By Adrian Zupp
A good news/bad news announcement for sports fans has come courtesy of Sinclair Broadcast Group: An agreement has been reached that will give YouTube TV consumers access to 19 regional sports nets that will soon be rebranded from FOX nomenclature.
But, the Internet TV service is dropping two of the RSNs — and both serve the Los Angeles DMA, much of Las Vegas, and all of Hawaii.
Fox Sports Prime Ticket and Fox Sports West won’t be offered by YouTube TV.
It’s another frustration for L.A. sports fans who have endured several seasons of limited access to Los Angeles Dodgers games, due to lack of distribution across all MVPDs and DBS providers of Charter’s Spectrum SportsNet L.A.
The new pact with YouTube TV also fails to include the Yankees/Nets’ YES Network.
While the new agreement is a positive for Major League Baseball fans who had been shut out of early Spring Training action, it’s far from long-term.
The agreement keeps the 19 RSNs on YouTube TV through the end of the 2020 Major League Baseball season, according to a source familiar with the deal’s terms.
In a statement, Sinclair SVP/General Counsel David Gibber said, “We are pleased that YouTube TV was able to agree to terms on 19 of our RSNs and that they will continue to provide subscribers with access to some of the most in-demand sports networks in the nation.”
