From the twitter account of the New York Times’ Richard Sandomir:
Time Warner Cable, which provides basic cable service to a large portion of New York City, had not been able to agree on a “subscription fee” (the money that goes to each channel when you pay for basic cable every month -- networks without live sports almost all “cost” well under 50 cents per month, while networks with live sports generally cost a few dollars per month) with Madison Square Garden Network, which has deals with the Knicks, the Rangers, the Islanders, the Devils, and several other teams in the Tri-State Area.
The factors that go into a deal like this are generally quite complex, due to the sheer dollar amounts involved, and this deal will reportedly be in place for quite a few years, so it’s almost impossible to point to one single factor and say that it was what caused the deal to be completed. That said, we are giving Jeremy Lin full credit for getting this deal completed, and Sandomir did tweet that Lin’s spectacular emergence may have expedited the negotiations between MSG and Time Warner:
So there you have it. New York, you shall be watching Jeremy Lin live on basic cable tonight. Enjoy.
