| Page 2 of 2 < |
Nationals' Chances on Comcast Get a Boost
"This is a great victory for baseball fans everywhere," Davis said. "No longer can baseball oligopolies put finances before the interests of the fans. I hope the parties can now expeditiously resolve these matters and get the Nationals games on the air."
Fans said they were delighted to see progress on the matter even as they voiced exasperation that the two sides had not already struck a deal.
  Livan Hernandez of the Washington Nationals pitches July 6. An FCC decision strengthens the hand of MASN in its dispute with Comcast. (By Jamie Squire -- Getty Images) ON THE FIELD Jesus Flores' two-run, ninth-inning double gives the Nationals a 4-3 win over the Marlins. Notebook: The Nationals trade left-handed reliever Ray King, the most veteran member of their pitching staff, to the Brewers for a player to be named. Boswell: The statistics show a return to normalcy in baseball and the end of the Steroid Era. Minor Leagues: Justin Maxwell has come out of the slump he was in after straining an oblique muscle by sneezing and is now hitting .423 with 24 homers. NATIONALS REPORTBy the Numbers89: Errors for the Nationals through Monday. Through 138 games a year ago, they had 113 errors. Personnel Dept.OF Ryan Langerhans hit his first homer of a 14-game stint with Class AAA Columbus on Monday, just before he was called up. "I felt a lot more comfortable," he said. "My approach was a lot better." Langerhans will be used primarily as a defensive replacement. ... The club activated LHP Micah Bowie, who hadn't pitched in the majors since June because of a hip injury. ... The club announced that Centerplate would replace Aramark as the concessionaire at the new ballpark in 2008. Quotable"He certainly was a good influence on our young pitchers, had a lot to do with some of their developments. Our clubhouse was a better place with Ray King a part of it." -- GM Jim Bowden NATIONALS JOURNALBarry Svrluga provides the latest news on the Nationals. MULTIMEDIA Podcasts: Postgame audio from Barry Svrluga and video from Washington Post Live. Slideshow: A crowd of 40,389 pack into RFK Stadium to open up the 2007 baseball season. Photos: Manny Acta returns home. Webcam: Check back daily and follow the progress of construction on the stadium. Take the Local Economy Challenge
Submit your predictions for 11 local economic indicators and see how you compare with other readers. |
"I don't see why it takes a federal action to bring about something companies should do just because they are in the Nationals market and should support the team," said Steve Thompson, a Nationals fan who lives in Vienna.
The FCC also imposed several other conditions on the merger, which it approved by a 4 to 1 vote.
Among these, it required Comcast and Time Warner to make most of their own regional sports networks available to their competitors, including satellite providers such as DirecTV and Dish Network. If the two sides cannot come to terms, the other video providers would have the right to demand arbitration.
However, the FCC carefully excluded Philadelphia from this condition, meaning Comcast can continue to shut out the two satellite companies from access to Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia, which broadcasts most of the Phillies, Sixers and Flyers games.
The agency also imposed a condition whereby independent programmers can demand arbitration if they cannot strike deals with cable companies to carry their shows.
"Viewers consider the programming that RSNs [regional sports networks] carry as 'must have' TV," FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin said in a statement. "In North Carolina, there is no substitute for Tarheel basketball."
FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps, the lone dissenter in the vote, harshly criticized the agency's action.
"This decision is about Big Media getting bigger, with consumers left holding the bag," Copps said, predicting that the deal would push up cable prices in the key markets.
The roots of the Comcast-MASN dispute are tangled. The Baltimore Orioles, who own most of MASN, were given TV rights to the Washington area by Major League Baseball in 1981.
When the Nationals moved to Washington last season, the Orioles agreed to share the territory and dropped their opposition to the franchise's relocation in return for control of local television broadcasts of the Nationals. Comcast Executive Vice President David L. Cohen has called the agreement to compensate the Orioles "the original sin" that is the root cause of the current disagreement.
Orioles games, which are shown on Comcast SportsNet, will move to MASN next season. Comcast has sued MASN and the Orioles in Maryland Circuit Court to prevent that move. The case has been thrown out twice and is under appeal. In the meantime, Comcast has refused to air Nationals games.
