Washington, D.C. (July 29, 2008) -- Verizon's FiOS TV service yesterday unveiled a new lineup in New York City that consisted of 100 high-def channels. However, conspicuously absent from the list is the high-def edition of the Madison Square Garden sports network.

And there's a good reason, charges Verizon. Cablevision, which owns MSG, is purposely preventing the telco from carrying the channel because the two companies are competing for the same New York subscribers.

But Eric Rabe, vice president of media relations for Verizon, writes in his blog at the company's web site that Cablevision is required under the Cable Act to make the channel available. He says Verizon has filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission.

Cablevision won't deny that it's withholding MSG HD. In a response to TVPredictions.com, company spokesperson Kim Kerns would only say the following:
 

"MSG complies fully with federal guidelines and does not put a lot of credence in self-serving comments that appear on Verizon's own blog."

Asked if that was a denial, Kerns said the company had no other comment.

But Rabe had more comments in his blog.
 

"And as if Cablevision’s motives in evading the program access were not clear enough, after denying us the HD MSG programming, Cablevision advertises that it is the only carrier to provide it in HD," Rabe writes.

Verizon does carry the standard-def version of MSG, but only after it filed a complaint with the FCC, it claims.