MSG Networks claims Optimum parent walked away from negotiations (Updated)

Altice-owned Optimum, which reportedly accounts for one-third of revenue for MSG Networks, has pulled its offer in carriage negotiations with the network that airs New York Knicks and New York Rangers games.

“Altice USA has pulled their last proposal and walked away from negotiations to bring MSG Networks back to its Optimum subscribers,” reads a press release from Sphere Entertainment. “They also just dropped WPIX Channel 11 in New York and other local stations around the country. If you have been waiting, like we have, for them to do right by their customers – don’t wait any longer. Now is the time to switch to Verizon Fios who has a special offer for Optimum subscribers. Meanwhile, Optimum has been charging their over 1 million customers for local sports programming they have not been receiving and EVERY subscriber should be credited at least $10 a month.”

Earlier in the week, Puck’s John Ourand had several key details on the impasse between Altice and MSG Networks parent Sphere Entertainment, owned by James Dolan, who also owns both the Knicks and Rangers franchises. Altice reportedly aimed to place MSG Networks in a premium package subscribers would need to pay a $55 surcharge for, which would likely decrease the number of Optimum customers paying into MSG Networks coffers.

MSG Networks “carries one of the highest costs of all (regional sports networks) in the country,” Ourand wrote.

This negotiation also brought intense scrutiny because MSG Networks is in active negotiations with its creditors on Wall Street on debt payments. The company, an independent subsidiary of Sphere and Madison Square Garden Sports Corp., is more than $800 million in debt. Per Sportico, it recently extended its debt obligation, originally due by October, through January.