An arbitrator has found that Time Warner Cable deliberately discriminated against the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network and must carry the network on terms yet to be selected by the arbitrator.

When Time Warner subscribers would start seeing MASN programming remains unclear.

"We would like to have it happen as soon as possible," said MASN spokesman Todd Webster, who added that the regional sports network hopes to have the issue resolved with Time Warner in time for the start of the major-league baseball season.

MASN carries baseball's Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles, as well as regional college sports events.

But Brad Phillips, the vice president of government and public affairs for Time Warner Cable's Eastern Carolina operations, said today that the process has yet to fully play out.

"My understanding is that this is still in process ... and it's certainly too soon to say whether MASN will become part of the Time Warner family and, if so, when," Phillips said.

MASN and Time Warner have submitted their best offers for putting the sports network on the cable system, according to a news release from MASN, and the arbitrator, Jerome Sussman, will determine which one better represents fair market value. Sussman was appointed to the case by the Federal Communications Commission.

"The conclusion that Time Warner deliberately discriminated against MASN is inescapable from the documents and testimony," Sussman wrote, noting that Time Warner "had both motive and opportunity to discriminate." Sussman also found that "all of TWC's efforts went into figuring out ways to avoid putting MASN on the air."

Time Warner has argued that carrying MASN on basic cable would mean that its customers would have to pay for a service in which few are interested.

MASN called the ruling "a resounding victory."

In his ruling, Sussman wrote that Time Warner had asserted that it offered to carry MASN on a digital tier, but the arbitrator wrote that no more than 50 percent of Time Warner subscribers in the affected area get that service, while the cable company carries its own sports network and "virtually all" other regional sports networks in its territory on an analog tier.

"This is exactly the kind of discrimination that I think the FCC intended to prevent," Sussman wrote.

He determined that News 14 Carolina, while primarily a broadcaster of news, fits the definition of a regional sports network because it televises games involving the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats. Sussman even indicated that a potential motive for Time Warner to avoid a deal with MASN may have been its plans to acquire more sports programming for News 14 Carolina, including major-league baseball.

Sussman found that "there were never any real negotiations" between MASN and Time Warner Cable over carrying MASN on a more widely available analog tier of service.

"MASN is obviously pleased with this result, and we look forward to reaching a swift resolution that allows all Time Warner customers throughout North Carolina the same opportunity to watch their local sports on television that millions of other North Carolinians who receive their television service from other providers already enjoy," Webster said in a prepared statement from MASN.

Satellite providers DirecTV and Dish Network carry MASN programming.