FOXSPORTS.com's Ken Rosenthal cited sources as saying that a panel of baseball officials will decide what the Orioles and Nationals "could not resolve in negotiations -- the annual rights fee that the Nationals will receive from MASN." The matter "went to arbitration after talks between the Orioles and Nationals sputtered." Sources said that there is "no known deadline for a decision, but the panel is meeting regularly due to the urgency of the situation." Sources also said that the panel's decision "will be binding, and could double or even triple" the reported $29M annually the Nationals currently receive. According to the agreement that created MASN, the fee is "re-set to market rates every five years." However, the teams "disagree over what the new terms should be" (FOXSPORTS.com, 4/18).
ANGEL EYES: In California, Jim Carlisle reports AT&T U-Verse and Dish Network are "declining to carry 25 of the 150 Angels games televised by Fox Sports West this season because of the additional cost they're being charged to do so." The last two seasons, FS West has shown 125 Angels games and 25 more were on KCOP-MYT. This season, KCOP was "taken out of the loop and all 150 went" to FS West. Fox Sports "made those games available to all cable companies and satellite providers, but charged them an additional fee for them" (VENTURA COUNTY STAR, 4/20).
BLUE MAN GROUP: In St. Louis, Dan Caesar notes for just the "third time since Fox Sports Midwest began televising Blues and Cardinals games in 1997, it will move baseball to a secondary outlet and place hockey on its main channel." Saturday's Cardinals-Pirates game will be on FS Midwest Plus, "which is used for spillover programming when FSM has rights to two games airing simultaneously," while Game Five of the Sharks-Blues Western Conference Quarterfinal series will be on FS Midwest. While the Cardinals "consistently do much better in the ratings than the Blues, postseason hockey has been drawing record numbers this spring for FSM." FS Midwest GM Jack Donovan said that "the difference in magnitude of the games is the underlying reason for the decision on where to place the telecasts" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 4/20).
