In a battle that’s been brewing for months, Regional Sports Network MASN has won an arbitrator’s ruling stating that Time Warner Cable discriminated against the channel by putting it on a digital sports tier. MASN which broadcasts Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals games along with an extensive college basketball schedule has been fighting to get carried in North Carolina, however, Time Warner placed MASN on its digital sports tier saying that’s where it belonged. At the same time, Time Warner contended its own channel, News 14 Carolina was an RSN because it carried Charlotte Bobcats games and was in the midst of getting other sports properties.
MASN has been fighting battles since its inception after Comcast tried to keep it off its systems in DC and Baltimore, but MASN won that battle last year.
John Eggerton of Broadcasting & Cable writes that the arbitrator felt Time Warner deliberately discriminated against MASN in favor of its own channel.
Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball website has more on this. The Business Journal of the Greater Triad Area reports that the arbitrator ruled that the actions by Time Warner Cable violated FCC rules on denying programming to protect its own interests.
Roger Van Der Horst of the Raleigh News & Observer writes that Time Warner plans to appeal the ruling while MASN hopes that this leads to Nationals and Orioles games being seen in North Carolina.
Tim Lemke of the Washington Times reports that the NFL is watching the ruling closely to see how this affects the NFL Network and its cable dispute.
And Ted Hearn of Multichannel News writes that the ruling could affect 1.5 million cable subscribers in the Tobacco State.
It’s a big win for MASN and while Time Warner is appealing, it’s very rare for an arbitrator’s ruling to be overturned. We’ll keep on eye on this story.
