While MSG Stalls and Refuses to Give Fans a Financial Break – Optimum Has Ways for Customers to Watch the Knicks, Islanders, Devils, and Rangers
January 01 2025 - 3:14PM
Business Wire
One Click, Call, or Chat to Optimum and We
Can Review Your Options to Help You Watch Your Favorite Teams Right
Away and Get the Content You Want at an Affordable Price
Optimum issues the following statement about customer friendly
options available to customers:
“At Optimum, we have a clear mission: to provide the
programming that our customers want and give it to them at an
affordable price. The problem: MSG Networks demanded that customers
who don’t watch their content – who are the majority – have to pay
for it anyway AND demanded that all customers pay an exorbitant
amount in fees to carry its content.
Now more than ever, especially in this economy, it is unfair
for MSG Networks to demand non-viewers to pay and demand high
license fees, especially when there are ways for fans to get games
directly from MSG through their direct-to-consumer Gotham Sports
app.
While we all wait for MSG to stop stalling and to give fans a
needed financial break, Optimum is working on ways for everyone to
see the games. We have a comprehensive toolkit of options to take
care of our customers to ensure they get what they want based on
their unique circumstances.
For fans, this includes offers to help offset and defray the
costs of Gotham Sports and other services so they can keep watching
their favorite teams.
And for the hundreds of thousands of non-sports fans, we have
new affordable and customer-friendly-video packages
that get them the content they want and need.
Consumer viewing habits have changed dramatically over the
last few years, and we know that content is not one size fits all,
so we are tailoring our offerings to meet customer needs
individually. That’s why we want customers to call us directly — to
understand what’s important to them and continue to support their
viewing and entertainment interests accordingly.
At Optimum, we pride ourselves on offering a wide range of
options to suit our customers and our team is ready to help
customers find the best packages for them. Just call us at
888-347-4784, chat with us or visit www.optimum.com/MSG
to learn more.”
Additional information on the negotiations with MSG
Networks:
Optimum offered to absorb MSG Networks’ egregious price demands
if we could package its content in a way that would give more
flexibility and control to our customers, so that fans could
continue to watch and pay for their content while non-viewers would
not be forced to pay for what they don’t watch. MSG Networks said
no and refused multiple offers from us to reach a deal.
It is no secret that viewership for sports has become
increasingly fragmented across countless streaming platforms and
services. Yet MSG Networks continues to squeeze its viewers for
more money to watch their content, refusing to evolve or deviate
from a broken model that is outdated based on the evolution of the
entertainment industry, is anti-consumer, and unsustainable in
today’s programming landscape.
Optimum wants to partner with programmers who put customer
choice and flexibility at the center of every decision. We are
disappointed in MSG Networks, but most importantly, sorry that our
customers have to experience this change, which is why Optimum is
working directly with customers to provide alternate viewing
options to ensure that they never have to miss a game.
About Optimum
Optimum is a brand of Altice USA, one of the largest broadband
communications and video services providers in the United States,
delivering broadband, video, mobile, proprietary content and
advertising services to approximately 4.6 million residential and
business customers across 21 states. The company operates Optimum
Media, an advanced advertising and data business, which provides
audience-based, multiscreen advertising solutions to local,
regional and national businesses and advertising clients. Altice
USA also offers hyper-local and international news through its News
12 and i24NEWS networks.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250101662875/en/
Media: Stephen Stokes (917) 553-0667
stephen.stokes@optimum.com
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