MASN, lifting its HD game significantly, will televise 210 Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles games in the enhanced format during the 2009 Major League Baseball season.
With its expanded high-definition coverage, the network will televise at least one game in HD every day throughout the season. Each team will have more than 100 games on MASN's new dedicated HD channel, MASN HD, which launches on April 1.
Last season, MASN presented 40 O's and 40 Nationals games in HD.
MASN will air 95 Orioles, with 66 other Baltimore games on MASN2. Viewers in the Baltimore area will be able to watch 20 MASN-produced Orioles games simulcast on the network's over-the-air partner, WJZ-TV Channel 13.
The Nationals will have 95 live games on MASN and an additional 67 on MASN2. Washington DC-area viewers will also be able to watch 20 select Sunday afternoon games on MASN's new over-the-air partner, DC50. Nats Xtra, MASN's exclusive pre- and post-game show, will also air on DC50 immediately before and after each game.
Nats Xtra and O's Xtra, will be hosted on location from the ballpark for every home game of both clubs.
In addition, MASN will introduce other production enhancements for the 2009 season, including new cameras that will bring fans closer to the action. Chief among them: the X-Mo camera, a new high-speed HD camera, that shoots more than 300 frames per second for pristine replays. The same camera was used during NBC's Super Bowl XLIII telecast last month that captured Santonio Holmes's TD catch that gave the Pittsburgh Steelers their sixth NFL title.
Moreover, MASN will debut a new broadcast look and graphics package for game broadcasts and for O's Xtra and Nats Xtra in 2009.
The regional sports network's begins it exhibition game schedule on March 6 at 1 p.m., when the Nats visit the O's. All told, MASN will carry six preseason games, the final two in HD: Marlins at O's on April 1 at 1 p.m; and O's at Nationals in their new park in DC on April 4 at 6 p.m.
