fuboTV Loses Nearly 30 Fox Local Affiliates as Part of Dispute with Sinclair
In a surprise to fuboTV customers, the now Sinclair-owned, Fox Regional Sports Networks were dropped from the Live TV Streaming Service on January 1st. The Streamable has now learned that as part of the dispute, nearly 30 Fox affiliates owned or managed by Sinclair were also removed from the service.
In most of these markets, fuboTV has replaced the Sinclair-owned affiliates with FOX’s National Feed FoxNet, but in others like Buffalo, Columbus (OH), Green Bay, Oklahoma City, and San Antonio, FOX has been removed entirely. A list of affected channels are below.
While FoxNet looks similar to your local affiliate and carries prime-time programming, it’s missing a key feature — locals news and sports. Instead, it will air programming from their other stations like FS1, Fox Soccer Plus, Fox News, and Fox Business Network in its place.
As of now, the network’s national feeds have yet to get distribution rights major sports like NFL games — which will affect viewers looking to watch the the NFL playoffs in those markets. Fortunately, fans can still pick up those games with an antenna or on mobile using the NFL or Y! Sports apps.
This isn’t the first time that Sinclair has been in a dispute with a Live TV Streaming Service. In April 2018, Sinclair local channels were dropped from PlayStation Vue, only to return five months later. In late-July, Sinclair’s Fox Regional Sports Networks were removed from Sling TV and have yet to return. The company narrowly avoided a blackout on DirecTV, AT&T TV, and AT&T TV NOW in late-September.