MSG Plus

MSG+ originally launched in 1976 as Cablevision Sports 3, a local sports network owned by Cablevision (the "3" referenced the network's channel slot on Cablevision, where it remained through the 1990s). The service was renamed SportsChannel New York in March 1979.[1] Along with carrying New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders hockey (the only teams that it has carried since its launch that remain on the network to this day as MSG Plus), the network carried sports events featuring the New York Yankees and New York Mets Major League Baseball teams as well as the NBA's New Jersey Nets.

As the original SportsChannel was growing in popularity in New York City, Cablevision (through its then-broadcasting unit, Rainbow Media) eventually decided to form a new group of regional sports networks under the SportsChannel brand, with SportsChannel New York serving as the flagship charter affiliate. The expansion began with Cablevision's purchase of PRISM New England, a Boston-based premium channel previously owned by Spectacor, which was rechristened as SportsChannel New England on January 1, 1983. Other SportsChannel networks launched between 1984 and 1990 in markets such as San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles.

In December 1988, Cablevision announced that it would form a joint venture with NBC to operate the cable networks owned by the respective companies, including SportsChannel.[2] Through this partnership, SportsChannel acquired the cable television rights to the National Hockey League, which aired several games involving non-New York area teams on the SportsChannel regional networks at times when no games involving local teams were set to air and served as the programming cornerstone for national sister network SportsChannel America upon its launch in 1990.

SportsChannel New York lost the broadcast rights to the Yankees to the MSG Network, then its main competitor, after the 1988 season. This led to a lengthy dispute between Cablevision and MSG that resulted in the network being removed by the provider, resulting in many Cablevision subscribers not being able to see MSG's Yankees telecasts during the 1989 season.

On April 25, 1995, NBC sold its 50% interest in SportsChannel New York to Rainbow Media for US$93 million, citing that "owning a piece of SportsChannel New York made less sense" after Cablevision and ITT Corporation purchased MSG.[3]

On June 30, 1997, Fox/Liberty Networks – a joint venture between News Corporation (then the parent company of the New York Post and Fox owned-and-operated station WNYW (channel 5) and Liberty Media (a spin-off of TCI, an American cable-television group) – purchased a 40% interest in the SportsChannel networks, Madison Square Garden, the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers from Cablevision. The deal was intended to expand the reach of Fox Sports Net – a group of regional sports networks launched by Fox/Liberty in November 1996 through News Corporation's purchase of Liberty's Prime Network – by integrating the SportsChannel networks into the group; SportsChannel New York would also be rebranded as Fox Sports New York, while MSG would also become an FSN outlet, while retaining its existing brand.[4][5][6][7]

National Sports Partners, the venture formed through Cablevision's entry into the News Corporation/Liberty partnership to operate the existing and newly acquired Fox Sports owned-and-operated regional networks, later announced that the other SportsChannel networks would be relaunched under the "Fox Sports Net" banner.[8] The last event broadcast on the network as SportsChannel New York aired on January 27, 1998 was an NBA game between the New Jersey Nets and Denver Nuggets at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver.

SportsChannel New York officially became Fox Sports New York the following day on January 28, with the first event aired as a Fox Sports Net outlet that evening being an NBA game between the Nets and the Los Angeles Lakers at Great Western Forum in Inglewood, California. Prior to the conversion, FSN programming had aired on then-independent station WBIS-TV during its S+ era, where it carried a hybrid of sporting and business programming; by June 1998 the station dropped the format and eventually became WPXN-TV (though it continued to air Fox-sourced programming until August). Five of the seven other remaining SportsChannel networks relaunched as member networks of Fox Sports Net later that week (SportsChannel Florida, which was rechristened Fox Sports Florida, was the last to join FSN in March 2000, after Rainbow bought Florida Panthers owner Wayne Huizenga's controlling interest).[9] The network was later rebranded as Fox Sports Net New York in 2000, as part of a collective brand modification of the FSN networks under the "Fox Sports Net" banner.

In April 2002, Fox Sports Net New York began sharing the broadcast rights to the Mets with MSG, as the newly launched YES Network took the regional television rights to the Yankees and Nets (both owned by their and the network's co-parent at the time, YankeeNets) from FSN. In 2004, the channel shortened its name to FSN New York, through the networks' de-emphasis of the "Fox Sports Net" brand.

On February 22, 2005, Cablevision and News Corporation agreed to trade several sports-related assets. Cablevision acquired majority control in Fox Sports New York, Fox Sports Chicago, Madison Square Garden and its associated properties, and a 50% share of Fox Sports New England; News Corporation, meanwhile, received Cablevision's ownership stakes in Fox Sports Ohio and Fox Sports Florida (Fox Sports Bay Area was not included in the deal, as News Corporation and Cablevision chose to retain joint ownership of that network).[10] Incidentally, News Corporation would later reverse course and purchase a 49% stake in YES Network in November 2012.

In 2005, the Mets announced that it would launch its own sports network to carry the team's games after FSN New York's contract with the team expired; SportsNet New York became the Mets new cable home when it launched in April 2006, at the start of that year's regular season. As a result of losing the Yankees, Nets and Mets over the span of three years, FSN New York and MSG went from being the sole rightsholders to seven of the New York area's major sports franchises (excluding the New York Jets and New York Giants, as the NFL does not sell game broadcasts on an individual team basis or to regional cable outlets) to carrying games from only four of the teams.

On February 26, 2008, Cablevision announced that it would rebrand FSN New York as MSG Plus (branded in logos as "MSG+"), restructuring it as a spin-off of MSG Network.[11] The last event to air under the FSN New York banner was a college basketball game between the Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers and the Robert Morris Colonials from Moon Township, Pennsylvania on March 9.

The network was rebranded as MSG+ at 7:00 p.m. on March 10, beginning with its broadcast of an exhibition tennis match at Madison Square Garden between Roger Federer and Pete Sampras (which was also distributed nationally on the Tennis Channel).[12]

In February 2010, Cablevision spun off MSG Network and MSG+ into The Madison Square Garden Company. In September 2013, YES began carrying many national programs from Fox Sports Networks that were previously broadcast on MSG+; however, the network continues to maintain a reduced schedule of FSN-distributed programming.

MSG+ holds the regional broadcast rights to the NHL's New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders, and the New York Lizards of Major League Lacrosse. MSG Plus also serves an overflow feed in the event that multiple local teams whose games would normally be televised on MSG (such as the NBA's New York Knicks and the NHL's Buffalo Sabres) are playing at the same time. In turn, through MSG's regional television rights agreements, MSG Plus also broadcasts certain NHL games involving the New York Rangers and Major League Soccer games featuring the New York Red Bulls not broadcast by its parent network. MSG Plus also carries a large proportion of Buffalo Sabres games available to subscribers in most of upstate New York.

The network carries New York Rangers and Red Bulls games, which mainly air on MSG, in the event that its parent network is scheduled to air a Knicks (in the case of the Rangers) or Liberty (for Red Bulls) game at times when MSG+ is not carrying games of its main local teams. Games respectively involving the Knicks and Liberty earn higher ratings on MSG than those involving the Rangers or Red Bulls, and rarely air on MSG+ as a result. This is also the case with MSG, as the Islanders or Devils air on that network in lieu of MSG+, when those teams play simultaneously at times none of MSG's main contracted teams are playing.

Since the start of 2006–07 NBA and NHL seasons, some Rangers telecasts have aired on MSG+ even when there is a conflict with an Islanders and/or Devils telecast, resulting in these games being relocated to MSG2 and/or MSG+ 2. In addition, when the Knicks are not in contention for the NBA Playoffs and the Rangers are contending for the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Rangers telecast usually airs on MSG and the Knicks telecast on MSG2, or vice versa in either case.

MSG+ also airs college sports events and local weekly college basketball magazine program for Hofstra University. However, games involving teams in the Tri-State area are generally blacked out outside the New York City market. Some cable providers, such as Time Warner Cable, acquire the rights to the local games for broadcast on local origination and regional sports channels in certain markets. MSG+ previously carried most college sports events televised by Fox Sports Networks (including football and basketball games from the Pac-12 Conference and Big 12 Conference), before these rights were transferred to the YES Network in September 2013 as part of its affiliation with FSN through 21st Century Fox's ownership interest in the network. Nationally televised FSN games aired in all of MSG+'s broadcast zones, unless a local team was playing at the time of the national telecast. In such cases, the collegiate event would be joined-in-progress at the end of the local telecast (if the ended before the conclusion of the national game) on MSG, if there is no other live game telecast scheduled, or not at all.

Since joining Fox Sports Net, MSG+ had also carried select non-sports programming distributed by FSN (such as FSN Final Score, The Best Damn Sports Show Period[11] and The Dan Patrick Show). Even after the network's rebranding as MSG+, it continued to carry these programs until there were discontinuance, similar to a programming agreement FSN maintained with Comcast SportsNet affiliates in markets where there is no local FSN outlet (although CSN maintains a local affiliation with SportsNet New York). As FSN New York, MSG+ formerly aired some Arena Football League games involving the New York Dragons as part of the AFL on FSN package.

MSG+ 2 is a gametime-only overflow feed of MSG Plus, that – along with the MSG overflow MSG 2 – broadcasts in the event that three or four local games are scheduled to air simultaneously on the two main networks (for example, a Knicks or Rangers game would air on MSG2, while an Islanders or a Devils match would be shown on MSG+ 2). Normally, New York Knicks games are televised over MSG2 only during road games that start at least one hour later than a Rangers telecasts due to the fact that the Knicks (whose telecasts are the highest-rated sports events on MSG Network) normally take precedence on the main MSG network when played at Madison Square Garden. However, several Knicks home games originally scheduled to air on MSG were moved to MSG2 in 2008, in order for the former to carry the Rangers' Stanley Cup Playoff matches.

Cable providers mainly transmit MSG 2 and MSG+ 2 as "over-the-air" telecasts on other non-critical networks (such as TVGN, prior to its January 2015 relaunch as Pop); conversely, satellite providers carry both networks on alternate provider-assigned channels. At times when MSG2 and MSG+ 2 are broadcasting at the same time, one of the overflows will be carried on the alternate channel, mostly on C-SPAN2, in the case of cable providers.

From 1998 to 2005, Cablevision instead placed MSG's NBA and NHL telecasts on the MSG Metro Channels, which had limited availability within the provider's systems in the New York metropolitan area. In high cases of overflow, partially caused by New Jersey Nets telecasts aired on the then-rebranded FSN New York at the same time, games were also aired on Riverhead-based independent station WLNY-TV (channel 55). During this era, when two of the teams that the MSG Networks held the rights to broadcast played against each other, only one broadcast would usually be produced using one of the team's announcing staffs. This was either due to stipulations in MSG's television contracts or a desire to show a different sporting event at the same time. Beginning in the 2005–06 NBA and NHL seasons, after the Metro Networks ceased operation and the Nets telecasts moved to YES Network, MSG and the then-FSN New York relaunched MSG2 and FSN New York 2 (the present-day MSG+ 2) and began producing two separate broadcasts when two of their contracted teams play one another.

MSG+ HD is a high-definition simulcast feed of MSG+ HD, which broadcasts in the 1080i resolution format. It is carried on Cablevision (except on its system in Litchfield), Time Warner Cable (in New York and New Jersey), Comcast (which has carried MSG+ HD full-time since October 15, 2009 in areas of northern and central New Jersey within the New York City market)[13] RCN, DirecTV[14] and Verizon FiOS. Sister network MSG+2 also maintains an HD simulcast, whose availability depends on geographic location and television provider.[15] MSG+ HD carries all games involving the New York Rangers, New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils and New York Red Bulls in high definition.

On January 22, 2009, hockey games broadcast by MSG HD and MSG+ HD were dropped from NHL's GameCenter Live service following a contract dispute between MSG and the National Hockey League;[16] MSG HD and MSG+ HD returned to NHL Center Ice on March 17, 2010, beginning with the former's telecast of a game between the New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins, confirmed on-air by NHL Hour co-host Gary Bettman during the program.[17] On December 14, 2011, a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals denied MSG Holdings' petition to review an order by the Federal Communications Commission that Cablevision make the HD feeds of its regional sports networks available for distribution to AT&T U-verse and Verizon FiOS.

Until 2004 (when it was rebranded as FSN New York), the town of Hoosick was the only area served by then Time Warner Cable (now Charter Spectrum's) Albany systems that did not carry MSG+ within New York state. Hoosick was also formerly part of Adelphia's Bennington, Vermont service area (which is now part of Comcast), which formerly carried FSN New England (now NBC Sports Boston); but because of rules imposed by FSN that cable providers within one of the network's broadcast territories must carry that individual regional network, Adelphia replaced that network with FSN New York.

As FSN New York, Time Warner Cable (now Charter Spectrum's) systems in Central New York formerly carried MSG+ on their digital standard tier; the network has since been added to the provider's standard basic tier after TWC struck an agreement with Cablevision/Rainbow Media to move to the provider's standard package in most areas within the region, a move done largely to acclimate Buffalo Sabres fans to allow the team's game broadcasts on the network to air in the area.

Charter Spectrum does not carry MSG+ on its systems in Fredonia, Ulysses, Salamanca (served by Atlantic Broadband), Jamestown and Sayre, Pennsylvania, mainly served by its Southern Tier service area.

Charter Spectrum maintains limited carriage of MSG+ on its Rochester area systems (as well as markets formerly served by Adelphia), with Dresden and Finger Lakes as the only other towns that carry the network.

Charter Spectrum currently carries MSG Plus in high-definition on channel 777 and in standard-definition on channel 70 on its Western New York systems.

Game broadcasters

• Mike Breen – Knicks play-by-play announcer
• Walt Frazier – Knicks color analyst
• Kenny Albert – fill-in Knicks play-by-play announcer
• Mike Crispino – fill-in Knicks play-by-play announcer
• Sam Rosen – Rangers play-by-play announcer
• Joe Micheletti – Rangers color analyst
• John Giannone – Rangers sideline reporter; fill-in Rangers play-by-play announcer
• Brendan Burke – Islanders play-by-play announcer
• Butch Goring – Islanders color analyst
• Shannon Hogan – Islanders sideline reporter, pre-game and post-game show and intermission report host
• Rick DiPietro – Islanders pre-game, post-game, and intermission analyst
• Stan Fischler – Islanders pre-game, post-game, and intermission analyst
• Chris King – fill-in Islanders play-by-play announcer
• Jiggs McDonald – fill-in Islanders play-by-play announcer
• Steve Cangialosi – Devils play-by-play announcer
• Ken Daneyko – Devils color analyst
• Bryce Salvador - Devils pre-game, post-game, and intermission analyst
• Erika Wachter - Devils pre-game, post-game, and intermission analyst
• Rick Jeanneret – Sabres play-by-play announcer
• Rob Ray – Sabres sideline reporter
• Mike Robitaille – fill-in Sabres color analyst
• Kevin Sylvester – fill-in Sabres play-by-play announcer
• Jason Horowitz – Liberty play-by-play announcer
• Sal LoCascio – Lizards color analyst
• Carl Reuter – Lizards play-by-play announcer
• Shep Messing – Red Bulls color analyst

Studio show staff

• Mike Bossy – MSG Hockey Night Live panelist
• Anson Carter – Rangers studio analyst
• Ron Duguay – Rangers studio analyst; MSG Hockey Night Live panelist
• Stan Fischler – MSG Hockey Night Live contributor, occasional Devils or Islanders sideline reporter
• EJ Hradek – MSG Hockey Night Live panelist
• Scott Lasky – Inside the Rangers host
• Brian Leetch – Rangers studio analyst
• Dave Maloney – Rangers pre-game and post-game analyst; MSG Hockey Night Live panelist; and fill-in Rangers color analyst/sideline reporter
• Bill Pidto – Rangers and Knicks (road games) pre-game and post-game show and intermission report host; MSG150 commentator; and MSG Hockey Night Live fill-in host
• Al Trautwig – MSG Hockey Night Live host; and Rangers and Knicks (home and playoff games) pre-game and post-game show and intermission report host
• Steve Valiquette – Rangers studio analyst; and MSG Hockey Night Live panelist

MSG+ received Promax Awards in 2009 for their October 2008 rebranding campaign, its promotional campaign for the network's high school sports telecasts, and Devils and Islanders tuners.