The Federal Communications Commission has denied an appeal by Time Warner Cable and ordered the cable television company to begin carrying the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network on a basic analog tier within 30 days.
Or, "in time for college basketball season," MASN spokesman Todd Webster says.
But TWC isn't giving up in its long dispute with MASN. The company issued a one-sentence response when informed of the FCC's Media Bureau's decision: "We disagree with the Media Bureau's decision and plan to appeal to the full commission."
MASN carries Major League Baseball's Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals, as well as college football, basketball and other sports. Under MLB's territorial rights map, the Triangle is Orioles and Nationals territory, so during the course of this dispute, cable customers have been unable to watch those games.
But Time Warner has argued that teams so far away from this market would not interest all of its huge basic cable audience and that MASN thus should be made available to subscribers willing to pay extra for a digital sports tier.
Two arbitrators have ruled that Time Warner Cable has discriminated against MASN, an independent regional sports network, and TWC had filed a "petition for review" with the FCC. FCC Media Bureau Chief Monica Shah Desai's denial came today.
Comments
I do not support the
Sun, 07/05/2009 - 02:08 — robertjohn47I do not support the decision of FCC. I’m not going to pay for something I don’t like.
cable television on computer
Discrimination
Wed, 11/05/2008 - 16:50 — Nats fan (not verified)The decision was made by the FCC only because Time Warner discriminated based on the way they treat other regional sports networks, which are all carried on basic cable. While MASN is expensive, so are FS South and SportSouth. TW has a financial interest in SportSouth, and TW recently made an arena naming rights in exchange for handing over Bobcats rights to FSS. TW also competes directly with MASN for college sports rights. The only reason they had to go to arbitration in the first place is because TW and Comcast agreed to the condition when they bought Adelphia. Now they don't like that provision since the result is not going in their favor. The entire FCC order has been made public, and it can be seen at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-08-2441A1.pdf If you read it, you can see how TWC lost miserably on every point.
Its a poor decision by the
Sun, 11/02/2008 - 23:39 — GDub (not verified)Its a poor decision by the FCC for consumers.
Let the market decide. If you want to watch ECU football, Orioles baseball, or any of the other garbage that is on this channel, you should have the option of paying for it. TWC has given fans the option.
What you really want is for everyone in the area to pay for your silly hobby. I don't really care if you miss a Panthers game, a Pirates game, or an Orioles game. I frankly have no interest in paying for your stupid channel, and neither do lots of others. Who's looking out for our interests?
I'm tires of cable. With
Sun, 11/02/2008 - 08:24 — Anonymous (not verified)I'm tires of cable. With cable rates going up in Jan, I'm making the switch. Why cable have 5 home shopping networks on basic and standard and then a few more on digital, but can't put MASN and NFL on cable? It's clearly what customers want! Why can't cable give us more of an a la carte option where we can pick a 20 package or 30 package for a certain rate. Even if it's what I pay now for 200 where I don't watch 150 ever.
The NFL network is a whole different can of worms.
Sat, 11/01/2008 - 10:09 — UNCAlumnusLuckily, I'm a college football fan first. I think Congress is going to take the NFL to task for availability of games. That might all change sooner rather than later.
Mid Atlantic Sports Network
Thu, 10/30/2008 - 20:34 — BlueDevils0809 (not verified)You would think that they should carry the NFL network instead. I was furious when I missed that Panthers game last year because of TWC!
Is ECU commonly on MASN?
Thu, 10/30/2008 - 19:27 — UNCAlumnusIs that for football or basketball. You'd think TWC would agree to carrying the channel quickly if the case is that ECU is on the channel with regularity. I would think they have a broad fan base in eastern NC. How far east is TWC the cable provider? Just wondering.
well it's no wonder
Thu, 10/30/2008 - 19:13 — esteban1949TWC's rates keep going up every year...heck, as of the first of the year...I am switching to sat service...it will be cheaper for me and my family in the long run...now to find a subtitue for the overpriced broadband service... Go Canes !!
Mid Atlantic Sports Network
Thu, 10/30/2008 - 19:01 — Ed Burkett (not verified)It's about time the FCC got firm with Time Warner Cable about this problem. This is a great day for ECU Pirates fans!!!!