With MLB Opening Day a month away, fans have more options than ever to watch each inning of every game throughout the upcoming season. With the MLB poised to become more streaming-friendly, two more teams are working on a direct-to-consumer app to give local fans another way to watch their games at home or on the go.
Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), home of the Baltimore Orioles (77% controlling owners) and Washington Nationals (23% ownership), is currently working on a DTC app so local viewers will not have to subscribe to a cable package to watch the team’s games, per the Contact Us page:
Will MASN be DTC (Direct To Consumer) in future and not through cable provider?
Answer: MASN is working on the Direct to Consumer App, please check the MASN web site for updates
MASN offers live streams of MASN and MASN2 on its website and the mobile app, but each requires sign-on authentication via a list of providers, as of now. Popular live TV streamers DIRECTV STREAM and Fubo each carry MASN in their lineup of channels and offer sign-in authentication access.
MLB RSN Shifts & What MASN DTC Could Look Like
This upcoming season, a wave of MLB teams have offered more flexibility for streaming games on their RSN platforms. Prime Video added a FanDuel Sports Network channel for broader access to in-market games of the Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, LA Angels, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, St. Louis Cardinals, and Tampa Bay Rays.
Other teams have partnered with the MLB to produce their games via MLB.TV. Recently, for the upcoming season, the Cleveland Guardians launched CleGuardians.TV with MLB.TV at the helm. This partnership gives Guardians fans a new way to stream games live and on demand without blackouts or long-term commitments. However, if MASN wants to continue producing games for the Orioles and Nationals, they could still partner up with MLB.tv like Sportsnet NY (SNY) did with the New York Mets.
Previously, a standalone separate SNY app was required to watch content such as Mets games, but now, with an MLB.tv subscription, local subscribers can unlock 24/7 content from the team. Those who don’t have an MLB.TV subscription or authentication via a paid TV provider can now access the team’s games and other content directly via SNY through the MLB app and its platforms by paying a monthly or yearly subscription.
If MASN chooses this strategy, their games would be more widely available in the Mid-Atlantic market versus the current model. Additionally, as viewers continue to cut the cord from companies such as Comcast, who have made watching sports on RSNs more expensive, the MASN DTC streaming platform could attract many younger customers who have ditched the old pay TV model.
Additionally, after the 2024 season, the MLB announced that MLB.TV set a new record with14.5 billion minutes watched. That was a 14% increase year over year, showing that fans have flocked to its platforms in the age of streaming.
What This Could Mean for the Orioles & Nationals
MASN serves a market that is home to two MLB clubs whose stadiums are only separated by 35 miles, putting it in a unique situation compared to other RSN networks. Since the O’s have a controlling interest, rights fees for the Nationals have suffered due to the increase of cord cutting and fewer subscribers for the network in their markets.
In 2022, the Nationals and MASN had an agreement from MLB’s Revenue Sharing Definitions Committee of around $72.8 million annually over five years, according to a report in January from the Associated Press. That agreement was worth $320.5 million from 2022 to 2026 but has since been reduced by 20%, dropping to around $58.3 million per year from 2024 to 2026, per the report.
“It was foreseeable that, to minimize the risk of bankruptcy, MASN would have sought, and the Nationals would have agreed to, a reduction in rights fees for 2024-2026; and a 20% cut in rights fees is consistent with what the market expected in 2021,” the RSDC wrote in a 56-page decision.
The RSDC report was released months after MASN announced that the Orioles ratings rose by 35% halfway through the 2024 season when compared to 2023:
The Orioles on MASN are averaging 100,000 viewers, per quarter hour, each night across the Baltimore DMA. This is an increase of more than 35 percent over the same period last season. The groundswell of interest is widespread, as the Orioles on MASN are by far the No. 1 viewed program in prime time across the entire demographic spectrum.
At that time, the team stated that the only other MLB team to show a growth of 30% or greater was the Philadelphia Phillies.
The MLB Continues to Adapt to Cord Cutting
The Nationals and Orioles aren’t the only MLB teams trying to figure out what’s next for their local games. The RSNs for the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs have reportedly discussed merging to bring Chicago sports all in one place. This is partly due to Comcast/Xfinity, the area’s largest traditional pay-TV provider, wanting to place Marquee Sports Network in a higher-tier package similar to MASN, and doesn’t carry Chicago Sports Network (CHSN). It is worth noting that both Marquee and CHSN offer their standalone streaming platforms for fans who live in-market and want to stream without subscribing to a pay-TV bundle.
On a larger scale, the landscape of the MLB’s national broadcast will change next season as ESPN and baseball are splitting after 35 years. Although ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball finished the 2024 season with its most-watched season in five years, averaging an audience of a little over 1.5 million viewers and a 6% increase compared to 2023, the network decided to opt out of its $550 million contract with the league. Reports suggest that the network is open to renegotiating a new deal, which could include the rights to stream local games.
Baseball’s other national streaming partners include Apple TV+, Max, and The Roku Channel, but if the league does decide to package in-market rights to those platforms or others and to recoup the losses from the ESPN deal, MASN could benefit from using their existing infrastructures.
If the Orioles continue to be one of baseball’s most exciting teams like last season, MASN should continue to attract viewers for their games. If the Nationals can turn things around this year and join them, MASN’s viewership could increase even more than it did in 2024. If the MASN DTC app launches during the season and both teams are playing well, it could be a grand slam compared to other RSNs.