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- Hulu + Live TV customers can no longer access 23 Sinclair-owned RSNs
- YouTube TV, Dish Network, Sling TV and Fubo TV have all dropped the networks
- Sinclair’s RSN subsidiary set for restructuring amid mounting debts and lost carriage deals
US streaming company Hulu will no longer carry certain Sinclair Broadcast Group-owned regional sports networks (RSNs) on its live TV packages after failing to reach a new distribution agreement.
On 22nd October, the Disney-controlled firm notified its Hulu + Live TV customers via email that it had failed to agree terms on a deal to distribute all 21 of Sinclair’s Fox Sports-branded RSNs, as well as New York’s YES Network and Chicago’s Marquee Network.
It added that ‘the good news is that you will continue to have access to a wide variety of sports from other popular channels including ESPN, TNT, and TBS, as well as FS1 and FS2’.
In response, Barry Faber, Sinclair’s president of distribution and network relations, said his company had “offered Hulu a deal consistent with terms agreed to by other distributors”, but “the streaming service refused to accept these fair and market-based terms”.
He added: “It is unfortunate that Hulu has chosen to take away some of the most popular programming on TV from millions of subscribers, particularly given that Hulu has promised its subscribers that it has live sports.”
Hulu + Live TV currently costs subscribers US$54.99 per month after the company increased the cost of the package by 22 per cent in November 2019.
Hulu’s failure to agree a new carriage deal follows similar disputes between Sinclair and several other distributors. Last month, YouTube TV stopped providing the majority of its Fox Sports networks, while Dish Network, Sling TV and Fubo TV have also dropped the RSNs.
The move, which comes into effect on 23rd October, means the only streaming service offering Sinclair’s RSNs is AT&T Now, whose Max plan costs US$79.99 per month.
Sinclair purchased the 21 Fox-branded RSNs from Disney for US$9.6 billion in August 2019, before striking a separate deal to acquire a stake in YES Network, which airs New York Yankees and Brooklyn Nets games. The company launched the Marquee Sports Network, which shows coverage of the Chicago Cubs baseball team, in March.
Reports in the US suggest some streaming players may wait until early next year before seeking to reacquire the networks since there will be no live games in the National Basketball Association (NBA), Major League Baseball (MLB) and National Hockey League (NHL) until then.
Meanwhile the Wall Street Journal has reported that Diamond Sports Group, Sinclair’s RSN subsidiary, is ‘headed for a possible restructuring’ due to a ‘roughly US$8 billion debt load’, as well as ‘the dearth of live sports during the coronavirus pandemic and the loss of some carriage deals with pay-TV distributors’.
US streaming company Hulu will no longer carry certain Sinclair Broadcast Group-owned regional sports networks (RSNs) on its live TV packages after failing to reach a new distribution agreement.
On 22nd October, the Disney-controlled firm notified its Hulu + Live TV customers via email that it had failed to agree terms on a deal to distribute all 21 of Sinclair’s Fox Sports-branded RSNs, as well as New York’s YES Network and Chicago’s Marquee Network.
It added that ‘the good news is that you will continue to have access to a wide variety of sports from other popular channels including ESPN, TNT, and TBS, as well as FS1 and FS2’.
In response, Barry Faber, Sinclair’s president of distribution and network relations, said his company had “offered Hulu a deal consistent with terms agreed to by other distributors”, but “the streaming service refused to accept these fair and market-based terms”.
He added: “It is unfortunate that Hulu has chosen to take away some of the most popular programming on TV from millions of subscribers, particularly given that Hulu has promised its subscribers that it has live sports.”
Hulu + Live TV currently costs subscribers US$54.99 per month after the company increased the cost of the package by 22 per cent in November 2019.
Hulu’s failure to agree a new carriage deal follows similar disputes between Sinclair and several other distributors. Last month, YouTube TV stopped providing the majority of its Fox Sports networks, while Dish Network, Sling TV and Fubo TV have also dropped the RSNs.
The move, which comes into effect on 23rd October, means the only streaming service offering Sinclair’s RSNs is AT&T Now, whose Max plan costs US$79.99 per month.
Sinclair purchased the 21 Fox-branded RSNs from Disney for US$9.6 billion in August 2019, before striking a separate deal to acquire a stake in YES Network, which airs New York Yankees and Brooklyn Nets games. The company launched the Marquee Sports Network, which shows coverage of the Chicago Cubs baseball team, in March.
Reports in the US suggest some streaming players may wait until early next year before seeking to reacquire the networks since there will be no live games in the National Basketball Association (NBA), Major League Baseball (MLB) and National Hockey League (NHL) until then.
Meanwhile the Wall Street Journal has reported that Diamond Sports Group, Sinclair’s RSN subsidiary, is ‘headed for a possible restructuring’ due to a ‘roughly US$8 billion debt load’, as well as ‘the dearth of live sports during the coronavirus pandemic and the loss of some carriage deals with pay-TV distributors’.
