MSG+, the local TV home for the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders, as well as select Rangers and Knicks games, is changing its name ahead of the upcoming season. The channel will be rebranded on Sept. 26 as MSG Sportsnet (MSGSN) just in time for the team’s first preseason games. It’s no surprise that MSG is changing the name of the channel since they will be launching a streaming service later in the season for in-market fans –– and wouldn’t MSG+ just be a perfect fit?
Although the company’s original plan for the platform was to launch before the end of 2022, MSG Network’s president and CEO Andrea Greenberg said last month that the plan was now to launch the DTC streamer “during the second half of the 2022-23 NBA and NHL seasons.”
Greenberg also revealed that development is currently underway on the service, but MSG wants to take its time during the creation phase in order to ensure that the product that they eventually put out meets consumers’ expectations and is able to compete in the increasingly fractured sports streaming space.
“The design and the build of our DTC product has gotten underway,” she said. “So we’re in the process of building, and we’re making good progress. But we really do want to ensure that we take the appropriate time to launch an exceptional product, one that meets our internal expectations and the expectations of our potential DTC customers. So this is really about getting the build and launch right.”
Currently, MSG and MSGSN (formerly MSG+) are available to stream on both DIRECTV STREAM, as part of its $89.99 per month CHOICE package and fuboTV, as part of its $69.99 per month Pro Plan.
| DTV STREAM | Fubo | Hulu | Philo | Sling TV | YouTube | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free Trial | Free Trial | Free Trial | Free Trial | Get $10 Off | Sign Up | |||
| $79.99 | $91.99 | $76.99 | $25 | $40 | $40 | $72.99 | ||
| MSG | + $29 | ✓ | - | - | - | - | - | |
| MSG Sportsnet | + $29 | ✓ | - | - | - | - | - | |
While the MSG Networks streaming service will be focused just on New York Knicks, New York Rangers, New Jersey Devils, and New York Islanders games and related programming — as well as other New York-focused sports content — locking down streaming rights is an integral part of MSG’s plans in the leadup to launch.
“We’re certainly looking at what others are doing in the space, not just for best practices and taking them into account,” Greenberg said. “We have recently renewed our digital rights agreement with the NHL for multiple years, and we are confident that we will soon renew our agreement with the NBA as we have many times in the past in the ordinary course. So all [is] on track, it’s really just a result of wanting to get the product right.”
Though it seems like New York sports fans will have to wait a little while longer to be able to stream games from some of their favorite teams without the benefit of a traditional cable or satellite subscription, it does appear that MSG Networks is working toward delivering a quality streaming product by midseason for the Knicks and the Rangers.