Local cable subscribers tuning in to the New England Sports Network (NESN) -- Channel 35 -- expecting to view the Boston Red Sox may be wondering why they have been unable to witness the major league team in action.

While professional hockey and various other sports can be freely watched, television screens have been blacked out whenever a Red Sox game is scheduled in the time slot.

This is reportedly due to a new franchising deal worked out between the team owners and Major League Baseball (MLB), giving the latter exclusive distribution rights, while limiting that of the various regional sports networks such as NESN.

The Boston-based company is allowed to broadcast matches inside the Boston area, but cannot release the signal to outlying areas, thus the lack of availability in Bermuda as well as most of the east coast.

Bermuda Cablevision general manager Don Greiner yesterday said that his company was well aware of the problem and were making every effort to have the situation rectified.

He hinted at the possibility of alternative programming in those particular slots, or even a switch to a similar rival sports network.

Home Team Sports (HTS), which broadcasts out of the Maryland area and offers the Baltimore Orioles as its main baseball attraction, was suggested as a possibility, but like NESN, HTS is only a regional network and similar problems could crop up.

"We're in the process of sorting it out now,'' said Greiner. "We're going to get replacement programming so that (subscribers) don't suffer. It may be next week or as soon as this weekend.'' Mark Quinn, an affiliate marketing representative at NESN, was similarly apologetic about their inability to broadcast the Sox games to a larger audience.

"We only have a regional contract,'' said Quinn, from his Boston office.

"Unfortunately it comes down to the MLB franchise agreement, that really limits us.''