We respectfully disagree with the arbitrator's decision and will be appealing it. There is simply no basis to conclude that Time Warner Cable's decision not to provide broad distribution of a Regional Sports Network that features teams from Baltimore and Washington, D.C. on its systems in North Carolina was in any way improper. Rather, it reflected our editorial and business judgment that a service featuring distant teams was of little interest to the great majority of our customers in North Carolina, and that the bulk of our customers shouldn't be forced to absorb the costs of programming that is of interest only to a few. We also believe it is inappropriate for government to intervene in private carriage decisions.
Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) FAQ
Here are some frequently asked questions about the negotiations to bring Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) to Time Warner Cable customers in North Carolina.
Why doesn’t TWC carry MASN and the Orioles and Nationals baseball games?
MASN is saying we are ‘blacking out’ these games: That’s simply not true. Without a carriage agreement, we don’t have the legal right to air these games. MASN’s programming mainly focuses on Orioles and Nationals games from Baltimore and Washington, D.C. We have tried to negotiate with MASN for carriage on a digital tier, but MASN has insisted on carriage on our basic tier, which would result in all of our customers having to pay for a service.
MASN says they want to offer the service for free.
MASN knows that high wholesale fees must get passed through in retail rates to our customers.
Why is MASN pushing so hard to get Orioles and Nationals games in North Carolina? I’d much rather see Braves games!
Major League Baseball designates almost all areas of the country to be the territory for at least one of its teams in order to try and maximize its revenues, even when there is no local team or significant interest in those teams by local viewers. We are designated as an Orioles and Nationals market.
We used to get the games on cable that MASN is trying to carry now. What happened to those games in the first place?
From 1981 to 2006, Orioles games were televised in North Carolina by two networks, one being Fox Sports Net. When MASN pulled the rights to these games from Fox Sports Net in 2006, we received virtually no calls from customers.
MASN says they will air local college games too, so why not carry them?
MASN is emphasizing its carriage of college sports but in reality will carry only a handful of local games. Out of the 150 NCAA basketball games that MASN carried last year, its program schedule says only 5 involved North Carolina teams. Of the 14 lacrosse games that aired in 2007, only 2 involved North Carolina teams.
Why are other cable operators carrying MASN and TWC is not?
Other cable operators who have agreed to carry MASN operate in states like Maryland and Virginia, where a much larger portion of their subscriber base is interested in watching Orioles and Nationals games.
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