MASN is available on approximately 23 cable and fiber optic television providers in Maryland, the District of Columbia, Virginia, eastern and central North Carolina, West Virginia, south central Pennsylvania and Delaware (on providers such as Comcast, Cox Communications, RCN, Mediacom, and Verizon FiOS, covering an area stretching from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to Charlotte, North Carolina); it is also available nationwide on satellite via DirecTV.

When the Montreal Expos relocated to Washington, D.C., in 2004 to begin play as the Nationals in 2005, issues arose regarding television rights for the new franchise.

[citation needed] The network carries live telecasts of all Orioles and Nationals games that are not televised by a national broadcast or cable network, and produces the pre-game and post-game shows Nats Xtra and O's Xtra, which bookend the game telecasts.

[1] Because the Orioles and Nationals play many games at or around the same time of day, MASN operates a second network, MASN2, which serves as an overflow channel when there are scheduling conflicts.

Each team was represented by a color analyst and two sideline reporters for their respective telecasts, with play-by-play announcers each broadcasting for half of the game.

Beginning in 2014, MASN dropped the mixed-booth format and returned to producing separate Orioles and Nationals broadcasts for the games as normal.

[5] The network televises collegiate sporting events each year from NCAA Division I teams, especially men's and women's basketball, but also football, soccer, field hockey, softball, baseball and lacrosse.

The network also airs select football and basketball contests from the Division II Mountain East Conference.

In addition to an afternoon drive program, Riggins hosted Riggo's Postgame Xtra, which aired after each Redskins game.

[6] The network also has a companion channel, MASN2, that airs overflow games in order to accommodate both baseball teams' schedules.

Comcast Sports Net Mid-Atlantic, the Orioles' cable partner since 1984, dating back to its days as Home Team Sports (which until 2000, was formerly co-owned with WJZ-TV under Group W and later CBS) maintained a ten-year cable television contract to broadcast Orioles games through the 2006 season.

When MASN announced plans to move Orioles broadcasts to MASN, CSN Mid-Atlantic (by then, a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast) sued the Orioles seeking enforcement of a clause in its contract with the team, which Comcast SportsNet claimed allowed them the exclusive right of first and last refusal on future television contracts.

Additionally, Adelphia Communications – then in the middle of bankruptcy proceedings and therefore unable to reach new carriage deals – was in the process of being sold to Comcast and Time Warner Cable on a piecemeal basis.

In August 2008, MASN made a carriage complaint to the Federal Communications Commission after negotiations with Comcast did not result in a new contractual agreement.

On January 21, 2008, an FCC arbitrator ordered TWC to add MASN on its North Carolina systems, citing an argument that the provider was not carrying MASN in an effort to protect its own regional sports network Time Warner Cable Sports.

On October 30, 2008, the FCC's Media Bureau denied the motions filed by Time Warner Cable in its appeal, and ordered TWC to put MASN on the analog tier of its North Carolina systems within 30 days.

On December 20, 2010, the FCC voted 4–1 to grant Time Warner Cable's petition for review and reversed the Media Bureau's order.

[16] This information seemed to expose TWC's apparent willingness to carry MASN on an analog tier on its systems in the Triangle and Wilmington areas, where the Nationals and Orioles are the only "local" teams designated by Major League Baseball.

The committee issued a written decision on June 30, 2014, that MASN should pay the Nationals an average of $59 million per year for 2012 through 2016.

[citation needed] The Washington Post reported that the animosity between the teams over this dispute may have played a role in the Orioles postponing two of a three-game home series against the Chicago White Sox, playing the third game without allowing fans to attend, and moving a subsequent series with the Rays to Tampa Bay due to security concerns during the civil unrest in Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray in April 2015.

[25] The Nationals released a statement saying the firing was "against our wishes" and the team was "incredibly disappointed", and raised their concerns with Major League Baseball.