AT&T Pushes FCC Over MSG Dispute > people in Hell want ice water.

people in Hell want ice water.

yeah, i read that part. good for them. i wouldn't sell access either. but if i did, like i said, i would make it so expensive that it wouldn't be worth it.
you want to play, you have to pay. and through the nose i might add.
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I've come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass and i'm all outta bubblegum.

Again, you seem to be missing the point.

The teams that have games on these channels have a significant amount of support through taxpayer dollars. As a citizen, you are forced to pay these taxes or you face criminal penalties potentially including jail time.

So, if you're a citizen of New York City, and you want to watch the games of the teams your tax dollars go to support, the only way you can do so is to subscribe to a complete TV package from the cable company who is owned by the same people who own the teams.

People bitch about the HSI duopoly -- this is a double monopoly. Sports teams have a monopoly within their area of operation, the owners of the sports teams negotiate with the media companies to cover the games -- in this case the owners of the NY teams are negotiating with themselves!

reply to Harddrive
Following your line of reasoning, then perhaps Verizon and at&t should block access to their telephone network, both landline and wireless. I'm pretty sure that Cablevision customers not being able to call a Verizon or at&t subscriber will hurt Cablevision more than Verizon/at&t subscribers not having MSG HD. After all it is Verizon's/at&t's network, they should be able to offer access only to whoever they want right?

We all know that if Verizon or at&t were to do that, the FCC would instantly put a stop to that. The fact of the matter is that Cablevision does sell access to the network to other companies (Directv, TWC) and therefore should not be able to tell a specific company that they can't have it. Either they don't offer the network to anyone at all and keep it exclusive to cablevision, or they offer to all network providers at the same price.

reply to espaeth
well i guess the Dolan family made some good purchases then.

and no, if you want to watch the game and you don't have or do not want Cablevision, go to the game.
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I've come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass and i'm all outta bubblegum.

reply to waiting4fios
verizon and AT&T can't do that. its against the law. Cablevision and the Dolan family aren't breaking any laws by not allowing access to that company owned channel to certain companies.
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I've come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass and i'm all outta bubblegum.

said by espaeth:

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What you're arguing is that CableVision should be allowed to jack up their pricing for their subscribers as much as they want.

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reply to Harddrive
It has NOTHING to do with COST, the problem is Cablevision flat out REFUSES to even open the door for negotiations for the HD feed for those providers. Just like Comcast does with CSN Philly's SD and HD feeds when it comes to satellite providers.

As for NFL Sunday ticket, it's apples an oranges. DirecTV doesn't own the NFL or any of the teams, and not getting some $200+ out of market sports package is totally different than not even being able to see your LOCAL teams in HD when it comes to MSG/Cablevision, or not at all when it comes to CSN Philly/Comcast.

said by KyL416:

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Cablevision flat out REFUSES to even open the door for negotiations for the HD feed for those providers.

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