MASN, Times come together on broadcasts

The Mid-Atlantic Sports Network and The Washington Times have announced a partnership to share sports coverage and some live talent.

The regional sports network owned by the Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles will showcase sports reporters Mark Zuckerman and Ben Goessling of the Times in a new segment called “Hot Corner” during Nationals games, along with “Nats Extra,” the team’s pre- and postgame shows.

“The fans are the real beneficiaries here,” MASN spokesman Todd Webster said. “The Times is known for outstanding sports pages and exhaustive coverage of the Nationals. We reach the team in ways no one else can match. The partnership will bring fans closer to the game with added depth and dimension.”

MASN offers an insiders’ view on baseball; it wires players with live microphones to bring fans closer to the game.

“People can hear what it’s like to be right on the field,” Webster said.

MASN will televise 322 major league games this season — 40 in high definition — available on 22 carriers, including Comcast, Cox, DirecTV, RCN and Verizon. MASN airs 520 additional live sporting events annually, including NCAA football, basketball and lacrosse. The Web sites of the Times and MASN also will share content from articles and interviews.

“This partnership is good business and good journalism, and it’s got plenty of vitality,” said Tom McDevitt, president of The Washington Times. “Fans will get a double dose of traditional ballpark reporting, provocative insight and some rousing entertainment.”

Said Mark Hartsell, sports editor of the Times: “Both reporters are thorough, and they have a great feeling for the game and the team.”

Goessling and Zuckerman will weigh in on the action with a cast that includes Don Sutton, Bob Carpenter, Debbi Taylor, Ray Knight, Byron Kerr and Johnny Holliday.

“As someone who covers this team every day, hopefully I can provide some insight and perspective that others couldn’t,” Zuckerman said. “I travel with the team. I know the players, coaches and managers. Over the course of a season, that’s where the stories come from.”

Zuckerman also is the host of “Chatter,” a Nationals blog on the Times’ Web site.

Networks owned by sports teams are a growing phenomenon around the country. The promise of broadcast revenue, astute local coverage and supportive commentators has drawn the interest of some 30 teams in the last six years, including the New York Yankees, Cleveland Indians and Boston Red Sox.

A regional sports network’s success is influenced by many of the same factors that governed a simpler era when viewers were treated only to a rare game on a weekend afternoon.

“Sports news has now become a commodity,” said Ben Grossman, Los Angeles bureau chief for Broadcast & Cable magazine. “Regional sports networks live and breathe from their live sports events. That’s a key factor. Even with the 24-7 allure of the Internet, it’s still those live games that fans really love and will watch faithfully.”