy hockey perspective provided by the RinkRat.
- MSG FaceOff, added in 2006, is postgame coverage and reaction to playoff games played by the Rangers and Devils (most likely by the Islanders, as well, when they make the playoffs), hosted by Mike Crispino, with guests who cover the local teams, including Stan Fischler, Sam Rosen, Mike Emrick, Chico Resch, and Kenny Albert.
- Batt'r Up!, added in 2006, is a weekly baseball podcast hosted by Matt Loughlin and former MSG/FSNY Mets announcer Fran Healy, with guests from around Major League Baseball, and fantasy advice from The Knuckler [2].
Personalities
MSG Network
- Mike Breen: Knicks game play-by-play announcer
- Steve Cangialosi: Fill-in Red Bulls game play-by-play announcer; MSG SportsDesk host and reporter
- Mike Crispino: Fill-in Rangers game play-by-play announcer; MSG SportsDesk host; host of podcast MSG FaceOff
- Bill Daughtry: MSG SportsDesk host and reporter
- JP Dellacamera: Red Bulls play-by-play announcer
- Boomer Esiason: Host of The Boomer Esiason Show
- Stan Fischler: MSG SportsDesk hockey analyst; occasional Rangers game studio analyst
- Walt "Clyde" Frazier: Knicks game color announcer
- Anthony "Fooch" Fucilli: MSG SportsDesk reporter (mostly football)
- Christopher Fusco: MSG SportsDesk legal analyst
- John Giannone: Rangers sideline reporter and occasional studio host; MSG SportsDesk host
- Jay Glazer: Host of Unnecessary Roughness; MSG SportsDesk football analyst
- Fran Healy: MSG SportsDesk baseball analyst; co-host of podcast Batt'r Up!
- Rick Jeanneret: Sabres game play-by-play announcer
- Dave Jennings: MSG SportsDesk football analyst
- Deb Kaufman: MSG SportsDesk host and reporter
- Jim Lorentz: Sabres game color announcer
- Matt Loughlin: Fill-in Red Bulls game announcer; host of podcast This Week in Hockey; co-host of podcast Batt'r Up!
- Dave Maloney: Fill-in Rangers game color announcer
- Shep Messing: Red Bulls game color announcer; co-host of MSG Soccer Report
- Mary Murphy: Liberty game color announcer
- Mike Quick: Host of High School Weekly and The LAX Report; high school sports reporter
- Sam Rosen: Rangers game play-by-play announcer
- Joel Sherman: MSG SportsDesk baseball analyst
- John Starks: Fill-in Knicks game color announcer; MSG SportsDesk basketball analyst
- Al Trautwig: Rangers and Knicks home game pre-game and intermission host and sideline reporter; host of Hockey Night New York Live! and NYK Way; co-host of MSG Vault
- Bob Wischusen: Liberty game play-by-play announcer; MSG SportsDesk host and reporter
- Ethan Zohn: Co-host of MSG Soccer Report
FSN New York
- Stan Fischler: Devils intermission analyst
- Deb Kaufman: Islanders pre-game and intermission host and sideline reporter
- Matt Loughlin: Devils pre-game and intermission host; fill-in Devils game play-by-play announcer
- Joe Micheletti: Islanders game color annoucer
- Chico Resch: Devils game color announcer
- Howie Rose: Islanders game play-by-play annoucer
Buffalo Sabres Coverage on MSG
After the collapse of the Empire Sports Network caused by the bankruptcy of Adelphia, MSG now also broadcasts the Buffalo Sabres to Upstate New York customers. The Sabres essentially control the entire broadcast, including an exclusive post-game show.
MSG in Upstate New York
Outside of the greater New York metropolitan area, MSG is available in most of upstate New York. Aside from Sabres games, MSG controls the broadcasts of all other local teams that it carries (with teams usually retaining the right to approve or reject MSG's choice of announcers). Rangers, Devils, and Islanders games are blacked out in the Sabres primary broadcast territory, which is Buffalo and Rochester, but Knicks games are broadcast on FSN New York or a temporary alternate channel, except for Chautauqua County, part of which is within 100 miles of Cleveland and gets only Cleveland Cavaliers games on FSN Ohio as per NBA rules.
Most of upstate New York (notably Albany, Binghamton, and Syracuse) gets all Sabres games but also the Rangers, Islanders, and Devils if the Sabres are on the road AND the Knicks are not playing on the same night. A maximum of 50 Rangers, Islanders, and Devils games (per team) can be broadcast outside the New York City Nielsen market each season under current NHL rules. In some areas, Knicks games air on MSG, while FSN New York carries the Sabres. The presence of Sabres games in the Albany market led to some controversy as most cable systems in that market had not carried the previous home of Sabres games (the now-defunct Empire Sports Network) and the fanbase for the Sabres is smaller than the New York-area teams (and even Boston-area teams, as WSBK served the region for several years before each Upstate market got its own UPN and WB affiliate). Sabres games, however, are not broadcast in Plattsburgh, which receives the same MSG and FSN feeds as the NYC market.
College sporting events may also be blacked out in parts of upstate New York, especially involving teams from the Big East Conference, because MSG sometimes can only acquire broadcast rights in New York City and its immediate suburbs. Time Warner Cable often acquires rights to these games in order to put them on its own channels in Syracuse, Rochester, and elsewhere.
Baseball Coverage 1989-2005
Between 1989 and 2001, the network was the cable home of the New York Yankees. MSG paid an average of $55 million a year for those rights, and the deal is widely credited as having started a national trend towards greater team coverage on regional sports networks, with more games being broadcast than over-the-air stations' regular programming schedules could usually permit. MSG also produced the Yankees radio broadcasts from 1994 to 2001, which aired on WABC-AM. MSG also owned the over the air broadcast rights to Yankee games, which they sold to WPIX from 1989-1998 and WNYW from 1999-2001. In 2002, the Yankees left MSG to form the YES Network. From 2002 to 2005, MSG aired games from Major League Baseball's New York Mets on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, games which previously aired on FSNY. Like the Yankee deals, Cablevision also owned the broadcast TV rights which were on WWOR before moving to WPIX in 1999. After the 2005 baseball season, Met games moved to SportsNet New York, a cable network partially owned by the Mets. Comcast and Time Warner, generally control whatever NYC-area cable systems Cablevision doesn't, are the other partners.
History
The MSG Television network debuted on October 15, 1969 with a game between the Rangers and the Minnesota North Stars. MSG Network, thus, became the first regional sports network in North America, and one of the first of its kind in the world.
Relaunch
MSG will relaunch in October, 2006 with a new logo, new graphics and the removal of Network from the network's name. [3] Since there is a hole in their programming schedule, which was created by the fact they do not have the rights to either the Yankees or the Mets, the network has announced that, in upcoming months, more entertainment-oriented programming will air on the network. This programming will include concerts and professional boxing and wrestling cards that have taken place at Madison Square Garden in the past and continue to occur to this day. In launching MSG Vault, MSG indicated that it has over 90,000 tapes of Garden events in its archive. [4]
Ownership
The network has been owned throughout its history by the owners of Madison Square Garden as well as the Knicks, Rangers and now the Liberty. The current owner of the Garden and MSG Network is Cablevision, as part of their Rainbow Media division.
MSG HD
MSG HD is a high definition simulcast of the best programs from MSG Network including live sports & series.