Regional sports network moves from satellite to IP to cut distribution costs by more than half and streamline broadcast and direct-to-consumer delivery
Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), the regional sports network owned by Major League Baseball (MLB) franchises the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals, has partnered with LTN to deliver live coverage of every available game for both teams, along with a wide range of 24/7 sports programming. The network has migrated all its channels away from satellite to LTN’s purpose-built IP video network, achieving a nearly 60% reduction in distribution costs and streamlining delivery across MVPDs, digital platforms and MASN’s direct-to-consumer service, MASN+.
MASN provides Orioles and Nationals fans across a seven-state region maximum access to all available live games, including a breadth of exclusive pre- and post-game content, documentaries and archive programming – and hundreds of professional and collegiate events annually, from basketball and football to horse racing, poker and fight sports. LTN enables MASN to deliver four variants of its full-time channels MASN 1 and MASN 2, with satellite-grade reliability and localized ad insertion tailored for primary Baltimore and Washington D.C. markets, driving cost efficiencies, greater control and new monetization opportunities.
“Regional sports networks need to innovate faster than ever and moving to IP is a no-brainer for costs and flexibility,” said Ken Stiver, SVP, Engineering, Operations and Production at MASN. “We slashed our delivery costs by moving off satellite and now have full visibility into signal health across every part of our distribution chain. LTN made the entire transition very smooth and much easier than I thought it would be, working directly with all our partners to ensure there was zero disruption. They’re a proven leader in IP transitions and provide unbeatable levels of support, satellite-grade reliability and end-to-end project management.”
MASN’s full IP migration was completed ahead of the 2025 MLB season and comes as broadcasters face mounting pressure from rising satellite costs and shrinking C-band spectrum capacity for video distribution, with further reallocations mandated by 2027. With industry leading coverage of Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 MVPD and vMVPD headends, LTN completed MASN’s satellite-IP replacement project in just 60 days, including hands-on project management and a dual-illumination phase to ensure an effortless switchover.
“Sports networks want cost certainty while maintaining the high availability and low latency they are used to from satellite,” said Bryan McGuirk, Chief Revenue Officer, LTN. “Our rapid, seamless migration for MASN to LTN’s managed IP network is just one example of how sports networks can grow with greater control, lower cost, and the flexibility to engage new audiences.”
Alongside the network’s all-IP migration, LTN provides IP-based transmission services to MASN on an event-by-event basis, including for the MLB Spring Training series held earlier this year in venues across Arizona and Florida. During the series, LTN transported multiple camera feeds from ballparks to MASN’s master control facility, supporting advanced centralized production via SLA-backed, 99.9999% availability and <200ms latency IP video transport.