MASN yesterday in Manhattan gained a preliminary injunction against MLB and the Nationals from the New York State Supreme Court, representing another significant legal victory for the Orioles-controlled RSN in its ongoing media rights battle with the Nationals. The injunction extends a temporary restraining order MASN gained on Aug. 7, prevents an internal MLB arbitration award in the matter favoring the Nationals from taking effect and is believed to represent the first time ever in baseball history the league has been legally enjoined by an entity of one of its own member clubs.
Judge Lawrence Marks also barred the Nationals from threatening to terminate MASN's license to broadcast its games if they don't get money owed under the contested ruling from MLB's Revenue Sharing Definitions Committee. The three-owner panel in June ruled to elevate the Nationals' annual local rights fees from about $41M annually to $60M. MASN argues that decision was reached through a faulty process, and successfully argued to the court that the Nationals' threats to terminate its broadcast license rendered a serious threat to the RSN's viability. And with the injunction, that award is barred for now from happening.
