MSG Network's new 'XR Studios' features state-of-the art technology and programming for local fans

The most Knicks-centric shows on television these days are MSG Networks’ pre- and postgame programs for every playoff game.

That is normal for a local sports network that covers a team making a deep run but without the contractual ability to show the games themselves.

This time is different for MSG, though, and not just because the Knicks are in the conference finals for the first time since 2000.

Since December, the network’s shows have emanated from its new “MSG XR Studios” adjacent to its third-floor offices at 11 Penn Plaza.

The studio replaces a much larger space on the first floor and is far more efficient and flexible. That is because most of it is virtual.

MSG Networks president and CEO Andrea Greenberg called it “revolutionary” during a tour for a small group of reporters on Wednesday in advance of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

As Kevin Marotta, senior VP of content and marketing, put it, “The physics don’t really matter anymore.”

That is because of technology and LED screens that allow for backdrops to be replaced within seconds to reflect MSGN’s wide range of programming, minus the time, cost and mess of moving around the four physical studios in its old space.

During a video demonstration, host Bill Pidto appeared to be operating in a large space with varied looks. Once reporters were in the actual studio, its real-life location was far smaller and less elaborate than what appeared on screen.

The desk used by Pidto, Wally Szczerbiak and Alan Hahn for Knicks shows is real, as are Pidto, Szczerbiak and Hahn. But other than the occasional plant, chair or rug, that’s about it.

“You see how much versatility we have,” Pidto said. “It was much more cumbersome in the old setup to do the things that we do.”

He joked that come next season he wants to be able to snap his fingers “and have Wally and Alan go away.”

Actually, the technology will allow for that. It also will allow for virtually beaming someone onto the set from another location.

Dave Schafer, senior VP of product technology and operations, said the studio is not just for MSGN’s use. The network has gone to market to make it available to other entities in need of such facilities.

For now, by far its most visible application is Knicks studio shows.

MSGN has not shown a Knicks game since the end of the first round against the Pistons, but many fans have gotten accustomed to switching there after games.

“People are coming to us before and after the game now that they’ve habituated that behavior,” Greenberg said. “It’s important to us to stay connected to these later-round games. We do it through our personalities.”

It was easier to attract an audience in the second round, when national networks often have to get to a late game and have no time for postgame programming.

The competition will be stiffer in the conference finals, with one game per night and TNT following Knicks-Pacers games with its formidable “Inside the NBA.”

Many fans, though, prefer familiar voices, and those voices are loving this.

“It’s so exciting,” Pidto said. “We’ve been so lucky to be here for so many years together, and this is the farthest that they’ve gone. We weren’t together in 2000. This is my 16th season.

“We have seen a lot of different things. We haven’t seen this, so we’re really, really excited.”

By Neil Best

neil.best@newsday.com@sportswatch

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.