Published: February 23, 2008 11:22 pm         

A tale of two cable providers

A notice appeared in the Cumberland Times-News sports section on Wednesday, Feb. 20 concerning Comcast Cable Company Pittsburgh adding the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN and MASN2) to the dial for viewers in the Frostburg and Keyser areas.

If you recall, MASN was created by Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos so all of the Orioles and Washington Nationals baseball games would be carried live to the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond, which was just ducky for cable viewers in Cumberland, because their cable provider, Atlantic Broadband, added the two-channel network no questions asked.

In Georges Creek, however, where the Comcast cable provider did not carry MASN, and where many Orioles fans live, including Anthony and Maxine Mazzone and countless friends of the Mazzones’ son Leo, the former pitching coach of the Baltimore Orioles, not being able to watch the O’s on TV was downright agonizing, prompting Mrs. Mazzone to tell the Times-News last May, “Maybe (Leo) should have stayed (in Atlanta) with the Braves. We saw him more often than we do now that he’s with the Orioles.”

And by the way, Leo offered more than once to buy his parents a satellite dish, but Mrs. Mazzone refused, telling her son that wasn’t the point.

Mrs. Mazzone was right about that, and she was also right about Leo staying in Atlanta, but that’s not the issue today. No, the issue today involves, not Comcast, which, better late than never, finally added Orioles games for Georges Creek viewers, but Atlantic Broadband, which announced last week, via Atlantic Broadband channel 20, that effective March 1 it would no longer carry Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic, the regional sports network based in Bethesda that used to be Home Team Sports and used to televise Orioles games until last year when MASN was created (see separate story Page 3D).

Not having seen the notice on channel 20 myself, I had been informed by several disgruntled callers the reasoning Atlantic Broadband was using in this decision was with Comcast having lost the Orioles games to MASN, a sports network that can be found right there on the Atlantic Broadband dial, no harm, no foul. Right?

Wrong. Comcast SportsNet will be missed by Cumberland sports fans as it televises games of the Washington Wizards of the NBA and the Washington Capitals of the NHL, as well as select non-conference games of the University of Maryland men’s basketball team and games of the Maryland women’s team. Not only that, CSN builds its overall programming around coverage of the regional teams — high school, college and pro — including the Washington Redskins and the Baltimore Ravens of the NFL, as well as the Orioles and the Nationals.

First let me say, I will never bust Atlantic Broadband’s chops again for not being able to get any answers. For once I discovered the patience it takes to listen through an automated phone system, I have received nothing but the utmost cooperation from Cumberland’s cable provider when an issue such as this one comes up.

On Friday, I called Atlantic Broadband and talked to a very nice lady named Mandy. Mandy said she would do whatever she could do to help me, and within 20 minutes, David Dane had returned my call to answer my questions. Having been used to speaking to spokesmen from other cable companies, I asked Dane what his position was.

“I’m vice president and general manager of Atlantic Broadband,” he said.

Coming immediately to mind was Russell Dalrymple of “Seinfeld” fame, the president of NBC who became obsessed with Elaine, and quit NBC to join Greenpeace.

“Oh,” I said, “... Well, that’s pretty good.”

Actually, it was very good talking to Dane on Friday. Right off the bat, he answered the most intriguing question — Why? — with the answer all of us pretty much imagined he would give: Despite losing the Orioles games, Comcast wanted even more money from Atlantic Broadband, and without a major-league baseball team, Atlantic Broadband didn’t feel it could justify asking its customers for more money to carry this sports network.

Dane said Atlantic Broadband had not received any complaints about its decision to drop Comcast (“No, none at all.”), despite the network being home to the region’s NBA and NHL teams. In fact, he said being a hockey fan himself (he was calling from Pennsylvania), he understood Cumberland area hockey fans would still have the Pittsburgh Penguins to turn to on Fox Sports-Pittsburgh, which is channel 31 on the Cumberland dial.

I ran the idea of a Caps fan getting his hockey fix by tuning into the Penguins past a friend of mine, Ed, who is a fan of both the Wizards and the Capitals.

“Sure,” Ed said. “I like the concept of the puck going in the net. I don’t care what team does it.”

Ed’s sarcasm was not lost on me, and soon it will not be lost on Atlantic Broadband as there will be calls of complaint. How many is hard to say, but Dane said it’s really not a moot point since Atlantic Broadband’s contract with Comcast has expired.

On one side of the table, I appreciate Comcast Pittsburgh’s effort to provide MASN and Orioles games for its Georges Creek viewers. On the other side, I appreciate Atlantic Broadband’s reasoning in dropping Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic. But since the days of Home Team Sports, this network, with or without the Orioles, has been a valued information source for Cumberland area sports fans to turn to when it came to their favorite teams in the Baltimore-Washington metro area.

Business is business, of course. But, make no mistake about it, Comcast SportsNet will be missed.

Mike Burke is sports editor of the Cumberland Times-News. Contact Mike Burke at mburke@times-news.com.