fuboTV Adds Regional Sports Fee For MSG in New York City and Surrounding Areas
Similar to customers in Boston, Houston, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Las Vegas, Seattle, and Buffalo, fuboTV customers in New York City and the surrounding areas (New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut) will now be subject to a $5 Regional Sports Fee.
Both new and existing customers in the those markets will be charged $5 a month Regional Sports Fee, which more or less is for MSG and MSG+. fuboTV, along with DIRECTV STREAM are the only Live TV Streaming Services that carry Knicks, Rangers, Islanders, and Devils games.
This affects those in the New York metro market even if you don’t watch sports. It isn’t an optional fee, so even if you don’t watch the channel you will still be paying the fee.
New customers will see the fee on their first bill, while existing customers will see it added on their next billing cycle following November 26, 2021.
This comes just weeks after Comcast’s Xfinity cable TV service dropped MSG as part of a carriage dispute. The channel has not yet returned despite the start of the NHL and NBA seasons.
Even with the additional fee, fuboTV is still the least expensive option to stream MSG and MSG+. Your only other option is DIRECTV STREAM Choice Plan which is $84.99 a month. With the additional fee, you can get the Starter Plan in those markets for $69.99 a month.
| DTV STREAM | Fubo | Hulu | Philo | Sling TV | YouTube | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free Trial | Free Trial | Free Trial | Free Trial | Get $10 Off | Sign Up | |||
| $79.99 | $91.99 | $76.99 | $25 | $40 | $40 | $72.99 | ||
| MSG | + $29 | ✓ | - | - | - | - | - | |
Since August 2020, fuboTV has added a RSN fee in most markets that carry Regional Sports, except those with only NBC Sports RSNs. The $5 fee however is still ~$10 less than what is charged by cable operators.
The good news is, structurally, it does set-up the possibility of them adding additional RSNs, which doesn’t seem likely on YouTube TV and Hulu Live TV at their current price. In the last month, fuboTV added AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain and ROOT Sports Northwest.