The Washington Nationals officially announce today that Washington Nationals local television broadcasts will now be produced and distributed by Major League Baseball itself, ending the Nationals long-time relationship with the Baltimore Orioles-controlled MASN network dating back to the 2005 Washington, D.C. debut of the former Montreal Expos franchise.
Nationals game telecasts will be available to Mid-Atlantic region viewers online this upcoming season at Nationals.TV via a subscription cost of $19.99 per month or a yearly subscription cost of $99.99. Game telecasts will also be distributed via select local cable & satellite providers at channel positions to be announced.
The announcing team for Nationals telecasts on Nationals.TV is yet to be announced though the Washington Post’s Andrew Golden reports that St. Louis Cardinals sideline reporter & Olney, MD native Alexa Datt will become the new Nationals sideline reporter. MASN sideline reporter Dan Kolko remains a candidate to replace the retired Bob Carpenter as the new Nationals.TV play by play announcer.
The Nationals now become the seventh MLB team with local television production and distribution handled via MLB, foregoing the longtime regional sports network telecast model. As for MASN with just the single Orioles team left as a flagship franchise, it will end its MASN2 secondary channel allowing all locally produced Orioles telecasts to air on the single remaining MASN channel.