As an O's fan in Charlotte, it it tremendously frustrating.

But I have to make a correction to your entry. Time Warner wants to place it on a digital sports tier, but it is not available there because MASN wants to be on basic cable. That is the dispute. So Orioles fans (and Nats fans, for that matter) that have Time Warner have absolutely no way to watch the games.

I have the sports tier, and I would happily pay more to watch the Orioles, but as of now, it is not an option. The games are also blacked out on the PPV package since this is an O's area. Nobody will take my money so that I can watch the O's and it is the fans that are getting screwed.

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Ray replies: My mistake. I am fixing it in the entry.

To all Orioles fans in North Carolina; Quit your crying over not watching the Birds.

DUMP your cable systems and go to Direct TV. They have both MASN channels and are part of your sports package.

Click this link - http://www.directv.com

To get Directv you need to live in a place with a good line of site to their satellite, own your own place or be able to get permission from your landlord, and have good credit (I hear Directv runs a credit check, unlike cable). Those three details rule out a lot of people right off the bat. Then, you have to figure in that people may have cable for other reasons -- out of market locals to watch football or local news that Directv might not have, some sort of bundling with cable Internet or phone, etc..

Satelite is either not a great option or flat out impossible to do for a lot of folks.

The fact is, North Carolina is designated Orioles and Nationals territory, and the folks there should have access to their local teams. Their cable bills probably aren't any cheaper than those of us up north, but they are getting less value. Plus, many of them grew up following the O's because they were on TV -- it's not a real nice move to yank the O's out from under them now after feeding them a steady diet of Orioles for so many years.

I live in Chapel Hill, and suffered through two seasons where the only O's games I saw were the ones I drove to Baltimore to see in person. I would have been happy to pay whatever amount of money was required to see them, but they were not for sale at any price. Then I came to the late realization that I was waiting on Major League Baseball AND a cable company to both do the right thing. What are the chances of that happening? So I switched to DirecTV last month, and I'm in Birdland at last.

What about Comcast in Harrisburg? Is anything going to happen so we can watch the Os here? We continue to be blacked out for MLB extra innings or MLB TV online despite the fact that we can't get the games on TV. It's all insane.

John, I got permission from my rental agent to post a dish. It also has a good line site and I am a current DTV subscriber.

So it is possible to get DTV.

Ray, do you or anyone have any idea as to when I can finally watch the Orioles on TWC? I'm tired of going to bars to watch them.

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Ray replies: This issue is headed to the FCC again soon, but I don't know how long before it is resolved.

Ray, would you comment on why Comcast Sportsnet won't use video from MASN when reporting on the Orioles? Instead they use the other team's home sports channel video to show Orioles highlights.

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Ray replies: I will check into this.

Since it's clearly NOT three-strikes-you're-out, any clue how many appeals they do get? It would seem to me they've exhausted all options.

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Ray replies: In this case, sometimes it seems the options run as long as Time Warner can pay its lawyers.