Mid-Atlantic Sports Network
| Mid-Atlantic Sports Network | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Launched | 2005 |
| Owned by | Baltimore Orioles, Washington Nationals |
| Slogan | Be There. |
| Sister channel(s) | MASN2 |
| Website | www.masnsports.com |
| Availability | |
| Satellite | |
| DirecTV | Channels 626 (MASN) and 671 (MASN2) |
| Dish Network | Channels 432 (MASN) and 433 (MASN2) |
Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) is a team-owned regional sports network that televises both Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles games in the mid-Atlantic region (Harrisburg, PA to Charlotte, NC) and 200 NCAA football, basketball, and lacrosse games for a total of 520 live events annually.
MASN is the Official Cable Network of The Baltimore Ravens, Georgetown Hoyas basketball, George Mason Patriots basketball and the UNC Wilmington Seahawks and televises a live simulcast of The John Riggins Show (Redskins Radio) and The Anita Marks Show (ESPN 1300) daily.
MASN is the home of the Big East Game of the Week in NCAA football and basketball.
The network is carried on 21 cable and satellite providers throughout a television territory that makes up the 4th largest media market in the country.
Background
When the Montreal Expos were relocated to Washington, D.C. in 2004, the issue arose regarding television rights for the new franchise. Since at least 1981, Major League Baseball had designated the Baltimore Orioles television territory to extend from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to Charlotte, North Carolina.
The Orioles agreed to share its territory with the Nationals in return for the ability to present the Nationals games on the Orioles television network, the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network. The Orioles have a 90 percent stake in MASN and MLB paid the Orioles $75 million for 10 percent of the regional sports network. When the Lerner family bought the Nationals in July 2006 they became part owners in MASN. Over the next 23 years, the Washington Nationals’ stake in the network will increase to 33 percent. Under the current arrangement, MASN paid the Nationals $20 million to broadcast their games in 2005.
Controversy and lawsuit
After the Orioles agreed to share its television territory with the Nationals, another controversy arose with television rights. Comcast SportsNet held a 10-year contract to broadcast Orioles games on cable through the 2006 season, a vestige of the channel's days as HTS, which was once co-owned with long-time Orioles broadcaster WJZ by CBS. When MASN received the rights to broadcast Nationals games on MASN, the Orioles television network, Comcast's wholly own subsidiary, CSN-Mid Atlantic, sued the Baltimore Orioles seeking special rights to carry Orioles games beyond the 10-year contract. Comcast contended that a clause in its contract with the Orioles allowed it to have exclusive first or last refusal rights on future television contracts. But since MASN is a trade name for TCR Sports Broadcasting Holding, established in 1996 to sell all of the Orioles TV rights (which resulted in HTS signing the 10-year deal), the Orioles were deemed to be simply bringing their rights in-house (as if WJZ were broadcasting every game -- MASN already produced those telecasts). The over-the-air games were not part of the HTS deal (though they used the same announcers).
On July 27, 2005, Montgomery County Circuit Judge Durke G. Thompson threw out Comcast's lawsuit, ruling that the clause in Comcast’s contract with the Orioles had not been triggered. Comcast filed an amended complaint and on October 5, Judge Thompson threw out Comcast's second effort.
Up to that point, Comcast was the only major cable carrier that refused to carry MASN. Comcast has 1.3 million cable subscribers in the mid-Atlantic region. More than one-third of cable/satellite households could not watch MASN as a result of the MASN-Comcast dispute, including most of Maryland and the District of Columbia. Additionally, Adelphia - in bankruptcy court and therefore unable to add programming - was in the process of being sold to Comcast and Time Warner Cable.
On August 4, 2006 it was announced that Comcast would carry MASN programming starting in September 2006 following a settlement between Comcast and MASN. [1]
Comcast, having been forced to give up an appeal of their lawsuit as part of the deal, moved to acquire rights to games and coaches' shows from various local colleges, in a desperate effort to be relevant during baseball season.
Despite carrying MASN for most households in the television territory, Comcast is not currently carrying MASN in some parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia that are in the Orioles' and Nationals' designated territory. [2].
Time Warner Cable in North Carolina does not currently carry MASN. [3] This has resulted in the network airing a series of radio advertisements in the area asking Time Warner customers to put pressure on the cable provider.
Alleged Orioles bias
Since the Baltimore Orioles are the majority owners of MASN, some in Washington (most notably Washington Post columnist Marc Fisher) have accused the Orioles of designing MASN programming to slant towards the Orioles specifically, and Maryland-area sports generally.[4] Fisher alleges that the Orioles are using MASN to discourage the growth of the Nationals fanbase and to maintain Orioles dominance of the greater Baltimore-Washington area. MASN has dismissed these claims, arguing that the viability of the network depends on the success of both franchises.
Fans also pointed out that during the first Beltway Series of the 2007 season, the graphic MASN used showing the score in the upper part of the screen read "O's and WSH." Since some hometown stations use a unique abbreviation for their team in the bar score/time graphic (in this case, "O's", Sportsnet New York using "METS" instead of "NYM" or WGN using "CUBS" or "SOX" for the Chicago Cubs or Chicago White Sox as other examples), this might be considered a display of bias.[5]
MASN's Orioles broadcasters
MASN announced that ESPN veteran Gary Thorne would team with Orioles Hall of Famer Jim Palmer and Buck Martinez to form the primary team for MASN Orioles coverage, with Orioles radio broadcaster Jim Hunter cohosting pre-game and post-game coverage along with former O's player and coach - and 1983 World Series MVP - Rick Dempsey. Both Hunter and Dempsey would also fill in on the broadcast team whenever called upon. Former WBFF sports reporter and current MASN broadcaster Amber Theoharis would handle sideline reporting chores.
MASN's Nationals broadcasters
Bob Carpenter and Hall of Fame pitcher Don Sutton handle broadcasting duties for Nationals games, with former NESN and ESPN reporter Debbi Taylor as sideline reporter. WTOP Radio sportscaster Byron Kerr serves as the fill-in sideline reporter. The "Voice of the Terps" Johnny Holliday and 1986 World Series MVP Ray Knight host the pre-game and post-game shows, Nats Xtra. Kerr and Don Baylor also serve as fill-in hosts for Nats Xtra.
Watching MASN
MASN is currently carried on DirecTV national DBS system, Dish Network, Cox, RCN, Comcast Corporation and Charter cable systems as well as Verizon's FiOS TV in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. The network also carried regionally by Antietam, Armstrong, Atlantic BroadBand, Clearview, Easton, Harron, Millennium, and OpenBand.
Because the network offers 323 live baseball games, a second channel, MASN2 is available when both the O's and Nats play simultaneously. For a complete listing of channel positions, visit MASN's website.
As with all Major League Baseball broadcasts, MASN-produced games are available at http://www.mlb.tv for out-of-market viewers, with local viewers able to watch highlights a certain amount of time after the games finish.
MASN produces the local over-the-air television broadcast of games of the Nationals for broadcast on Washington's MY20 (WDCA), and of the Orioles for broadcast on WJZ 13 (WJZ-TV). These games are shown on MASN itself outside the local markets.
They also announced that they will broadcast at least 25 college football and 150 college basketball games during the 2006-2007 season.[6]
Historical timeline
Starting July 31, 2006, MASN has been on air round-the-clock for 24 hours every day.
On August 2, they announced that they were expanding their programming to include Baltimore Ravens' pre-season games and Ravens produced programing. MASN marketed itself as the "official network" of the Ravens.
On August 5, 2006, it was announced via official MASN press release, that MASN reached an agreement with Comcast, the primary cable provider in the region.
On April 6, 2007, MASN and MASN2 were added to DISH Network
MASN does not broadcast any of its games in High-Definition, making the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals two of only three teams in Major League Baseball that do not allow their fans the option of watching games in High-Definition. (The third team being the Kansas City Royals).[1] Due to blackout restrictions, when games are broadcast via ESPN or Fox Sports in HD, they are not available for viewing by the Baltimore-Washington market making it impossible for Orioles and Nationals fans to watch their home teams in a high-definition format. In October 2007, the network announced plans to televise some games in HD for the 2008 baseball season contingent on the HD version of the channels be carried by the major cable and satellite providers. [2]
External links
References
- ^ Frager, Ray (2007-10-05). O's, and their flaws, could show up in high-def in '08. Baltimore Sun. Retrieved on 2007-10-07.
- ^ Frager, Ray (2007-10-05). O's, and their flaws, could show up in high-def in '08. Baltimore Sun. Retrieved on 2007-10-07.
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