Knicks' four games on four different platforms to start the season is just the modern sports viewing landscape
Fans watch during the first half of an NBA basketball game between the New York Knicks and the Cleveland Cavaliers Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025, at Madison Square Garden in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II) Credit: AP
Following one’s team in the mid-2020s means following the bouncing balls across multiple media outlets — and multiple subscription fees.
It is something Yankees fans in particular have experienced in recent seasons, such as in August, when they played four games against the Red Sox on four different channels.
Now it is the Knicks’ turn.
Wednesday night’s opener against the Cavaliers appeared on both ESPN and MSG Networks. Easy enough.
But on Friday night, the new world of NBA media contracts will begin to hit home, with the Knicks hosting the Celtics on Prime Video.
Yes, many people have Prime Video accounts. Yes, many people have grown increasingly accustomed to watching sports on Prime Video.
But this is new in the NBA, which has two new national media partners in NBC/Peacock and Amazon, joining ESPN/ABC.
So for Knicks fans who have ignored the transition to streaming, that is over effective Friday night.
The Knicks will be back on MSG for Sunday’s game against the Heat, then on NBC and its streaming arm, Peacock, on Tuesday against the Bucks.
Much as NBA fans got used to the ESPN/TNT rotation of NBA games over several decades, the new system of national coverage will become familiar in time.
But let’s focus just on the Knicks here.
For fans who do not subscribe to MSG through a traditional pay TV bundle or the Gotham Sports app, there will be more games than in the past that also are on national outlets such as ESPN, Prime Video and Peacock.
But MSG remains the most reliable place to find Knicks games, with 67 of 82 in the regular season.
The big difference is that for the first time, no playoff games will appear on local cable channels under the new NBA contracts. Until last season, MSG had the first round. That is over.
Bottom line: How many services does one need to watch the Knicks in the regular season?
That depends on how much of a completist you are.
Prime Video has four Knicks games that are exclusive to the service: this Friday, Nov. 14, Nov. 28 and Jan. 15. Peacock has one: Jan. 5 against the Pistons.
Other than those, subscriptions to MSG and ESPN as part of a traditional cable bundle or a subscription to MSG through the Gotham Sports app plus a TV antenna to receive ABC and NBC would cover things.
If you are a fan of a team from another market or a fan of the NBA in general, the new contracts will provide more nationally available games than ever.
This stuff gets complicated, though.
For example, on opening night, when the Thunder-Rockets game went to double overtime, the Lakers-Golden State game began on Peacock, even in those teams’ home markets.
Many fans were confused and angry. In the past, such an overlap would have been taken care of by moving the second game to a cable outlet such ESPN or TBS. For NBC, it was Peacock.
The new landscape is a mixed bag for fans, but we do know this, because it is a truism of modern sports viewing: Things keep getting more complicated, and more expensive.
Just ask any Yankees fan.
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.
