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It was a coincidence that MASN announced its new Direct-to-Consumer streaming app the morning after the Orioles’ worst defeat in nearly 18 years, but it’s welcome news nonetheless.
No other off-the-field question has been posed and answered more often in our mailbag than queries about streaming and complaints about blackouts.
The new MASN+ app, which is available for $19.99 per month and $89.99 for the rest of the season, doesn’t require a cable or satellite subscription, and it’s not subject to blackouts.
Nearly every Orioles game will be available on MASN+, and so will Nationals games. Games on both MASN and MASN2 will be offered, including this week’s series with the Nats. The Orioles’ telecasts will be on MASN2, and the Nationals on MASN.
There are currently eight games on the schedule that won’t be on MASN, and not available on the app: June 13th against the Los Angeles Angels and June 27th against Tampa Bay (AppleTV+), June 22nd at the New York Yankees and July 6th at Atlanta, both at 11:35 a.m. (Roku), May 3rd against Kansas City, August 21st against Houston, August 30th at San Francisco and September 18 versus the New York Yankees (FOX).
AppleTV+ and Roku haven’t scheduled past the All-Star Game, so it’s possible there will be more games taken away from MASN. ESPN hasn’t yet scheduled the Orioles for any “Sunday Night Baseball” telecasts.
Even if only 125 or 130 of the remaining 139 games are available, that’s still huge progress.
According to evoca.tv, there’s been a huge move away from cable TV. In 2010, 105 million households subscribed to cable. This year, it’s down to 68.7 million, a sharp decline of just under 35 percent.
I still have cable because, until now, I’ve needed it to watch those 30-40 Orioles games a year that I didn’t attend. But, like others, I’ve jumped on the streaming services, too. I don’t watch much TV, but I have at least five streaming services: Amazon Prime, Apple, Hulu, Netflix and Peacock. I originally subscribed to all but Hulu because of sports.
Cable TV is expensive, and so are streaming services, but when Xfinity added a surcharge to MASN last year, I immediately paid it.
Viewers now have the option to cut the cord and still get Orioles games, and I think that’s great.
Before most games, I walk around the ballpark, and it seems that a huge percentage of fans are young, and those are the viewers who’ve moved away from cable in recent years.
It’s important for the Orioles to capture the younger viewer, and many of the fans I see at games aren’t necessarily watching games on TV.
It’s been years since Orioles games were available on local over-the-air television. In Baltimore, WJZ once carried about 20 games a season. Those games were also available on MASN. But since that small package was discontinued, fans had nowhere to go but MASN.
The new MASN app means that the Houston Astros are the only team without a Direct-to-Consumer product.
For fans complaining about the price, it’s the same monthly price as Monumental Sports has been charging for live telecasts of Capitals and Wizards games. Monumental charges $199 per year, which includes access to the WNBA’s Mystics and G League’s Capital City Go-Go games.
It’s expensive to be a sports fan these days. It’s also expensive for a family to vacation in Ocean City or Disneyworld.
This app wouldn’t have been possible without last month’s settlement of the lawsuit between the Orioles and Nationals. For years, the teams had been in the courts, but David Rubenstein, the Orioles’ new owner, was able to finally settle the case, and now the streaming app is here, and blackouts are gone.
With the lawsuit settled, and streaming finally available to the fans who’ve been clamoring for it, attention can go back to the field, where there are valid concerns about the team’s performance.
Call for questions: Most weekdays, I answer Orioles questions. Please send them to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com.
