BALTIMORE—Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), the regional sports network owned by Major League Baseball’s Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals, broadcasts both teams’ games to fans across a seven-state region. On top of 24/7 access to all its core live baseball coverage, MASN covers a breadth of exclusive pre- and postgame shows, documentaries, and annual collegiate events spanning from basketball to poker and fight sports.
Lower Costs, More Control
Faced with high satellite costs and other issues, we turned to LTN to explore a full migration to IP delivery. Leveraging its experience supporting IP transitions for TelevisaUnivision, MSG Networks and Tennis Channel, we successfully migrated all our channels from satellite to IP ahead of the 2025 MLB season. The result was a nearly 60% reduction in distribution costs, with greater control, flexibility, and visibility over our transmission feeds.
We decided to move from satellite to IP because regional sports networks like ours face mounting pressures to control operating costs, maintain consistent signal quality and navigate the shrinking C-band spectrum capacity for video distribution. These factors are prompting many of us to look at alternatives to satellite to ensure reliability and low-latency delivery that meets today’s ever-increasing viewer expectations. MASN faced these same challenges.
We needed to modernize our network distribution model without disrupting existing partners or viewers. We set out to reduce delivery and maintenance costs, preserve satellite-grade reliability for consistent streaming experiences and gain deeper insight into how our networks perform. At the same time, we wanted to ensure continuous, high-quality coverage of our traditional multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) and newer virtual MVPD partners to keep our live sports delivery uninterrupted throughout the transition.
We needed a trusted partner that understood our key priorities and could deliver uninterrupted high-quality video throughout the transition. Our long-standing collaboration with LTN built the trust that allowed us to make the move, and we were delighted when LTN completed the transition from satellite to IP in just 60 days, including a dual-illumination phase where satellite and IP ran in parallel to ensure an effortless switchover.
The LTN team worked with our engineering teams to plan, test and implement the new delivery workflow. This process included hands-on project management as well as on-site configuration, logistics and testing. One of LTN’s key differentiators was its relationships and direct coordination with MVPD headends to ensure all end points were ready to receive IP feeds before the switch.
We now distribute four variants of our two full-time channels, including MASN1 and MASN2, via LTN’s purpose-built IP video network. This setup enables MASN to insert localized advertising and tailor content for our two core markets in Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
Event-Driven Transport
As many networks assess their next steps with the C-Band spectrum auction approaching, we moved quickly to secure a future-ready model.
With the added flexibility and control that comes with IP, we can monitor signal integrity in real time and collaborate far more efficiently with our partners. More broadly, our transition demonstrates how rapidly sports networks can embrace IP once they commit to the shift. Today, fully-managed, SLA-backed IP distribution stands out as the most dependable way to deliver multiple channels across a range of platforms while maximizing ad revenue. In addition, LTN’s 24/7 customer service makes this fully-managed service stand out.
Beyond delivering our core channels, we also rely on LTN for event-driven IP transport, including the MLB spring training series. LTN’s low-latency IP transmission lets us centralize production at our control facility while pulling live camera feeds from venues nationwide.
We’re now stronger and more focused than ever following our move to IP, and excited to bring fans an even better viewing experience.
More information is available at https://ltnglobal.com.
