Nationals, Orioles settle lengthy dispute over MASN TV rights - ESPN

NEW YORK — The Nationals and Orioles ended a legal fight over television rights dating to 2012 when Major League Baseball announced Monday that Washington will be freed from its deal with the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network after the upcoming season.

MLB said Nationals games will be broadcast by MASN in 2025 under a new, one-year contract.

«After this term, the Nationals will be free to explore alternatives for their television rights for the 2026 season and beyond,» MLB said. «As part of the settlement, all disputes related to past media rights between the Nationals, Orioles and MASN have been resolved, and all litigation will be dismissed.»

MASN was established in March 2005 after the Montreal Expos relocated to Washington and became the Nationals, moving into what had been Baltimore's exclusive broadcast territory since 1972. The Orioles were given a supermajority partnership interest in MASN, starting at 90%, and Washington made a $75 million payment to the network for an initial 10%.

The agreement called for the Nationals' equity to increase 1% annually, starting after the 2009 season, with a cap of 33%. The network's rights payments to each team were set at $20 million apiece in 2005 and 2006, rising to $25 million in 2007, with $1 million annual increases through 2011.

After that, the network was to pay fair market value with disputes over the Nationals' rights to be resolved by MLB's Revenue Sharing Definitions Committee, a group of three MLB club officials. The RSDC started to hear the case in 2012 and lawsuits over the decision were filed two years later in New York Supreme Court.

Litigation over the 2012-16 fees resulted in a 2019 RSDC decision that valued them at $296.8 million. After arguments that went to the