Last year, we reported when fuboTV began charging a Regional Sports Fee in Houston, which has since spread to other cities and regions that carry Regional Sports Networks. fubo’s Regional Sports Fee is up to $6 per month and now affects new and existing fuboTV subscribers in the following locations:
- Pittsburgh, PA and surrounding areas
- Houston, TX and surrounding areas
- New York City/Buffalo/Rochester, NY and surrounding areas
- New England
- Chicago, IL and surrounding areas
- Washington/Oregon and surrounding states
- Utah/Nevada and surrounding areas
The Regional Sports Fee is not optional. All subscribers in the areas where the RSNs are offered will have the fee automatically included on their bill. In the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut area where MSG is offered, new subscribers will see it added to their first bill. Existing customers will see the fee tacked onto their bill on their next billing cycle following November 26, 2021.
The Future of Streaming Regional Sports Networks and Cord Cutting
Known as the sports-oriented streaming service, fuboTV still is ahead of most of its competitors when it comes to streaming live sports. Starting at $64.99 per month (before adding in the regional sports fee), the service carries many RSNs including MSG, MSG+, AT&T SportsNet RSNs, NBC Sports RSNs, Marquee Sports Network, ROOT Sports, NESN, and Sportsnet NY.
As of today, the only place to stream the above RSNs along with Altitude, and Bally Sports RSNs is DIRECTV STREAM. However, for $85 per month, DIRECTV STREAM isn’t as budget-friendly an option compared to fuboTV’s starting price. To combat that, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban does have an idea to give DirecTV Stream subscribers an inexpensive way to watch in-market games.
Like fuboTV, YouTubeTV, and Hulu with Live start at $64.99 per month and they carry NBC Sports RSNs and Sportsnet NY; however, they do not carry any of the Bally Sports RSNs. A Regional Sports Fee could be worth adding in the future to offset the cost of bringing more RSNs to their service. If Bally Sports isn’t able to launch their own streaming app then the distributors may be able to make a play by including them with some type of Regional Sports Fee.
To find out how to watch live sports without cable from your favorite device, check out our full guide.