Two weeks after signs of hope had finally surfaced in the now bitter battle between these media conglomerates, both sides have backed away from the table.  

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Spokespersons for both Time Warner Cable and Madison Square Garden stated in e-mails to 1045theteam.com that at this moment, negotiations are on hold.  The two sides have stepped away, choosing instead some sort of Cold War-esq stand off.  An executive with Time Warner stated that "There's nothing new to share...We're ready to negotiate wherever and whenever they are."  A spokesperson with MSG released the following the statement:

"We are not happy that fans are caught in the middle of this.  We are simply asking Time Warner Cable to value our programming like other TV providers do – nothing more, nothing less.  There are no meaningful discussions right now between MSG Networks and Time Warner Cable.  We are urging TWC subscribers to switch providers so they won’t miss more Sabres games, and they can learn how to do so by calling 888-sabres3 (722-7373) or visiting keepmysabres.com."

The fact that the website listed in the statement is keepmysabres.com and not keepmyrangers.com is an equally as upsetting issue, but one for another article.  For now we are forced to focus on the fact that on January first, after two years of unsuccessful negotiations, Madison Square Garden and its networks were removed from the televisions of thousands of Capital Region customers, and that in the time since there has been no improvement in their plight.  In that time there have been seven Ranger games, nine Knick games, seven Islander games, and yes, seven Sabre games, of which only a small percentage made it to our televisions.  With nothing encouraging being said by either camp, and with no negotiations scheduled at this time - as per a spokesperson from MSG - I guess all we can do is sit, and hope...and listen to the radio.

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