YES Network and MSG Networks launch jointly owned venture called Gotham Advanced Media and Entertainment
Aaron Judge and Jalen Brunson, digital teammates?
The YES Network and MSG Networks took a step toward making that happen on Thursday in announcing a jointly owned venture called Gotham Advanced Media and Entertainment, or “GAME.”
In the short term, the deal centers on business and technology, using expertise from the YES App and MSG+ to enhance one another’s products, provide cost efficiencies and offer digital content support to third-party clients.
But this could mark the first step toward streaming games that both networks carry in a combined service that potentially could put Yankees, Nets, Liberty, Knicks, Rangers, Islanders and Devils games under one digital roof that would provide attractive live content year-round.
The networks’ CEOs, Jon Litner of YES and Andrea Greenberg of MSG, declined to speculate in detail about such a near future in a joint interview with Newsday.
But they hinted at more to come from their partnership.
“It’s a little too early to provide details on what our future products might look like,” Greenberg said, “but certainly we'll be exploring different options designed to enhance the customer experience.”
Litner said, “Obviously, we’re open to further discussions, but it’s way, way premature to comment on any of that.”
He said the current priority is what was announced Thursday, adding, “Who knows what’s to come after that? But at this point, that’s what we’re focused on.”
This is a difficult time for regional sports networks that carry local teams, given the changing economics as many abandon traditional cable television bundles.
The future is in live streaming, and that business continues to evolve.
Both YES and MSG began offering direct-to-consumer streaming options outside the cable bundle last year and SNY is expected to follow suit eventually.
MSG sells a single-game option for its teams in addition to monthly and annual subscriptions. Greenberg said MSG is “learning a lot” from its single-game product.
Greenberg and Litner did not provide subscription numbers for their first seasons of direct-to-consumer streaming but said their products have been well received.
YES and MSG still have linear cable TV channels and those are not going anywhere anytime soon. But streaming is the next step in the business, and the New York-area outlets are in a better position to thrive than most.
“All of us are adapting to what is clearly an evolving media landscape,” Litner said, “but what shouldn't be lost in that is the continued high demand for our teams.
“What we're doing here is just adapting, evolving and seizing the opportunity while things change around us. With disruption comes great opportunity, and we're leaning into the opportunity.”
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
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