MASN has lost 27% of its subscribers in 8 years

[Frobby]

From a MASN court filing last week:

“MASN is trying to survive in the face of a paradigm shift in the cable television industry...MASN has lost over 2 million subscribers in the past eight years due to cable customer cord cutting and cord shaving.”    
 

There is an exhibit to the court papers showing that in 2011, MASN had 9.2 million subscribers (5.9 mm in-market and 3.3 mm out-of-market), while in 2018 it had 6.7 million subscribers (4.7 mm in-market and 2.1 mm out-of-market).    Overall that’s a 1.2 mm subscriber loss in-market (21%) and 1.3 mm out-of-market (38%), a total of 2.5 mm lost subscribers, 27% of their 2011 total.   Ouch!

[Moose Milligan]

It'd be cool if they could provide a streaming service but they continue to be tone deaf.  

[interloper]

Good! Only through them losing money can we hope to move toward a non-cable solution.

[backwardsk]

They’d get a lot of those people back if they were on Sling or Hulu, etc.

[oriole]

I’d happily pay to stream MASN. I don’t watch cable tv so I stopped using it a few years ago.

[interloper]

5 minutes ago, oriole said:

I’d happily pay to stream MASN. I don’t watch cable tv so I stopped using it a few years ago.

This. Right now I stream it through a free T-mobile MLB.tv subscription and a free VPN service. 

I would gladly pay MASN like $10/month to watch it legit on my TV, but instead they get $0 from me. Idiots. 

[Aglets]

I hope i'm part of the 1.2M in-market drop off !

I might be..........depends on when they pulled the numbers since I cut the cord in 2018.

Be the change you want to see in the world everyone. 

And yea, what interloper said 1000x over.   I'd pay MASN directly to stream games during the season............but if they don't wanna play ball oh well.

[oriole]

11 minutes ago, interloper said:

This. Right now I stream it through a free T-mobile MLB.tv subscription and a free VPN service. 

I would gladly pay MASN like $10/month to watch it legit on my TV, but instead they get $0 from me. Idiots. 

I did that for the first time last season after going a couple years not being able to watch games. VPN company is getting my monthly payment when it could be MASN.

[atomic]

I used to be a subscriber but cut out satellite service 3 years ago.  The Orioles probably should just sell MASN.  They are having to put out huge rights fees and have a lower and lower subscriber base.  I am not sure how it will stay afloat.  Better just to sit back and let someone else squeeze out a small profit and just be in the rights fee receiving mode. 

The forced to pay high fees for channels you never watch mode is going to die.  Why should someone  who just wants lifetime and nick jr have to pay outrageous fees for our local baseball channel?

There are those of us who want to pay. Let us pay for Orioles broadcasts and not all the other nonsense we don't want.  Then the channels that people actually want to watch will survive.   

[Frobby]

9 minutes ago, atomic said:

The Orioles probably should just sell MASN.  They are having to put out huge rights fees and have a lower and lower subscriber base.  I am not sure how it will stay afloat.  Better just to sit back and let someone else squeeze out a small profit and just be in the rights fee receiving mode. 

I do think that under the rationale of the RSDC decision for 2012-16, if MASN’s revenues decline the rights fees also will decline.    The RSDC is not going to set rights fees at a level that causes MASN to go under.     However, shrinking rights fees and shrinking MASN profits are not a good sign for the Orioles’ future.     I don’t know much about the economics of offering streaming versus limiting access to cable, but the vast majority of teams offer streaming so you have to wonder why MASN isn’t offering it for the O’s and Nats.   

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

I’m going to be another one come next May if there is no streaming option made available. 
 

[Roll Tide]

@Frobby I seem to remember a dc cable provider not carry MASN. Is that a big chunk of this number? 
 

If that’s the case it should help them big time in court if there Main cable provider won’t carry Nationals games from MASN

 

The report said that Comcast is streaming MASN in DC

[Roll Tide]

11 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I do think that under the rationale of the RSDC decision for 2012-16, if MASN’s revenues decline the rights fees also will decline.    The RSDC is not going to set rights fees at a level that causes MASN to go under.     However, shrinking rights fees and shrinking MASN profits are not a good sign for the Orioles’ future.     I don’t know much about the economics of offering streaming versus limiting access to cable, but the vast majority of teams offer streaming so you have to wonder why MASN isn’t offering it for the O’s and Nats.   

Any idea how much Comcast pays MASN per subscriber?

[atomic]

19 minutes ago, Roll Tide said:

@Frobby I seem to remember a dc cable provider not carry MASN. Is that a big chunk of this number? 
 

If that’s the case it should help them big time in court if there Main cable provider won’t carry Nationals games from MASN

 

The report said that Comcast is streaming MASN in DC

So to stream Orioles games you have to be a comcast internet customer.  Then you have to pay $53 a month plus fees to get a service which includes MASN.   

[Moose Milligan]

58 minutes ago, interloper said:

This. Right now I stream it through a free T-mobile MLB.tv subscription and a free VPN service. 

I would gladly pay MASN like $10/month to watch it legit on my TV, but instead they get $0 from me. Idiots. 

Yep, I'd pay even more...20-25 a month to watch games.  MLB.tv with a VPN is a smoke and mirrors game that I don't necessarily like to play but I will.  

Look at what you make me do, MASN.  Look at what you make me DO!!!