Baseball Blackout

IF YOU thought there weren't enough Washington Nationals games on television last year, just wait till this season, which begins in a little over a month: There'll be even fewer games, at least for most fans in the Washington area.

The Nats announced this week a 2006 television schedule that includes just 36 games on over-the-air Channel 20 (WDCA) and seven on Fox Channel 5. Most of the other games will be available through Peter Angelos's Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), but only to customers of outlets that have agreements with the network. These include RCN Cable, DirectTV, VerizonFIOS and Charter Cable -- and definitely do not include Comcast, the cable giant. Comcast is embroiled in a struggle with MASN over broadcast rights to the Baltimore Orioles games and thus has declined to carry Nationals games. Mr. Angelos was granted the rights to both Orioles and Nats games in an effort by his fellow owners to placate him for the reintroduction of baseball to Washington.

In other words, baseball fans, it appears that your viewing pleasure is being impaired by a corporate struggle for broadcast rights that could go on for a long time. Neither stubborn side in this battle may be amenable to persuasion, but it's an area where baseball's commissioner, Bud Selig, ought to do everything he can to get some resolution. It's his job to act in the best interests of baseball, and helping establish a solid TV market for the new team on the block is definitely in that category.

Thanks to the Nationals, Major League Baseball virtually doubled its attendance in the Baltimore-Washington area last year. For the team owners, this ought to outweigh all the political and financial complications they've encountered here. It's time to try to get the right people to reason together, and to play ball.