MASN's role in broadcasting both Orioles and Nationals games "requires two sets of announcers, two leased production trucks (they would cost up to $10 million apiece to buy) and a balancing act to satisfy fan bases for teams that are business partners, on-field rivals and, lately, adversaries in a legal dispute over TV rights fees," according to Jeff Barker of the Baltimore SUN. The Orioles own 84% of the RSN and the Nationals own 16% -- "but MASN otherwise strives for balance." Each team "will appear 91 times this season" on primary channel MASN, while the rest of the games -- excluding national telecasts -- "will be shown" on MASN2. The broadcast staffs for both clubs "seem to exist in parallel universes, rarely meeting." Nationals play-by-play announcer Bob Carpenter: "We only really see all the MASN folks those two or three days a year when we go up and play the Orioles. My personal hope is the Nationals and the Orioles work all this out." Barker notes Orioles and Nationals games "are watched by nearly identical numbers of fans in their home markets." MASN Senior VP & General Sales Manager John McGuinness said that the RSN "sold out the first two weeks of this season" for both clubs. Despite audience gains, MASN acknowledges that it "fights a lingering perception among some Washingtonians that it is a Baltimore-focused venture" of the Orioles and Owner Peter Angelos. Analysts and fans say that if MASN "has made strides in Washington, it is because of the improved quality of the broadcasts." For years, when the two teams played each other, Orioles and Nationals announcers "shared the broadcast booth." That "changed last year" and the RSN now "stages two separate broadcasts when the teams meet" (Baltimore SUN, 4/19).
