Altice USA Drops MSG Networks From Optimum Lineup Amid Pricing Dispute

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(RTTNews) - Altice USA has dropped MSG Networks from its Optimum channel lineup in the tri-state area, Sphere Entertainment Co. said in a statement on Wednesday.

Optimum and MSG Networks' carriage agreement expired at midnight on December 31, 2024.

MSG Networks said, "As a last-ditch effort to save their struggling business at the expense of subscribers, Altice is trying to charge their customers more and give them less. They just raised prices—nearly 50% for current Optimum subscribers and 70% for new Optimum subscribers (after the expiration of a promotional offer) for the package that had included MSG Networks—and cut access to the Knicks, Rangers, Islanders, Devils, and more on MSG Networks."

MSG Networks also said, "We offered Altice a number of fair and reasonable proposals that called for Altice to pay us less than last year. Altice rejected all of them, including our offer to keep MSG Networks on the air while we continued to try to reach a deal. We remain ready to negotiate in good faith."

In a separate press release, Optimum alleged that MSG Networks demanded exorbitant programming fees and required Optimum to make MSG channels available to the vast majority of video subscribers, whether they wanted the content or not. This "all or nothing" approach could raise cable bills while forcing the majority of our customers to pay for content they do not watch.

Optimum said it cares about its customers and worked on their behalf to reach a deal that is fair and brings its customers choice and value. Unfortunately, MSG Networks would not budge, and their content has been removed from Optimum TV lineups.