MASN dispute update

[atomic]

11 minutes ago, hoosiers said:

To be clear, the dividend payment in question is really a profit distribution of MASN.  It appears the payments to the teams for their TV rights fees were made by MASN.  The article says those payments increased to about $50M.  That would be an annual  distribution covering the period from 2017-2021.  

Yeah original article was wrong. The Nationals got plenty of money for their tv rights.   Companies cut dividends all the time.  As long as the Orioles aren't taking a dividend the Nationals shouldn't expect one either.

[Chavez Ravine]

MLB/RSDC doesn’t seem to be in a rush to get this thing resolved. It makes me wonder if there is some more widespread disagreement among the owners about these matters. Perhaps, like a bad contract, they could trade this intractable problem for someone else’s. The RSDC could take on the question of how to handle the post Brexit Irish border while the UK parliament could resolve territory disputes among MLB owners.

[mdbdotcom]

54 minutes ago, Chavez Ravine said:

MLB/RSDC doesn’t seem to be in a rush to get this thing resolved. It makes me wonder if there is some more widespread disagreement among the owners about these matters. Perhaps, like a bad contract, they could trade this intractable problem for someone else’s. The RSDC could take on the question of how to handle the post Brexit Irish border while the UK parliament could resolve territory disputes among MLB owners.

O's give the Nationals the RSDC decision, Nationals take on Chris Davis. Deal.

[connja]

Is there anyway this works out well for the Orioles and we ll of a sudden have more money to spend?  Or is it just a matter of how much less we will have to spend?

[Frobby]

14 hours ago, esmd said:

Sounds the O's scored a victory in this latest round of litigation.

 

13 hours ago, Frobby said:

How do you figure the O’s have won this latest round?    Nothing has happened yet, the Nats have merely filed court papers trying to stop an AAA arbitration that the Orioles/MASN started unilaterally.

The Orioles did, in fact, win the latest round.    The Nats’ motion for an order to show cause was denied, meaning that the AAA arbitration on this issue should go forward as the Orioles/MASN had wanted.   

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/sports/2019/04/10/judge-denies-nationals-attempt-block-independent-arbitration-masn-dispute/

It looks like all the court papers, including the decision, have been sealed now, so I can’t read it.

[Frobby]

13 hours ago, atomic said:

Yeah original article was wrong. The Nationals got plenty of money for their tv rights.   Companies cut dividends all the time.  As long as the Orioles aren't taking a dividend the Nationals shouldn't expect one either.

I agree.    I suppose the issue is whether MASN didn’t pay a dividend for legitimate business reasons, or as a bad faith maneuver to somehow try to starve out the Nationals.     And since the Orioles would receive a much bigger dividend than the Nationals, the latter scenario seems highly unlikely.   

[Frobby]

Here’s a Fangraphs article about the litigation - not 100% accurate, but close enough: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-orioles-and-nationals-are-suing-each-other-again/

Best line in the article: “It would seem that the Orioles’ lawyers have a much better batting average than their first basemen.”

[weams]

On 4/10/2019 at 5:24 PM, connja said:

Is there anyway this works out well for the Orioles and we ll of a sudden have more money to spend?  Or is it just a matter of how much less we will have to spend?

I don't see that. I see speculate market team emerging or one that can't support itself in the market. 

[Upper Deck John]

Apparently a sealed MLB panel decision was issued on the rights fees, so the issue may finally be moving forward.

[Frobby]

11 minutes ago, Upper Deck John said:

Apparently a sealed MLB panel decision was issued on the rights fees, so the issue may finally be moving forward.

Apparently, the Nats filed a motion to confirm the award with the court, so we can assume the Nats are relatively satisfied with the outcome.    https://www.google.com/amp/www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/26583789/mlb-panel-issues-decision-os-nats-tv-dispute%3fplatform=amp

[Upper Deck John]

It makes you wonder .... with hindsight and the RSNs not growing at the pace of the past, does it make it easier to set what was proper for 2012-16 and 2017-2021?

Either way it will be good when this comes out to move it forward.  I think most of the original award money was put in escrow 

[atomic]

47 minutes ago, Upper Deck John said:

It makes you wonder .... with hindsight and the RSNs not growing at the pace of the past, does it make it easier to set what was proper for 2012-16 and 2017-2021?

Either way it will be good when this comes out to move it forward.  I think most of the original award money was put in escrow 

Disney just sold 21 RSN's for $10 billion.  

[atomic]

On 4/18/2019 at 8:19 AM, Frobby said:

Here’s a Fangraphs article about the litigation - not 100% accurate, but close enough: https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-orioles-and-nationals-are-suing-each-other-again/

Best line in the article: “It would seem that the Orioles’ lawyers have a much better batting average than their first basemen.”

Yeah but the Orioles haven't won anything yet.  It is more of a delay.  If they lose this one the Nationals won't win either as the Orioles will just appeal once again. 

[Tony-OH]

From an Orioles fan standpoint, it would be nice to have a network solely dedicated to the Orioles once again. Maybe even some Orioles specific programming and some minor league coverage.

[Frobby]

9 minutes ago, atomic said:

Yeah but the Orioles haven't won anything yet.  It is more of a delay.  If they lose this one the Nationals won't win either as the Orioles will just appeal once again. 

I’ve been wrong more often than I’ve been right in predicting the outcomes of various aspects of the MASN case, but I’ll be surprised if MASN and the Orioles don’t win the dispute about the dividends.     Generally speaking, companies have almost unfettered discretion whether to pay dividends or not, and since the O’s would receive the majority of the dividends, it’s hard to see what bad faith reason they would have to cause MASN not to pay dividends to its shareholders.

As to the main case, we don’t know what ruling the RSDC has made or what grounds MASN may raise to challenge it, but it is always very hard to challenge an arbitration award and I’ll be surprised if any challenge to this one is successful.   People don’t appreciate that many of the grounds raised last time, including all of the challenges to the rationale of the RSDC ruling, were rejected by the courts.    It was purely the procedural issue of the Nats using lawyers who also had represented MLB on other matters that caused them to lose, and that argument won’t be available this time.