NYC Official Demands Time Warner Cable Reimburses Customers for Lost Games

Time Warner Cable should reimburse customers who are missing New York Knicks and Rangers games because of the carrier’s dispute with programmer Madison Square Garden, New York City Comptroller John Liu said.

The clash between the second-largest U.S. cable company and MSG “does nothing more than unfairly punish” Time Warner Cable customers, Liu said. Liu has asked the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, the city agency that regulates cable franchise contracts, to “make sure” Time Warner Cable reimburses subscribers for the loss of MSG and MSG Plus. The two cable networks carry the National Basketball Association’s Knicks and the National Hockey League’s New York Rangers, New York Islanders, Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils. Time Warner Cable customers lost access to MSG Network on Jan. 1 after the two sides failed to negotiate new contract terms. MSG was asking Time Warner Cable to pay a 53 percent price increase for the right to carry its programming, according to Mike Angus, a Time Warner Cable senior vice president. MSG Media President Mike Bair said the claim was a “gross mischaracterization.”