MASN-TWC Dispute In N.C. Could Lead To Time Limit on TV Deals

MASN-Time Warner Dispute Could Lead To MLB Imposing Time Limit On TV Deals

MLB VP/PR Pat Courtney said that MLB team owners "might consider a limit on how long teams would be given to negotiate television deals in so-called outlying areas before losing the exclusive TV rights to those territories," according to Roger Van Der Horst of the Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER. Courtney: "There's a fundamental issue when people want to watch your product and aren't able to get it." Van Der Horst noted MLB fans in North Carolina are "supposed to be able to watch the Orioles and Nationals" on MASN, but the net has been "unable to cut a deal with Time Warner Cable that would put" the net on basic cable. TWC has "offered to put the network on a digital sports tier," which costs subs an extra $3.50 a month. MASN spokesperson Todd Webster "insisted that any agreement by the [MLB] owners wouldn't apply" to the net, as a result of the settlement that allowed the Expos to move to DC in '05. Orioles Owner Peter Angelos, as part of the deal, received "about 90[%] ownership" of the net, with the other 10% going to the Nationals. Webster said that MASN, in its dispute with TWC, "believes it's 'on the side of the angels.'" Webster "continues to point to an arbitrator's January ruling that [TWC] had discriminated against MASN by not offering to put it on basic cable" (Raleigh NEWS & OBSERVER, 5/14).