The seven weeks long stand off between the Madison Square Gardens Entertainment and Time-Warner Cable has finally come to an end, according to the NY Times. With increased pressure on both sides to end the feud after Jeremy Lin and the Knicks became the talk of the town over the last two weeks, the two sides were able to resolve their dispute. The details of the settlement will be revealed later this afternoon, but it took some nudging from outside politicians—including Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman—to make it happen.
The blackout started on January 1st because TWC said MSG wanted a 53% increase in fees to carry their networks, which shows all Knicks and Rangers games. The two sides bitterly refused to move an inch during stalled negotiations; once Linsanity took over the city things got even more heated, which resulted in outside politicians imploring the sides to reach a deal. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn even fired off letters yesterday to the two top executives of TWC and MSG warning them that if they couldn't reach a deal, they'd face public hearings. She argued that the Lin phenomenon was a “magical Cinderella story” that deserved the widest possible audience.
It's unclear whether this means fans will be able to watch Lin and the Knicks play the New Orleans Hornets tonight at 8 p.m. from home—the game will only be shown on the MSG network. We should all just be glad that Bloomberg wasn't in charge of negotiations: "This is just another battle and I do not think that government should get involved," he said yesterday.
