Yesterday, YouTube TV announced it was adding multiple ViacomCBS-owned channels to their service, including MTV2, TeenNick, MTV Classic, and more. When they posted this announcement to Twitter, they weren’t met with “Rugrats” gifs like they were expecting — they were bombarded with questions about the since-departed FOX RSN channels. In fact, the tweet already has three times as many replies as retweets. (That’s called “getting ratio’d” in Twitter parlance.)
It was thought that YouTube TV may have been holding out while NHL and NBA seasons were cancelled last fall, but now that sports are back — that doesn’t seem to be the case. Sinclair-owned FOX RSNs left the service at the end of 2020 amidst tension between both parties and an incoming name change coming to the networks. In the spring, the FOX RSNs will change their names to Bally’s Sports and will have a new focus on betting during sports broadcasts.
Currently, Sinclair-owned Fox Sports RSNs are only available to stream with AT&T TV “Choice Plan”, which is available for $84.99 with no contract or extra fees.
No matter the cause, the fact is that FOX RSNs aren’t on YouTube TV, and users are not happy:
Oh boy, how about the FOX RSN channels……still waiting to either get the channels back or see my monthly charge reduced for the loss of these channels……you keep adding these channels that I have no interest in, so many useless channels that I do not want or want to pay for
— Mark A. Wilson (@mawilson20) March 16, 2021
How about regional fox sports???? I know you get this request Everyday. Please get us our fox sports back!!! No reason for us to have to switch to A&TT to get those channels back. Ridiculous
— Joshua Shannon (@shanman80) March 16, 2021
I’d give them all up for having NESN back.
— Dougie Fresh (@WinniBeerGeek) March 16, 2021
Need Fox Sports Midwest. Already have enough channels I don’t watch
— jim freymark (@jimfreymark) March 16, 2021
I’m not going all of baseball season without local @FOXSportsDet so you better get that figured out.
— Charlie Portelli (@charlieamps) March 16, 2021
Team YouTube responded to some users, saying that, at this point, they can’t speculate when or if any of the removed Sinclair stations will come back. Team YouTube urges dissatisfied users to submit feedback through the app, as it “helps them prioritize features.”