Mr Jaffe Still Defending Msg: " Wasn't Their Call "

New York Islander Fan Central | 1/24/2013 07:15:00 PM |
For those who follow this twitter feed, I had an interesting exchange with current part time Msg employee/guest, former Islanders announcer, Billy Jaffe, on 1/24, who again maintained his dismissal/contract new renewed from broadcasting New York Islander hockey was not Msg's call.

Is it possible something happened beyond the scenes with the Isles where he's right?

Absolutely.

However Mr Jaffe on 12/20/10 went above/ beyond telling us what a great job Msg had done covering Islander hockey, is flat out disingenuous nor am I talking about people in a truck putting in long hours to produce a broadcast.  

I invite folks to read the twitter comments and make their own judgements, no interest in repeating what's been written here countless times in the past about Msg coverage disparity.  

Sure, I understand for Mr Jaffe to be critical of Msg has the likely potential to end any current appearances on their network,  nor was he going to go there in any exchange with me, but praising my passion?

Spare me. I do not do passion, only facts with supporting documentation, when I made my points with supporting links (direct quotes) Mr Jaffe wrote it had nothing to do with him. 

Fair enough, nor did I claim it was.

Having written that on 12/20/10 Mr Jaffe went to absurd heights to defend Msg's coverage disparity of the New York Islanders (and Devils) vs Cablevision's team with former Islanders media relations coordinator. 

Here is the audio link to Mr Jaffe's comments on 12/20/10 where he claims Msg goes above and beyond to cover the New York Islanders

Full 15 minute interview

And of course the 12/20/10 Video in full. 

For those listening to Isles former media relations coordinator here praise Msg for airing all games (they are legally obligated to)  the comical background propaganda of how tough it is airing HD is another insult to our fans intelligence considering Msg refused to air games in HD.

Verizon had to fight Msg for HD coverage until Dec 2011 when the Dolan's lost another lawsuit. 

Sure by 12/31/11 if you had Time Warner, goodbye Msg. 

Even now I'll ask are those +++ channels offering HD? 

I like Mr Jaffe's work, praised him for being positive here when Msg/Newsday employees announced his dismissal from their coverage in my past entries. I knew of his Dec 2010 interview, and considered his defense back then insulting, but if he's still doing this in 2013, it's time to get real.

Of course the same former media relations coordinator defending Msg in 2010 made clear in 2008 Msg hiding Mr Jaffe's ITV pre-season games was entirely about Msg.

Please don't take my word for it, read from the same man who interviewed Mr Jaffe: Sept 27th 2008  when Mr Jaffe's preseason work could not air live on ITV

Islanders TV’s inability to show these ex games in Canada live and in living colour is a more difficult issue, but the reason is essentially the same. Not only does MSG Network have the broadcast rights for Islanders pre-season games, an impeccable TV industry source tells Point Blank that MSG Network also has the right to give the red light to any other company that wants to show the games.

It’s a fair leap to assume MSG opted to block ITV from broadcasting games live in Moncton, London, PEI or anywhere else. Yes, last year they allowed it. This year, nope.

To be clear, it’s not like the Islanders don’t want to have these games on ITV, MSG+ or anywhere else on the dial. MSG is exercising their contractual rights.

For now, it looks like you’ll have to wait to see the Islanders’ own Emmy Award-winning commentator Billy Jaffe on MSG+ when the regular season begins. While you vent, let me look into rumors I heard in Manhattan the other day about the plan to eliminate Islanders pre-game shows (and perhaps a studio analyst) from MSG+ broadcasts.


Funny, that was the year the Isles lost their pregame in the first month. Eventually a studio analyst full time job was eliminated with no full time replacement for Butch Goring who said he felt detached from Isles when they would go on long trips.

Msg could have paid to bring Goring on the road with Jaffe, and Rose as an analyst, after all the Devils/Rangers have plenty of people covering them full time. 

Like Mr Jaffe I feel good about writing this.