Lin run forces MSG-Time Warner deal

First, he lifted the Knicks back into the playoff hunt. Now Jeremy Lin has put them back on TV.

The Madison Square Garden Co. said Friday it had reached a tentative deal to put Knicks games back on television for some 2 million Time Warner Cable subscribers in the New York area.

A dispute over fees had left subscribers unable to watch the Knicks since Jan. 1, meaning they couldn't watch the point guard lead the Knicks to seven straight wins and a 15-15 record. Fans complained and called for a quick resolution.

One state official close to the negotiations said Lin's phenomenal run forced the deal, along with the recent play of the Rangers, whose hockey games are also carried on MSG.

NBA Commissioner David Stern stepped in over the last two days, telling the sides how important it was to get Lin back on TV for both parties and for the league, said one person close to the talks.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo called each company's top executives in the last two days, according to another state official. Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said he had been working for a month to shepherd the companies toward agreement.

"Hallelujah," said Norman Siegel, a civil rights lawyer who wrote to the companies Friday to complain. "We can all watch and experience this evolving story."

The deal came in time for Time Warner customers to watch the Knicks host the New Orleans Hornets Friday night. Terms were not disclosed.

MSG has seen ratings more than triple since Lin's breakout Feb. 4 game, according to Nielsen, even with the games blacked out to Time Warner subscribers who account for about a fifth of more than 10 million people who get MSG.

The network and Time Warner had been at loggerheads over what Time Warner said was a demand for a 53 percent fee hike. MSG has said that claim was "simply incorrect."

The Madison Square Garden Co. is a spinoff of Cablevision Systems Corp., which owns Newsday.