Want to see Strasburg pitch? It’s on satellite
Gerald Witt
Greensboro News-Record
GREENSBORO — Some arm on that Washington Nationals rookie Stephen Strasburg, huh?
Too bad no Time Warner cable subscriber around here will see him on their home TV for the pitcher’s second major-league start Sunday.
The cable provider and MASN, the network airing Nationals games, are in a dispute. And that means those with Time Warner Cable in the Triad must instead find the game on satellite broadcasts. According to Major League Baseball, Greensboro is in the Nationals broadcast/blackout area, so no other channels in the area can carry Strasburg’s expected Sunday start against the Cleveland Indians.
Around here, the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network carries all broadcast rights for Nationals games. Strasburg’s debut Tuesday on the MLB Network was blacked out. No other Nationals broadcasts will air in this market on Time Warner until an agreement is reached.
The crux of the argument between MASN and Time Warner:
• Time Warner argues that the North Carolinians are not passionate enough about MASN’s programming to put it on basic cable, and would stick the network on a premium sports tier.
• MASN wants to be offered on the basic cable, just like Fox Sports Carolinas.
Neither side has reached an agreement after more than a year in negotiations and stalemates, even after members of the state’s congressional delegation wrote the FCC to make a ruling. The letter’s authors included Sens. Richard Burr and Kay Hagan and Rep. Howard Coble.
Neither corporation will back down from their respective stance.
“It’s local programming,” MASN spokesman Todd Webster said about the channel’s broadcasts, which include the Nationals, Baltimore Orioles and some coverage of East Carolina, Appalachian State and UNC-Wilmington athletics .
“It’s with the FCC right now, for them to decide,” said Scott Pryzwansky, Time Warner’s spokesman. “We have always been willing to carry them on the digital sports tier.”
Either way, it’s baseball fans that stand to lose this weekend.
Unless they call up some buddies to hit a sports bar for chicken wings and satellite television.
