After the collapse of Empire Sports Network and its parent Adelphia,[1] MSG bought the rights to the Buffalo Sabres in 2006 under a 10-year deal; where telecasts are controlled by the team via the Sabres Hockey Network, including the sale of advertising, and the simulcast of Rick Jeanneret's commentary on both radio and television (although, during the 2015-16 season, the team experimented with having separate commentary teams on radio and television for selected games, which the Buffalo News speculated was in preparation for Jeanneret's eventual retirement), conditions that the Sabres always make as part of their telecast deals going back to the days of Empire.

[7][8] It was speculated that Pegula Sports and Entertainment, which had recently bought the Sabres, Rochester Americans, Buffalo Bandits and Buffalo Bills, was planning to take advantage of the high viewership by establishing a team-owned regional sports network once the Sabres' existing television contract with MSG expired.

Pegula eventually secured a contract extension with Entercom keeping the Bills and Sabres on WGR through the spring of 2021.

As with the previous deal, Pegula controls team programming on the network, including advertising sales and production (which is handled through PSE's production wing PicSix Creative), and receives all advertising revenue, while MSG collects the retransmission consent fee.

[6] Pegula's executive vice president of media and content Mark Preisler explained that the deal was an alternative to establishing a new regional sports network from scratch, as the company would be able to expand on its relationship with MSG as a long-standing partner by leveraging its infrastructure and distribution, rather than needing to invest in building a network and negotiating carriage with television providers.

[16] The network carries team programming related to the Buffalo Sabres and Buffalo Bills; the former including all 70 regional Sabres games and the latter including local Bills shows formerly aired by WKBW-TV; preseason telecasts began to be simulcast with WKBW beginning in 2017.

In addition, the channel simulcasts The Instigators (formerly known as Sabres Hockey Hotline)[17] and One Bills Live (formerly known as The John Murphy Show) from WGR radio as part of a five-hour weekday block, originating from studios (dubbed the One Buffalo studios) at Highmark Stadium; Murphy's program was moved from the evening to the afternoon and had a co-host added.

On September 7, 2017, it was announced that the channel would begin airing select Monsignor Martin Athletic Association high school football games produced by Pegula as part of a multi-year deal, including a three-game showcase at New Era Field.

As the Bills could not break their existing contract with WKBW in Buffalo, the rights in that city did not change until 2021, when Nexstar-owned WIVB-TV would begin carrying the games.

On August 10, 2016, the debut night of MSG Western New York it was revealed that DirecTV would not be running the network's full programming schedule.