Strasburg interest could benefit fans
Luke Decock
Stephen Strasburg has done so much in his young career of only two major league starts. He has won twice, struck out 14 in his debut, tickled triple-digits on the radar gun, sent his hat to the Hall of Fame and single-handedly created interest in an otherwise moribund franchise.
The Washington Nationals pitcher may only be scratching the surface. When he isn't appearing on the Late Show with David Letterman or on the cover of Sports Illustrated, he may have the power to break a three-year stalemate and get MASN on Time Warner Cable.
Interest in Strasburg - who has, if anything, been even better than expected, and so much was expected - is so high that it may generate enough angry reaction among Time Warner customers here to get the cable giant to budge.
Finally.
His debut set ratings records on both MASN and the MLB Network, but Time Warner customers in the Triangle didn't contribute to that viewership. They cannot watch, even when the rest of the country can, because MASN holds the rights to Nationals games here.
The sports network has checked all of the legal boxes in its battle with Time Warner, which is why Time Warner's final appeal rests with the Federal Communications Commission, and has for more than a year. That delay was a point of inquiry when FCC commissioner Julius Genachowski testified before a House committee last week.
Genachowski essentially dodged the question, prompting chairman Jose Serrano, a New York Democrat, to encourage the FCC to act quickly, "especially with this kid in Washington that keeps striking people out, OK?"
To recap: MASN, which has the rights to carry the Nationals and Baltimore Orioles here, wants a channel slot on basic cable. Time Warner doesn't want to give it one, but is also subject to an agreement with the government that guarantees access for regional sports networks.
MASN is by definition local to this market, as the sole Major League Baseball rights-holder, but it's still essentially a Washington-Baltimore network. Yes, this has been an Orioles territory for years, but the Triangle is hardly a united front when it comes to baseball. There are as many fans of other teams as there are fans of the Orioles (or Braves).
MASN has tried to address that, adding East Carolina and UNC-Wilmington to its portfolio to push the "local" angle in North Carolina. Interest in Strasburg, who has the nastiest stuff of any young pitcher since Kerry Wood and could be the biggest ballpark draw since Barry Bonds, could change that dynamic.
We saw only a few of Strasburg's debut pitches before the MLB Network feed was belatedly switched to an alternate game. TBS picked up his second start, but because it was also available on MASN, it was not available here. (The same will be true again with the MLB Network tonight.)
The only way to circumvent the blackout would be a national Nationals game on ESPN or Fox. At this point, there are none on the schedule, but that may change: Interest in Strasburg is stratospheric. For most of his starts - for the rest of his immediate career - MASN will be the only way to watch.
The FCC has been deliberating - or dilly-dallying - for more than a year. Maybe Straspower can fix the situation a little more quickly.
