fuboTV Raising RSN Fees for Roku Users Higher than for Customers on Different Platforms
In the first week of January, sports-focused live TV streaming service fuboTV announced a series of changes to its fee structure that have dramatically raised the rates that nearly every customer across the country will have to pay to access the service’s offerings. First, there was the industry-standard $5 rate hike that will impact all customers on the streamer’s lower two tiers. The base rate for the service is now $74.99 per month.
However, that was not all as that price jump was accompanied by a series of fairly complicated regional sports network (RSN) fee adjustments that will increase the monthly rates for practically every subscriber. How RSN fees work is that if there is a local sports channel available in an individual subscriber’s market, they will be charged for it, regardless of whether they watch it or not.
Currently, Fubo customers are paying between $8.99 and $10.99 per month for RSN access, but the number of RSNs on the streamer are fairly limited. However, with the Bally Sports channels arriving soon, nearly every market in the country will have at least one RSN, and in some cases two.
Under Fubo’s new pricing plans, customers who have one RSN in their region will be charged $10.99 monthly, while those with two will be billed $13.99. However, there is a subset of subscribers who will be billed $14 per month, whether they have two RSNs or not.
According to FuboTV, customers who signed up for the service via a Roku device will have to pay the two-RSN fee, even if they only have access to one.
“If you signed up through your Roku device,” the service says, “Regional Sports Fee will be $14.00/month, regardless of how many regional sports networks you receive.”
A spokesperson for Fubo declined to comment on the nature of the company’s agreements with third-party platforms, but it stands to reason that the additional fee on Roku users is in place to reflect a higher commission that Fubo must pay to the streaming hub for facilitating the creation of the original account. These types of arrangements have led to streaming breakups in the past, including HBO Max’s 2021 exit from Amazon’s Prime Video Channels over the ability to control all customer data and retain all of the subscriber revenue. Despite the falling out, Warner Bros. Discovery announced in December that HBO Max was returning to the streaming hub as part of a multi-year deal.
Fubo obviously decided to take a different route and instead pass on at least a part of added royalties responsibility to Roku customers. Despite this fact, the sports-centric streamer is still championing the fact that it is providing its customers with the specific type of content that they pay for in a more cost-effective experience than nearly any other provider on the market.
“FuboTV is truly the home for local sports,” a company spokesperson told The Streamable. “Passionate sports fans can follow their local teams through our robust sports offering which, once the 19 Bally Sports RSNs launch, will include a total of more than 35 RSNs in our portfolio. Most of Fubo’s RSNs are available in our base Pro package, which means we are the lowest cost streaming option for local sports.”
Despite the price increases, fuboTV is still cheaper than the only other live TV streaming service that carries many of the same RSNs. DIRECTV STREAM will be upping the monthly rate of its Choice Plan, which includes its RSNs, to $99.99 per month on Jan. 23.
“Alongside our RSN coverage, Fubo’s leading sports offering includes more than 55,000 live sporting events annually, with many streaming in 4K, from RSNs, local broadcast networks and national sports networks ESPN, FS1, CBS Sports Network, the Pac-12 Networks and many more,” the fuboTV rep said. “In addition to sports, FuboTV also streams popular live entertainment and news programming and features more than 40,000 TV shows and movies on-demand each month.”
With the addition of the Bally Sports RSNs, fuboTV is certainly making moves to further establish itself as the dominant service for sports fans, however, it is still lacking one key piece to its streaming offerings, the Turner networks. After losing TNT, TBS, TruTV, and other affiliated channels back in July 2020, one of the biggest complaints from Fubo customers has been their inability to watch the NBA on TNT, MLB and NHL on TBS, and the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament across the three T-Nets.
With WBD more open to returning to past partners these days — as evidenced by the Prime Video reunion — there is hope that Fubo could get the channels back, especially after the streamer jettisoned the entertainment-focused AMC Networks.
“Regarding Turner, we have no current plans to launch any new networks from Warner Bros. Discovery on FuboTV,” the company spokesperson told The Streamable. However, just like when rooting for your favorite underdog, hope springs eternal for sports (and apparently) streaming fans.
Fubo
Fubo is a live TV streaming service with about 90 top channels that start at $79.99 per month. This plan includes local channels, 19 of the top 35 cable channels, and regional sports networks (RSNs). In total, you should expect to pay about $94.99 per month, after adding in their RSN Fee. Fubo was previously known as “fuboTV.”