YouTube TV

YouTube TV loses Fox Regional Sports channels on October 1st following extension

Ben Schoon | Sep 29 2020 - 5:39 pm PT

Google’s YouTube TV service is perhaps most popular for its sport channels, but there’s bad news on the horizon. On October 1st, YouTube TV loses all Fox Regional Sports channels.

In an email sent to subscribers tonight, Google confirms that YouTube TV will lose all Fox Regional Sports channels later this week. This comes after a brief extension allowed the channels to remain on Google’s platform through the end of the regular baseball, basketball, and hockey seasons.

Along with losing live channels, YouTube TV subscribers will also lose any recordings of content from Fox Regional Sports Networks.

Providing our members with 85+ channels requires contracts that are periodically renegotiated with content owners. Earlier this year, we negotiated an extension with Sinclair to continue carrying FOX Regional Sports Networks through the regular seasons for baseball, basketball, and hockey. Unfortunately, now the seasons are over and that extension is expiring.

Starting Thursday, October 1, 2020, FOX Regional Sports Networks will no longer be available on YouTube TV, and you will no longer have access to any previous recordings from FOX Regional Sports Networks.

This was a difficult decision made after months of negotiations. We hope that we can bring FOX RSNs back in the future. Thank you for your membership as we work to make YouTube TV the best streaming experience.

Notably, this announcement comes just a couple of months following YouTube TV’s latest major price hike. With the service currently costing $65/month and these major sports channels being dropped, I wouldn’t be surprised if some subscribers drop their accounts. Google does say, though, that it “hopes” to bring these channels back in the future.