After 11 days of a blackout for viewers of MSG and MSG Plus networks on Time Warner Cable, there appears to be little chance of a resolution any time soon, reports The New York Times.
The blackout comes as the New York Rangers have the best record in the NHL and the NBA’s New York Knicks are on a winning streak, the piece notes. The blackout means that 1.7 million customers in the New York City area and upstate New York aren’t able to watch the teams on cable, the story says.
“I’m paying Time Warner $150 a month, and I’m thinking of cutting the cord,” said Knicks fan Amit Klein, who lives in Brooklyn, according to the story. He called the feud "frustrating when you’re paying so much" and added that he recently watched a game on a pirate Web site.
MSG is asking fans to switch to DirecTV, RCN or Verizon FiOS, while offering viewing parties in different cities to allow fans to watch the games, the piece notes.
Both companies are making a big mistake here as more people are learning how to go around the system and not pay for programming. TW should make MSG ala carte and let people pay whatever MSG wants per subscriber. Those of us who aren’t sports fans are tired of subsidizing ESPN and Regional sports networks so these ego maniacal athletes can be over paid. It is time for the cable companies to go ala carte and let people decide what they want to pay for. If they don’t do it quickly, they are going to see their subscriber bases continue to decline as people switch to Hulu, Netflix and other alternatives that cost less and deliver exactly what we want.
Im going to cancel TWC when Fios comes to this section of my neighborhood. Im also thinking of DTV but I hear they suck worse that TWC…. hard to believe.