MASN is dead

[PowerBoater69]

I'm wondering when the MASNNationals Twitter account goes dormant. Will they leave the account there as an archive or delete it? Do they have college basketball contracts to keep them going or do they drop from the cable line-ups? Do the Nats take ownership of the rights for the archive of games?

Hopefully Zuckerman gets picked up by another local sports outlet.

The first game in Philly back in 2005 both Comcast and MASN showed up and tried to broadcast the game, but MASN won out. Then MASN didn't bother to cover the second game, when Wilkerson hit for the cycle and the Nats got their first ever win. The bigger insult was the giant MASN trailer that they parked next to the RFK box office with the Orioles logo on the side, facing the stadium so that fans coming in through the tunnel from lot 8 would see it.

The Lerners finally got their money, after losing out in years of legal fees and lost interest earnings.

Good riddance.

[imref]

Not dead yet - there was a report a few weeks ago that MASN is still trying to work something out to retain the nationals' rights.

[PowerBoater69]

Not dead yet - there was a report a few weeks ago that MASN is still trying to work something out to retain the nationals' rights.

I'm thinking that it will be MLBTV.

[imref]

I'm thinking that it will be MLBTV.

we'll see.

https://www.si.com/mlb/nationals/news/washington-nationals-tv-partner-remains-interested-in-rights-past-this-season

[nfotiu]

I'm thinking that it will be MLBTV.

MLB.tv is dead. 6 teams are going to ESPN.  But nats and os aren’t listed.  They’ll probably run out the mason revenue until 2028.  A lot more momey in that then espn.  Although the mariners decided roots wasn’t worth it anymore.

[Slateman]

I expect the Nats to stay with MASN until the new CBA is settled

[HondoKillebrew]

MLB.tv is dead. 6 teams are going to ESPN.  But nats and os aren’t listed.  They’ll probably run out the mason revenue until 2028.  A lot more momey in that then espn.  Although the mariners decided roots wasn’t worth it anymore.

How will that work?  Will the games of those six teams all be part of the ESPN+ package or be a separate add-on?

[PowerBoater69]

As much as it pains me to use Loverro as a source:

Informed speculation has been that MLB will want a quid pro quo for finally getting Washington out of MASN. That likely means the Nationals joining Manfred’s group of teams with television rights distributed by MLB.

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/sep/24/loverro-ted-leonsis-bid-nationals-hurdles-woeful-wizards/

[HalfSmokes]

As much as it pains me to use Loverro as a source:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/sep/24/loverro-ted-leonsis-bid-nationals-hurdles-woeful-wizards/

Good.

[imref]

As much as it pains me to use Loverro as a source:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/sep/24/loverro-ted-leonsis-bid-nationals-hurdles-woeful-wizards/

Makes sense. There can't more than 10k or so people watching Nats broadcasts right now.

[nfotiu]

As much as it pains me to use Loverro as a source:

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/sep/24/loverro-ted-leonsis-bid-nationals-hurdles-woeful-wizards/

I don't know about "informed speculation" as a source.   The math doesn't make sense right now.   There was a time when the Ballys-Fan Duel RSNs looked like they were going to fold, that there was a critical mass of rights to pool into an attractive package.  That didn't happen, and now that it is just 6-7 teams, Manfred seems to have punted to 2028 for trying to put an attractive package of local rights out to bid.

There is more money in MASN for the next couple years than going with the MLB ESPN thing.   MASN is still in the 100-150 million range of revenue for the next couple years if they let it play out, and I'm sure Nats could work out keeping half of that to stick around.   It's unlikely MLB is paying more than 20 million/year.

It doesn't materially matter though.  In Nats stick with MASN, it will be my name only and  they'll be running the Nats side of things.   If they go to whatever the MLB/ESPN agreement is, it will be the Nats running the show too.   They'd probably disappear from or at least by an expensive add on to Comcast/Fios/Fubo though if they go that route.  I'm not sure that's a win for fans or the Nats. 

It is a win for Comcast/FIOS subscribers who pay for MASN and don't watch their games though if they actually reduce their price by dropping the channel. 

[HalfSmokes]

As a YouTube tv subscriber , I’m hoping for ESPN but I doubt it happens if there is more money elsewhere

[nats2playoffs]

MASN or MASN-2 has been airing VSIN By the Books at 7 am to 10 am, repeats 11 am to 2 pm. The excellent Follow the Money airs 4 pm to 7 pm (when they don't preempt if for baseball or reruns of baseball games). Saturday and Sunday mornings have long VSIN shows.
 
These VSIN shows are sports betting shows for most sports. I hope that they remain on a general cable package somewhere.
 
I didn't know until I read this thread that the MASN situation was ending. What happened?
 

[JCA-CrystalCity]

They cut a deal to return the broadcast rights to the Nats.
https://www.wnff.net/index.php?topic=41861.0

IDK if that wiped out some of the money owed or whether it was to clean up future MASN obligations.

[HalfSmokes]

YouTube tv is dropping monumental. No more local sports for subscribers

[varoadking]

YouTube tv is dropping monumental. No more local sports for subscribers

Maybe Zack will stop his nagging and look to actually do something about their product...

That kid really irritates me...

[HalfSmokes]

Hulu too. Old school cable or no Wizards/caps for local fans unless you pay for his crappy app. This is not what I want for the nats

[nfotiu]

Hulu too. Old school cable or no Wizards/caps for local fans unless you pay for his crappy app. This is not what I want for the nats

Fubo seems to be the one streamer that keeps the RSNs, but they are expensive because of it.

Since MASN was one of the RSNs that allowed itself on MLB.TV for the in market price, I think it's safe to assume they'll be available to watch on ESPN Unlimited/Select as a $20ish/month add on. 

 It seems like there are a lot of moving parts, but best bet is that Nats stay on MASN, and they fully control their own programming.   The choice will be to watch through Comcast/FIOS/Fubo/etc or as a $20 add on to ESPN select/unlimited (which you get by subscribing to ESPN or something like a Directv my sports genre pack.  They may not even bother maintaining their own standalone app if they're available on ESPN's app for the same price.

I wonder if these latest developments will finally clue in Leonsis to the fact that RSNs are dead with no future, and he'll realize the folly of buying the Nats to rule the DMV RSN landscape.

[imref]

FWIW, MASN finally updated their mobile app in September so that if you switch to a different app, it floats live video in its own window.

[PowerBoater69]

FWIW, MASN finally updated their mobile app in September so that if you switch to a different app, it floats live video in its own window.

Interesting. I let my MASN subscription expire in mid-September because the app was just too buggy, but then a funny thing happened, I was locked out of the mobile app but still able to access the app on my Fire Stick for free. So I didn't see the app upgrades. I want MASN dead for the 20 years of crap, but seeing what is happening with Leonsis and his network maybe MASN is the lesser of the evils. I'm counting on MLB TV coming in.

[Smithian]

I don't mind MASN. It's a trash channel aside from Nationals and Orioles, but I find the broadcasts themselves fine. I like Frandsen. I just wanted the Nationals to pick the best option for them, not what a long ago agreement forced upon them. If we stay with MASN, it's because it's the best option, so not too concerned whatever happens here.

[machpost]

I don't mind MASN. It's a trash channel aside from Nationals and Orioles, but I find the broadcasts themselves fine. I like Frandsen. I just wanted the Nationals to pick the best option for them, not what a long ago agreement forced upon them. If we stay with MASN, it's because it's the best option, so not too concerned whatever happens here.

Kolko doing PBP drives me nuts but otherwise they put together a competent broadcast. Since they switched to HD, picture quality has been about as good as any other team, presumably because they're contracting that part out to the same production trucks that are used for most other teams, and I'm sure that MLB mandates that a certain level of quality is maintained. That said, we do see dropouts with the "Technical Difficulties, Please Stand By" type of message far more often on MASN than with any other broadcast outlet in 2025, and the effort they put into pre- and post-game shows is pathetic. Years ago they used to carry some interesting syndicated programming when they weren't broadcasting games, but these days aside from college basketball, everything else on those channels is 100% valueless filler. I'm not sure they really need to be on full time.

[welch]

MASN is not quite dead, yet.

[Smithian]

I agree Kolko is not a good PBP fit. Good on pre- and post-game, probably could do color well, but I’d rather a new person to replace Carpenter full time in that role.

[blue911]

I agree Kolko is not a good PBP fit. Good on pre- and post-game, probably could do color well, but I’d rather a new person to replace Carpenter full time in that role.

Dave Jageler.