MASN is dead

[IanRubbish]

The Nats have an equity stake in MASN, they own about a quarter of the network.

Which is completely worthless. 

It's not 2006 anymore.  Once people started cord cutting, most of these RSNs couldn't cover their overhead, so baseball is turning to MLB.tv and ESPN who can. The O's, Nats, and pretty much any team outside the Yankees/Cubs/Red Sox/Dodgers will be better off getting a share of revenue and ads without the infrastructure costs of setting up TV distribution.  Sure I'll miss the cheap MASN backgrounds and 1990s high school AV production quality, but either team would be better off investing in Jim Palmer's plastic surgeon than putting more money into this RSN.

[HalfSmokes]

Here's a question I'd like to get answered. The Nats have an equity stake in MASN, they own about a quarter of the network. If they switch to another network I assume they still get a quarter of the profits. Sure MASN could increase the rights fees in order to lower profits, but teams pay 31% revenue sharing of rights fees to MLB. Would the Os rather give the Nats ~25% of their profits or MLB 31% of their rights fees?

MASN is going to be very profitable this year until carriers start renegotiating based on them having one team instead of two

[1995hoo]

And the Nats have left MASN. (Washington Post, may be paywalled.)

Here's the link to the team's announcement.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

 

[nfotiu]

https://www.mlb.com/nationals/schedule/programming

is the link from the tweet.

There was a lot of conflicting reporting about whether this would be on the ESPN app this year.   They confirm it is the mlb.tv app for 2026 and I guess ESPN the following year.  So at least it is a good streaming app.   

I guess there will be a nationals.tv channel on some cable and sat providers, and maybe Fubo?

[nfotiu]

MASN is going to be very profitable this year until carriers start renegotiating based on them having one team instead of two

I would guess that losing a team would be some kind of material breach of contract that would dissolve the current agreements.   It also seems unlikely and messy that the Nats would keep their equity stake after leaving MASN.   

I would guess MASN rights fees would be renegotiated to about half of what they were for this season, and the Nats are hoping that some of that money will go towards carrying their Nationals.tv channel.   Althernatively, the cable/sat cos just use this to walk away from both teams.   

[1995hoo]

I would guess that losing a team would be some kind of material breach of contract that would dissolve the current agreements.  It also seems unlikely and messy that the Nats would keep their equity stake after leaving MASN.   

I would guess MASN rights fees would be renegotiated to about half of what they were for this season, and the Nats are hoping that some of that money will go towards carrying their Nationals.tv channel.   Althernatively, the cable/sat cos just use this to walk away from both teams.   

Regarding the boldfaced, the Washington Post article linked in Reply #127 says they surrendered their equity stake in MASN as part of the settlement to get their TV rights back.

[HalfSmokes]

I would guess that losing a team would be some kind of material breach of contract that would dissolve the current agreements.   It also seems unlikely and messy that the Nats would keep their equity stake after leaving MASN.   

I would guess MASN rights fees would be renegotiated to about half of what they were for this season, and the Nats are hoping that some of that money will go towards carrying their Nationals.tv channel.   Althernatively, the cable/sat cos just use this to walk away from both teams.   

I would assume that every carrier outside of the state of Maryland uses this as an excuse to drop them

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Fwiw, got a blast email from the Nats today announcing Nationals.TV as their streaming and cable service. The cable side is mostly TBA, with carriers and channels still open.

[imref]

Zuckerman on x & bluesky:

Wanted to take a moment to say thanks to everyone who has reached out regarding today's announcement. It's so very much appreciated. I'll continue covering the Nationals for MASN until the end of the month, at which point my employment with the network ends.

Everyone at MASN has been incredibly good to me over the last 10 years, and especially the last few weeks as this all came together. There are lots of other people impacted by this news, and I sincerely hope they all emerge in a good place (whether still with the network or not).

In the meantime, I'm still doing the @natschatpodcast.bsky.social podcast with Al Galdi and Tim Shovers (they're recording a new episode today). And when the dust settles, my intention/hope is to continue covering the Nationals in one form or another this year and for many years to come!

[The Chief]

Zuckerman on x & bluesky:

Oh damn, I didn't even think about that.  Bummer

[imref]

Oh damn, I didn't even think about that.  Bummer

Bobby Blanco is the other guy there covering the Nats. I assume he's in a similar boat.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

I don’t know if the Nats will try to pump out extra content as part of their new set up.

[machpost]

I don’t know if the Nats will try to pump out extra content as part of their new set up.

I've been looking around to see what the other six teams fill the rest of their airtime with on cable and satellite, and from what I can tell, all they get are a 15 minute pre-game and 15 minute post-game show. I don't think they even re-air the previous day's game.

[imref]

I've been looking around to see what the other six teams fill the rest of their airtime with on cable and satellite, and from what I can tell, all they get are a 15 minute pre-game and 15 minute post-game show. I don't think they even re-air the previous day's game.

Do any other also operate a team news/info site like MASN does? I don't see that Monumental has anything like that.

[machpost]

Do any other also operate a team news/info site like MASN does? I don't see that Monumental has anything like that.

Not that I know of.

[imref]

Orioles have announced that MASN will broadcast 20 spring training games this year. What a change from past years.

[aspenbubba]

No article from Zuck today. Is he on strike or is that the end of the relationship wurh MASN?

[HalfSmokes]

I doubt MASN wants anything to do with the Nats now. Unless he can pivot to the Os, I’d assume he’s looking for a new employer

[PowerBoater69]

In his last action as a MASN employee Mark Zuckerman voted against Gio, Howie, and Murph getting into the HOF. They weren't going to make it, but not even a pity vote from the local guy.

[imref]

MASN is still showing Nats classics.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

MASN is still showing Nats classics.

they probably own the footage and may have sold ads for it.

[imref]

They showed the 2019 game vs Philly yesterday that clinched us a WC birth. Probably just going to taunt us from now on with reruns.

[imref]

Noticed that MASN was airing a Nats classic game last night. I assume the Nats would have to buy the archive rights from MASN to have access to past games/video.

[machpost]

It looks like the complimentary subscription to the out of market MLB.tv service will once again be provided to season plan holders this year, along with 50% off in market Nationals.tv.