The game you didn't see: Philadelphia Phillies' Ty Wigginton (24) is out on a slide into second as Washington Nationals left fielder Stephen Lombardozzi (1) leaps and watches his throw to first during the second inning of a baseball game, Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Q. Why do so many Philadelphia Phillies games get blacked out on MLB/Time Warner? We are 500 miles away, and never dreamed that they’d black out so many games. Not worth the money. We’ll find somewhere else to view our sports. Wish Verizon FIOS was available here.

A. By my estimation, based on MLB territorial rules and Saturday Fox’s exclusive coverage, 31 is the highest number of Phillies games you may not see on Time Warner Cable.

The games with the Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles are blacked out on the MLB Extra-innings package. The reason is TWC’s refusal to add the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN, which carries the Nationals and Orioles) as part of a feud over carriage fees. Since Wilmington is considered part of the Nationals and Orioles TV market, the local Phillies telecasts are automatically blacked out.

The Phillies and Nationals play 18 games, coupled with three interleague games with the Orioles and nine Saturday Fox telecasts t involving the Phillies, thus far it adds up to no more than 30 games unavailable on TWC.

We don’t know if the local Fox station will pick up the Phillies-Braves telecast on Sept. 1.

And TWC spokesman Keith Poston said he knew of no other conflicts that would have kept the Phillies telecasts off TWC.

RELATED LINKS:

Why does Time Warner Cable black out baseball’s Orioles and Nationals?

How many people from Wilmington have made it big in sports?

Date posted: August 6, 2012

User-contributed question by:
Kathleen Kelly Beer