668 replies to this topic

[makoman]

Not sure if this was posted somewhere else and I missed it, but this was news to me:

 

 

Nats remain in limbo with sale as MLB winter meetings arrive - The Washington Post

Which means the O's get 60M per year, right?

 

Yes, it's taking from one pocket and putting it into the other, but even though subscriptions are down I think that they wouldn't/couldn't set the fees in a way that bankrupts MASN, so the family is getting that much at least regardless. National TV deals are over 60M I think too. So 120M just with TV, before revenue sharing. But this guy will cry poor in every interview.

[Nigel Tufnel]

Yeah, the O's and Nats get the same fees, so it's $60M for them, too.

 

The downside is that rights fees are subject to revenue sharing, so the O's don't get to keep all of that $60M.  The upside is that rights fees go to the Orioles, not to the Angelos family like MASN profits do.

[SonicAttack]

Yeah, the O's and Nats get the same fees, so it's $60M for them, too.

 

The downside is that rights fees are subject to revenue sharing, so the O's don't get to keep all of that $60M.  The upside is that rights fees go to the Orioles, not to the Angelos family like MASN profits do.

 Orioles, Angelos, what's the difference?  

[BSLMikeLowe]

 Orioles, Angelos, what's the difference?  

The difference is that in one case MASN pays a big fat bonus to its president and COO. In the other case the Orioles pay a slightly smaller, but still big and fat, bonus to its chairman and CEO.

[Nigel Tufnel]

A couple of MASN-related articles in the Banner today.

 

MASN contract with Comcast set to expire at end of February - The Baltimore Banner

 

 

MASN broadcast crew to return, including Kevin Brown in final year of contract - The Baltimore Banner

[weird-O]

In 2021, Comcast’s agreement with MSG Network’s expired. The regional sports network that broadcasts the New York Rangers, New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils games created a direct-to-consumer streaming platform in 2023, giving fans without a cable package an option to pay directly for games. MLB teams, including the Red Sox and Cubs, also offer similar services.

This is what forward thinking teams do.

[CantonJester]

This is what forward thinking teams do.

 

Comcast’s response to MASN’s declining viewership will be to bump it to a more expensive tier, when we all know the elephant in the room is that cable is a dying business model. Get MASN directly to the consumer and watch Comcast’s #s in the region plummet even further. 

[Mackus]

A couple of MASN-related articles in the Banner today.

 

MASN contract with Comcast set to expire at end of February - The Baltimore Banner

 

 

MASN broadcast crew to return, including Kevin Brown in final year of contract - The Baltimore Banner

 

They better not let Kevin Brown get away.

[Ravens2006]

Cable's answer to losing TV subscribers will be to jack up high speed internet rates. And buy out any competition. And raise rates more. Comcast and the like will still control the content delivery methods for a long, long time.

Been saying it for years, but the cord cutting movement so many have taken to, brag about, etc. is NOT going to reduce expenses in the long term. Short term, year. Long term, not a chance.

[CantonJester]

Cable's answer to losing TV subscribers will be to jack up high speed internet rates. And buy out any competition. And raise rates more. Comcast and the like will still control the content delivery methods for a long, long time.

Been saying it for years, but the cord cutting movement so many have taken to, brag about, etc. is NOT going to reduce expenses in the long term. Short term, year. Long term, not a chance.

 

I am saving over $100/mo without the cable plan I once had, and that's including 6 or 7 active (depending on the month) streaming plans. 

 

Pro tip: don't rent your modem / router from your ISP. That's a fools errand. 

[weird-O]

I am saving over $100/mo without the cable plan I once had, and that's including 6 or 7 active (depending on the month) streaming plans. 

 

Pro tip: don't rent your modem / router from your ISP. That's a fools errand. 

Same here, except for last football season. Having to buy Sunday Ticket, and a separate YouTube service, really took a bit out of my cash flow. 

 

I looked into a VPN w/ DNS, but the nearest location is DC, so anytime the Ravens and DC play at the same time, I won't be able to see the game I want.

[BSLMikeLowe]

Cable's answer to losing TV subscribers will be to jack up high speed internet rates. And buy out any competition. And raise rates more. Comcast and the like will still control the content delivery methods for a long, long time.

Been saying it for years, but the cord cutting movement so many have taken to, brag about, etc. is NOT going to reduce expenses in the long term. Short term, year. Long term, not a chance.

I switched to 5G home internet through my cell provider and am saving over 50% per month from what Comcast cost. It’s adequate to run at least two video streams at once with no buffering. Only thing I notice is uploading files is a little slower, but I work with video where I have to send large files to the companies I contract with, so I doubt many would notice, and it’s not a big deal for me considering what I save. They say people who do high-end video gaming might notice too, but that’s not me.

 

So if Comcast thinks they can keep their flagging cable business afloat just by hiking ISP rates, they’re in for a rude awakening.

[BSLMikeLowe]

A couple of MASN-related articles in the Banner today.

 

MASN contract with Comcast set to expire at end of February - The Baltimore Banner

 

 

MASN broadcast crew to return, including Kevin Brown in final year of contract - The Baltimore Banner

This is what happens when you have clueless owners who don’t pay attention to industry trends and just treat a network as an ATM that will spit cash in their lap forever. The Angelos’s could have rolled out a high-quality DTC product years ago and have already been replacing some of the revenues lost from cord-cutting. Now they had to take a haircut on the sale price of the Orioles for their inaction. Serves them right.

[ivanbalt]

I switched to 5G home internet through my cell provider and am saving over 50% per month from what Comcast cost. It’s adequate to run at least two video streams at once with no buffering. Only thing I notice is uploading files is a little slower, but I work with video where I have to send large files to the companies I contract with, so I doubt many would notice, and it’s not a big deal for me considering what I save. They say people who do high-end video gaming might notice too, but that’s not me.

 

So if Comcast thinks they can keep their flagging cable business afloat just by hiking ISP rates, they’re in for a rude awakening.

"Comcast announces merger with your cell provider..."

[BSLMikeLowe]

"Comcast announces merger with your cell provider..."

Not for lack of trying, as I’m sure they’ve at least thought of it, but the number of government officials they’d have to bribe to get regulatory approval would be a steep cost on that one.

[makoman]

Fios guaranteed pricing for 10 years when I signed up. Is it worthless and they could reneg tomorrow if they wanted? Maybe, I don’t know, haven’t really looked at it. But I’m satisfied having no cable for now.

[Nigel Tufnel]

MASN and Comcast reached an agreement, with MASN moving to a more expensive tier.  It seems like this would be bad news for MASN, since moving to a higher tier would be a hit to their already dwindling subscriber base.  Maybe they negotiated higher fees for that tier?

 

MASN and Comcast reach deal; Orioles games to more expensive tier (baltimoresun.com)

 

I wonder if maybe the prior MASN-Comcast agreement was what was keeping MASN from selling standalone streaming, and this new agreement will allow it, but that's probably just wishful thinking.

[CantonJester]

MASN and Comcast reached an agreement, with MASN moving to a more expensive tier.  It seems like this would be bad news for MASN, since moving to a higher tier would be a hit to their already dwindling subscriber base.  Maybe they negotiated higher fees for that tier?

 

MASN and Comcast reach deal; Orioles games to more expensive tier (baltimoresun.com)

 

I wonder if maybe the prior MASN-Comcast agreement was what was keeping MASN from selling standalone streaming, and this new agreement will allow it, but that's probably just wishful thinking.

 

 

I have NordVPN through the summer, but while it worked fine for the first half of last season, it seemed that after August 1st MLB updated their security footprint by banning a whole host of NordVPN IP-ranges. I don't want to play whack-a-mole again this season. That leaves me with either just listening to the O's on MLB.com or dropping $100/mo for DirecTV Stream. That would mean in order to break even, I'd need to drop YouTubeTV, Netflix and then downgrade either Paramount or Peacock to the ad-based version. 

 

I'd like to think the O's situated themselves well-enough to take part in whatever DTC plans MLB has to roll out for the 2025 season. Otherwise, what the hell are we even doing?

[BaltBird 24]

Been looking into the VPN options to bypass the MLB blackout. Apparently Surfshark is very good, especially for Android users.

[McNulty]

I have NordVPN through the summer, but while it worked fine for the first half of last season, it seemed that after August 1st MLB updated their security footprint by banning a whole host of NordVPN IP-ranges. I don't want to play whack-a-mole again this season. That leaves me with either just listening to the O's on MLB.com or dropping $100/mo for DirecTV Stream. That would mean in order to break even, I'd need to drop YouTubeTV, Netflix and then downgrade either Paramount or Peacock to the ad-based version.

I'd like to think the O's situated themselves well-enough to take part in whatever DTC plans MLB has to roll out for the 2025 season. Otherwise, what the hell are we even doing?

Switch to Windscribe and use the Canadian ones.