Living in the New York area, watching local sports teams like the Yankees, Knicks, and Rangers is a breeze through MSG Network’s streaming platform. I’ve found it to be one of the most comprehensive and convenient ways to catch the games, especially through services like Fubo and DIRECTV STREAM, which offer better value than traditional cable packages.

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Fubo

Known for its outstanding sports coverage, Fubo’s 150+ live TV channels provide a broad selection that appeals to most people. Fubo allows you to try out its service with a free trial.

DIRECTV STREAM

The king of RSNs, this is the streaming service for MLB, NBA, and NHL fans with its Choice Plan. New customers get a 5-day free trial with DIRECTV STREAM.

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Table Of Contents

1 Streaming Services with MSG Network
2 Where Is MSG Network Available
3 MSG Network Content
4 Our Choice
5 FAQs

Streaming Services with MSG Network

MSG Network is available on Fubo and DIRECTV STREAM if you’re within a supported broadcast region — this includes parts of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. After signing up, download the free app onto your chosen streaming device, log in, and start watching.

As well as MSG Network, both Fubo’s and DIRECTV STREAM’s plans provide MSG Sportsnet, YES Network, and SportsNet NY, so you can watch almost all tri-state area sports teams with one subscription. They come with unlimited cloud-based DVRs, let you watch on more screens than you could possibly own, and work on almost any streaming device (eg, smart TVs, mobile devices, Roku, Amazon Fire, etc.).

Fubo offers 4 MSG channels in its service area.

MSG+

MSG Network has its own dedicated streaming service, MSG+. This provides all live MSG channels and covers games from pretty much every sports team in the New York area.

MSG+ costs $30/mo or $280/year, which I think is expensive if you’re only a fan of one or two teams. I found it cheaper to buy one-off game passes, especially if you’re unlikely to watch more than three games per month, as these cost $9.99 each.

As of August 2024, MSG+ is only available in The Gotham Sports App. This works on iOS and Android mobile devices, Amazon Fire, Android TV, Apple TV, Roku TV, and web browsers.

Where Is MSG Network Available

MSG Network is only available to viewers within its broadcast region (even if you’re subscribed to a streaming service that offers it). This area roughly covers:

New York: Entire state
Connecticut: Western half of the state including Hartford
Pennsylvania: Only the very northeastern tip of the state
New Jersey: Northern part of the state including Newark but not even as south as Princeton.

MSG Network Content

MSG Network is short for Madison Square Gardens Network. It features pro and amateur sport events at (unsurprisingly) Madison Square Gardens and the surrounding areas.

The network has two primary channels: MSG Network and MSG SportsNet (formerly MSG+). When more than two games are happening simultaneously, or there’s additional content to broadcast, it also has two overspill channels: MSG2 and MSG Sportsnet 2.

Pro Sports

Watch MSG on Fubo with all your mobile devices.

MSG’s game and team coverage can vary depending on your location. But I’ve found it’s usually reliable for most New York-area sports teams, including:

New York Yankees (MLB)
Brooklyn Nets (NBA)
New York Knicks (NBA)
New Jersey Devils (NHL)
New York Islanders (NHL)
New York Rangers (NHL)
Buffalo Sabres (NHL)

MSG provides pregame and postgame shows too, most notably for Rangers and Knicks games.

Note that playoff games are not broadcast on MSG (these are reserved for national channels).

MSG also airs the New York Riptide professional box lacrosse team’s events and features content about the New York Giants (but doesn’t show any of their games).

Amateur Sports

MSG Network broadcasts lots of NCAA events as well. The conferences it features most are:

Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)
America East Conference
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC)
Northeast conference games.

I’ve also seen football and basketball games from Big 12, Pac-12, and SEC. And MSG will occasionally cover high school sports and analysis.

Note that MSG doesn’t broadcast nationally televised games, so if a game is on NBC or ESPN, you’ll need to watch it there. Fubo and DIRECTV STREAM both offer all the national sports channels with MSG though, meaning you should be covered.

Our Choice

I recommend New York sports fans sign up for Fubo if they want MSG Network. Not only is Fubo the cheapest streaming service to offer MSG, but it also includes the widest range of additional sports networks within one package. This makes it the most cost-effective way to catch every game at Madison Square Garden and beyond — get a free Fubo trial to see which RSNs are available in your area now.

Editor’s Choice: Fubo ($79.99/month)

Best for: Widest range of sports networks.

150+ channels, including 50+ sports channels and RSNs in most locations.
Stream on up to 10 devices at once.
Unlimited cloud DVR included.
Free trial available.

Runner Up: DIRECTV STREAM ($114.99/month)

Best for: Largest coverage of RNSs.

Most RSNs across the country.
125+ channels, including local channels.
Watch on an unlimited number of screens.
Free trial available.

Budget Pick: MSG+ ($30/mo or $9.99/game pass)

Best for: Watching individual games for the lowest price.

Live coverage of almost every team or match in the New York area.
Only pay for the games you want to watch.
Even the monthly fee is cheaper than other full streaming services.

FAQs

How can I watch MSG for free?

You can’t watch MSG for free other than by visiting a friend who has it. MSG Network is a paid service. It doesn’t broadcast over the air; you must get it from a provider. If you find MSG streaming online for free, it is an illegal stream and we highly recommend avoiding it. Read more about streaming scams.

What happened to MSG+?

MSG+ used to be the name of the second MSG Network channel. But it was changed on September 26th, 2022 to MSG SportsNet. As of 2023, MSG+ is the name of the MSG Network DTC streaming service. Here is a list of the names the channel has had over the past decades:

1976: Cablevision Sports 3
1979: SportsChannel New York
1998: Fox Sports New York
1999: Fox Sports Net New York
2004: FSN New York
2008: MSG Plus
2022: MSG SportsNet.

Does MSG broadcast Red Bulls games?

MSG used to broadcast Red Bulls games. In 2023, Major League Soccer took greater control of its broadcasting rights. You can now watch all matches through MLS Season Pass. It is available for $14.99/mo or $99.99 for the year and has no blackouts so you can watch whatever games you like.

Page Updates ▼▲

Jun 28, 2023

Added material about MSG+ streaming service.
May 2, 2023

Added streaming info. Updated some sub-sections. Updated some section headings. Image changes. Cleaned up list. Removed section. Deleted unneeded sub-section.
Jan 10, 2023

Added some more links. Changed a few bits of content.
Sep 6, 2022

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Jun 25, 2022

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May 4, 2022

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Apr 21, 2022

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Nov 17, 2021

Added new section. Added links to streaming services. Added sub-section. Updated some sub-sections. Mentioned offers. Image changes.
Jul 26, 2021

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Frank Moraes

I am a Senior Content Editor at Hotdog.com, specializing in sports streaming and regional programming issues. With a PhD in Atmospheric Physics from the Oregon Graduate Institute of Science and extensive experience in remote sensing technology, including early video streaming, I bring a unique technical perspective to the streaming industry.

My expertise in sports coverage, particularly for out-of-market games and regional sports networks, stems from years of hands-on experience as an early adopter of streaming services and my work addressing fans' viewing challenges. As a longtime cord-cutter and subscriber to multiple streaming platforms, I combine my technical knowledge with practical user experience, making me a leading expert in the field of sports streaming and entertainment technology.