fuboTV Subscribers Must Wait Until Baseball Season for Select Bally Sports Networks
With the NBA and NHL seasons in full swing and baseball just around the corner, the launch of Bally Sports' lineup of regional sports networks (RSNs) on sports-focused live streaming service fuboTV seems especially timely. With its entry into the Fubo landscape, Bally Sports brings with it the broadcasting rights to 15 MLB teams, 17 NBA teams, 14 NHL teams, and more. Now, fuboTV customers in 98% of markets across the country will have access to at least one RSN.
But unfortunately, this isn’t true for every market around the country, even those that are otherwise home to a Bally Sports RSN. fuboTV users in the Great Lakes and San Diego regions may have noticed that they didn’t gain access to their local Bally Sports channel on the supposed launch date, Feb. 6. According to a support page on the Fubo website, these markets will become available at a later date, prior to the start of the Major League Baseball season.
“Please note that Bally Sports San Diego and Bally Sports Great Lakes will launch at a later date ahead of the Major League Baseball season,” the service explained.
While the reason for these delayed launches is currently unclear, this is another unfortunate turn of events for the beleaguered Bally Sports, which is already struggling with the potential bankruptcy of its parent company.
It has not exactly been smooth sailing even for those fuboTV users whose markets gained access to their RSN on time. Fubo is raising the RSN fees for users who signed up via a Roku device at a higher rate than other customers in order to compensate for the commission that Fubo must pay the streaming hub. With fuboTV's recent price hikes now looking higher than anybody anticipated, users of the service who are paying extra for RSNs and users who aren’t getting their RSNs both have reasons to be angry.
While the availability of free fuboTV trials can help to alleviate the financial pain for some consumers, those who will have to wait for an unknown date to gain access to their RSNs are left in an unsavory position. While the Fubo website claims that the services will be up by the start of the baseball season — presumably before MLB’s March 30 opening day — this isn’t very helpful for fans around the Great Lakes and San Diego areas who were looking to use fuboTV to watch their favorite NHL or NBA teams.
This lapse in service is yet another example of Bally Sports’ run of bad news in recent months. From bankruptcy to MLB perhaps reclaiming teams’ media rights to launch delays and more, the beleaguered sports channels need to find a win… and fast.
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, 25 of the top 35 cable channels, and regional sports networks (RSNs). In total, you should expect to pay about $91.99 per month, after adding in their RSN Fee. Fubo was previously known as “fuboTV.”