FSN/Sinclair/regional sports network streaming

[Oxy]

Apparently Hulu has followed suit with every other major TV streaming service and has dropped what used to be FSN North/Wisconsin. If anybody has any streaming suggestions or news regarding our Brewers/Bucks RSN please let me know. The local cable service also dropped the channel near the end of the 2019 season. As far as I know MLB.tv still blacksout local viewers, but news on that front is welcome here too. I'm not sure what I'll do come April, but hopefully one of the online services will step into the void.

[Axman59]

I'm waiting to see what will happen with YouTubeTV. They have dropped Sinclair/FSN for now. I also get MLB.tv but I'm certain Brewers games will still be blacked out for me.

 

Personally, I'm done cable/streaming hopping to get the Brewers. If Sinclair can't get a deal done with YouTubeTV and the games are blacked out on MLB.tv, I will not be watching Brewers games anymore.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

MLB and the NBA are eventually going to have to step in here. What Sinclair is doing is a travesty for local sports fans. The Bucks have one of the top teams in the NBA, and unless they are playing on national TV, hardly anyone will be able to watch them. I guess Fox Sports Wisconsin is still on Spectrum cable and AT&T/DirecTV, but that's it.

 

Sinclair, when they announced their partnership with the betting site Bally's, said they were working on an app that people would be able to download on Roku/Google/Amazon Fire Stick that would let them pay a subscription fee to watch their local sports, but I haven't seen anything yet, and the NBA season starts this week.

 

Fact of the matter is, Sinclair is terrible. The faster the Brewers can get their TV rights away from that atrocious company, the better.

[MrTPlush]

Their standalone option isn’t expected until well into 2021 it sounds like, probably not even before the MLB season starts.

[bork]

It also sounds like the standalone option will be pretty limited at first because they can't undercut their existing cable/satellite deals.

[stoutdude04]

This is the main reason that I have put up with Charter all of these years. I hate them and think they suck, but they haven't lost FSN and the few channels I do not stream. I can still watch the Bucks, Brewers, Badgers, Wild, etc. Until a different option exists that I know will stick it out I am not moving.

[patrickgpe]

last year they did do an extension to cover the NBA, MLB, and NHL seasons.

 

Frankly, I do not see how these services can survive without fox sports regional networks, since the cost savings is minimal and a major network that people enjoy is gone.

 

I have hulu live and I'm good until April. The bucks are on national TV so often, i will get to see them more than enough.'

 

Man, i miss the days of Midwest Sports Channel

[ClosetBrewerFan]

I dropped spectrum this year in favor of youtube tv. If YouTube wont cover the brewers I will be dropping them to buy a nice AM transistor radio to listen to 620

 

I'm not going back to Spectrum if that's my only option. Brewers need to step up and fix this. They are going to lose fans if these are the only options they give us.

[MrTPlush]

Streaming services are perfectly fine. They would survive without the regional sports networks. They still have all the major sports channels to cover college sports, NFL, and other nationally televised games. It lacks MLB/NBA/NHL in some cases...while a big hit it still covers NFL which is what most people are after.

 

Of course let’s not forget the majority of people don’t care about sports or only care about the NFL. That’s still a massive consumer base. If people can get a subscription option later on that would likely be better when paired with a streaming service over cable. Though, to be fair, who knows how much a streaming option will cost for the regional networks. The better question, “Will the regional sports networks even be on cable if they make a subscription service? Or does it become its own thing exclusively?”

 

I’m not sure hundreds of dollars is classified as minimal either.

[Axman59]

Frankly, I do not see how these services can survive without fox sports regional networks, since the cost savings is minimal and a major network that people enjoy is gone.

 

I think you are overestimating the number of people who must have regional sports. The reason that streaming services are dropping regional sports is because the cost exceeds the number of people who demand them.

[wildcat83]

I'm in the group that switched to youtube tv last year. I will stick with that until baseball starts because they have everything else that I need. If it's not back on by baseball season, then I will drop that as well. I have enough to do in the spring/summer to not need the TV service.

[TURBO]

I have spectrum, I am good.

 

It has always been worth it to me to pay a little extra to have the reliability and assurance that I get to watch the Brewers.

 

Honestly, I can't be as cavalier as most of you about watching the Crew. I need to watch, radio doesn't do it for me, neither does reading about them online. I need to see them.

[markedman5]

I have spectrum, I am good.

 

It has always been worth it to me to pay a little extra to have the reliability and assurance that I get to watch the Brewers.

 

Honestly, I can't be as cavalier as most of you about watching the Crew. I need to watch, radio doesn't do it for me, neither does reading about them online. I need to see them.

 

 

Yep....I have Directv for the same reason....willing to pay more.

 

I'm not missing the Brewers or the Bucks to save a little money.

[Vgmastr]

YouTube TV is a much better product than cable or satellite, I'm not dropping it.

[DR28]

YouTube TV is a much better product than cable or satellite, I'm not dropping it.

 

Definitely agree, never switching from it... I'm sure we'll have the Brewers back come spring.

 

We're not the only people affected by this, anyone else around the US with YTTV and if their team is on Fox Sports is in the same place as us.

[CheezWizHed]

The NBA TV app would randomly play Bucks games last year. It would show four video feeds at one time: One from the top of each backboard, one following the best player on offense (Giannis typically) and one following the ball. No announcers, just the crowd noise and PA announcer (like you were at the game).

 

it was pretty cool, though a bit dizzying if you were looking at different views. And we could never guess exactly when they would have it and when they wouldn't (except never when there was a nationally televised game). We paid nothing for it, but watched more games there than anywhere else last year (outside WI, so no FSWI).

 

Now, I see the app was replaced (not upgraded, but the old obsoleted and the new listed as a different app). I'm fearing that feature won't exist anymore.

[umphrey]

I was going to look in to Sling TV next year. I haven't done homework on all the details but they advertise live MLB and it's $30/month.

[Oxy]

I was going to look in to Sling TV next year. I haven't done homework on all the details but they advertise live MLB and it's $30/month.

 

They MIGHT have the MLB Network if you pick the right package but as of now they do not offer FSN, which means no Brewers/Bucks.

[dlk9s]

Pretty impressive that Sinclair can destroy both local news and regional sports programming.

[FVBrewerFan]

I'm a YTTV guy, and I don't know what to do. Main reason I have any package at all is for sports, I wouldn't even have YTTV or cable otherwise. Plenty of content on Netflix, Prime, Disney+ and Hulu.

 

Plan A, try to use FoxSports Go using my parent Spectrum login. That really SHOULD work, if not Plan B is going back to Spectrum, at least I'll have the promotional rate for a year which isn't that much more than YTTV- especially since the internet cost will go down a little by packaging. That will buy me a year, and then we'll see what the landscape looks like. I really don't wan to go back to Spectrum, but yea, I'm not missing a whole season of Bucks/ Brewers.

 

NBA/NFL really should have had this built into the contract somehow. Like the NFL does with ESPN and NFL Network games, it's still available on a local channel. These other leagues could have negotiated some sort of clause to avoid this. And now they need to fix it.

 

Finally, I would think an easy temporary solution would be for YTTV/Hulu to just charge a monthly fee of $5.99 for the RSN, like they do with lots of other channels/packages. Why would Sinclair want to pass up the revenue, and why would YTTV want to lose subscriptions when this seems to be a pretty simple solution?

[SomewhereInTime]

I mean I guess I'll have to switch back to cable if it's still like this for Brewer season. I can live with streaming a Bucks game now and again if I really want to watch one but I've got to have a Brewer game on TV.

[Axman59]

Finally, I would think an easy temporary solution would be for YTTV/Hulu to just charge a monthly fee of $5.99 for the RSN, like they do with lots of other channels/packages. Why would Sinclair want to pass up the revenue, and why would YTTV want to lose subscriptions when this seems to be a pretty simple solution?

 

If YTTV offered FSN at a rate somewhere in the $5-$10 per month range I would gladly pay it. But I'm not giving up YTTV and going back to cable just for Brewers games. I don't follow basketball so thankfully missing Bucks games is not a problem for me. If YTTV doesn't offer FSN at all I will not be watching the Brewers on TV. Since I will have MLB.tv I'll still have lots of baseball to watch.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

Yeah, have to think this is all coming to a head soon. I live in Iowa, which is claimed by 6 (!) teams as being "in-market." You cannot get FS Wisconsin except through a DirecTV add-on. It's nuts.

 

And even folks with cable are losing their RSNs because of reall high subscriber fees. Baseball is regional sport, but it' a very nationalized telecom economy, and something will have to give here, if not this year, then I have to think next. I love the Brewers, but I'm not paying an extra 50/month for them when MLB audio is 20/yr.

 

Teams owning their own content is going to happen, I would think.

[TURBO]

Finally, I would think an easy temporary solution would be for YTTV/Hulu to just charge a monthly fee of $5.99 for the RSN, like they do with lots of other channels/packages. Why would Sinclair want to pass up the revenue, and why would YTTV want to lose subscriptions when this seems to be a pretty simple solution?

 

If YTTV offered FSN at a rate somewhere in the $5-$10 per month range I would gladly pay it. But I'm not giving up YTTV and going back to cable just for Brewers games. I don't follow basketball so thankfully missing Bucks games is not a problem for me. If YTTV doesn't offer FSN at all I will not be watching the Brewers on TV. Since I will have MLB.tv I'll still have lots of baseball to watch.

 

Just couldn't do that, jus couldn't...

[JackNicholson1974]

If the pandemic has showed me anything, it’s that a life without watching live sports is quite fine with me. I switched to YTTV from Charter and I will never go back. I frankly do not want YTTV to cave to Sinclair. I’m dug in.