Thousands at FNC, and AG gets involved

The State Attorney General is stepping in the rink to referee the dispute that's put Buffalo Sabres fans with cable in the penalty box.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman released a statement Friday, the day after some Buffalo lawmakers asked him to step in, saying he would ask both MSG and Time Warner officials to meet in his office next week. Time Warner customers would couldn't watch the game turned out by the thousands to watch the Sabres play the Carolina Canes at First Niagara Center Friday night.

>> PHOTO GALLERY: Sabres vs. Canes

The arena almost had the feel of a real Sabres game. 5,000 fans came out to watch the game, many because they couldn't watch it at home. The Pegulas let them in the arena for free, and even gave them free popcorn and pop.

Deborah Lewandowski said, "Because we are fans and there's a lot of us. We want them back."

The Sabres opened up the arena and let fans in for free, giving them free popcorn and pop on day six of MSG's decision to pull Sabres' games off of Time Warner. But now, the NYS Attorney General hopes to mediate an end to the dispute, saying, "We have had constructive discussions with Time Warner Cable and MSG Networks as part of an ongoing effort to facilitate progress in their talks. We are hopeful that the two parties will come to an agreement in short order so that Sabres, Rangers, and Knicks games are available to subscribing New Yorkers as soon as possible."

Sherry Park isn't sure if that will make a difference and said, "I don't know. It'd kind of hard. Everybody's trying to step in and stuff. Hopefully, being the Attorney General, I hope he can make a bigger difference."

"It's a shame that the Attorney General of New York has to waste his time. With the stuff that we have going on in New York, because a company wants to raise 52 percent. I mean, I can see where you can make a raise, but not many of us get a 52 percent raise when we go in to do our jobs," said Jeff Schultz.

MSG denies asking for a 52 percent raise and says, "We appreciate the Attorney General’s offer to meet with us to discuss our dispute with Time Warner Cable and we look forward to meeting with him."

"All we've asked is Time Warner recognize the value of our programming and our networks the same as other TV providers, no more, no less," said MSG general manager Dan Ronayne.

Time Warner communications manager Joli Plicknette-Farmen countered, "They're saying our numbers our inaccurate, but they're not coming out publicly and saying what numbers they're requesting. We're still looking forward to MSG coming back with a reasonable proposal so that we can move forward and get the Sabres back on for our western New York fans."

Schneiderman has already met with Time Warner and MSG representatives, but not together. He hopes to meet with officials from both companies next week.

The Canes beat the Sabres, 4-2. See the highlights from the game here.