HHP: MASN/Nats/Orioles case (Inside the Courtroom)

[Chavez Ravine]

The O's-MLB/Nats dispute might end up being like a Balkan war that outlives the geo-political landscape that created it. Still, I think the cable companies see the writing on the wall. Why do they exist if MLB/NFL/HBO/ etc. can just as easily sell direct?

[weams]

The O's-MLB/Nats dispute might end up being like a Balkan war that outlives the geo-political landscape that created it. Still, I think the cable companies see the writing on the wall. Why do they exist if MLB/NFL/HBO/ etc. can just as easily sell direct?

Isn't it interesting?

[OFFNY]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/raissman-comcast-takes-shot-yankees-dispute-article-1.2442590

There are no Nets games in Brewster now, and there will be no Yankee games in Brewster next year if the dispute stays as is.

Oh, well. I'll live.

[weams]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs-bz-masn-court-20151211-story.html

The Orioles-controlled television network on Friday asked a New York appeals court to order that the network's TV rights dispute with the Washington Nationals be heard by a "neutral and independent forum."

Last month, a New York Supreme Court justice tossed out a Major League Baseball arbitration decision that would have compelled the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network to pay tens of millions of dollars a year more to the Nationals for the right to show their games.

Concluding that MASN was denied a fair hearing, Justice Lawrence K. Marks vacated the decision and suggested the parties settle the matter through a "neutral dispute resolution process."

But Marks said he lacked authority to order the parties to arbitration, leaving open the possibility that the case could be heard again by Major League Baseball.

That is the point on which MASN lawyers filed a limited appeal to the court's appelate division.

[sportsfan8703]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs-bz-masn-court-20151211-story.html

Nobody beats the O's in Arbitration.

[2010BUCK26]

This entire thing has always confused me. From the outside and with very little information it seems like the Orioles are getting screwed.

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[Orioles4Life21]

I don't even try to understand this stuff

[TonySoprano]

Nobody beats the O's in Arbitration.

[Hallas]

The O's-MLB/Nats dispute might end up being like a Balkan war that outlives the geo-political landscape that created it. Still, I think the cable companies see the writing on the wall. Why do they exist if MLB/NFL/HBO/ etc. can just as easily sell direct?

That assumes that the production of live sports telecasts has no value. Also I believe the teams retain some rights to broadcast their own games. So MLB can't just swoop in and re-distribute their telecast over the Internet.

At some point the market will shift to enough of a degree that teams are negotiating carriage fees for Internet viewing as well as cable delivery.

[weams]

Is this being resolved right now?

[Going Underground]

I did not know where to put this but CBS wants to sell its radio stations. The Orioles flagship is on a CBS owned station. Be interesting to see if and when the contract runs out they go back to WBAL.

CBS said that revenue in its radio group was down 5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015, because of ?continued softness in the radio advertising marketplace and lower political advertising.?

CBS also reported an impairment charge of $484 million last year to reduce the value of F.C.C. radio licenses.

Revenue in the company?s local broadcasting group, which also includes its TV stations, totaled $719 million in the fourth quarter of 2015, down 9 percent from $785 million during the same period the previous year.

CBS executives said that pursuing a sale of its radio holdings would help the company to shift its business away from the less-predictable advertising sales to the more-predictable revenue sources, such as subscription fees.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/16/business/media/cbs-looks-to-exit-radio-business.html?_r=0

[Frobby]

Is this being resolved right now?

There is supposed to be a mediation today and tomorrow, but it's unclear whether the parties are only going to mediate procedural issues relating to the timing of events in the court case, or whether the mediation will get into the merits of the dispute as well. Here's my post from another thread:

The Court's latest order can be found here: https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nys...Xe8lOY2SfTGA== The gist is that the upcoming April 12-13 mediation is not necessarily for the purpose of reaching an agreement on the rights fees, but rather is for the purpose of trying to reach agreement on the procedure going forward. If no agreement is reached, the court has set a new briefing schedule as follows:

Opposition to the Nats' motion to compel arbitration: May 6

Motion to stay the arbitration (if any): May 6

Reply to opposition to motion to compel arbitration: May 27

Opposition to motion to stay the arbitration (if any): May 27

Reply to opposition to motion to stay the arbitration (if any): June 17

In my opinion this is a pretty leisurely schedule, which is what MASN and the Orioles would have wanted. Essentially, the schedule has been delayed about four months compared to the schedule the Court set when the Nats first filed their motion.

Honestly, I find Justice Marks' latest move to be a head-scratcher. It's pretty clear that he doesn't want to make any more rulings in this case unless he absolutely has to. That's about the only thing that's clear. My educated guess is that the mediation will resolve nothing and the briefing will proceed.

[TheDirtyBird]

I saw this over on reddit. Had to share it with you guys.

[Machado13]

I saw this over on reddit. Had to share it with you guys.

Thanks for sharing. Oh and EXACTLY. Nats keep crying poor; nothing poor about contracts they are dishing out. They were also prepared to pay big $ to zobrist and heyward or cespedes.

[NashLumber]

Well played. As far as the Nats floating that line of logic, it shoots a hole the size of Moby Dick in their boat.

I saw this over on reddit. Had to share it with you guys.