Fox Sports and BTN dropped from DISH and SLING

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If you have T-Mobile you get a free subscription to MLB.TV. You can get a VPN for probably $5 bucks a month on your smart TV or laptop/phone. Set location to out market and I think you probably should get most Twin's games. That's what I'm going to try.
 


Dish has BTN and FoxSports now. I use Dish in my RV, otherwise it's been YouTubeTV for a while now at home and I've really liked it. If YouTubeTV drops BTN/Fox for good, I'll ge gone.
 

Got the YouTube TV email today. No reason to stay with YTTV without the RSNs. Going to give Hulu a try but it appears its back to Comcast.

Cord cutting was fun while it lasted.
 

I’m not sure why YouTube TV, Sling, Fubo don’t just offer the RSN channels (eg FSN) as an ala carte add-on package for $5-10 per month or whatever would make it break even rather than lose a ton of sports fan subscribers. Then again, I know bupkus about the business. Sinclair apparently overpaid for the RSNs and is losing carriage fees from these streaming companies, but perhaps the streaming piece of pie isn’t big enough vs traditional carriers to hurt yet and Sinclair isn’t willing to play ball.

The nice thing about streaming is it’s easy to switch to Hulu plus for baseball season then back to YouTube tv for football season if one prefers the YoutubeTV format. From what I’ve gathered YTTV and Hulu quality is similar although the DVR aspect is different, channel offerings.
 


Panthadad2 said:
Dish has BTN and FoxSports now. I use Dish in my RV, otherwise it's been YouTubeTV for a while now at home and I've really liked it. If YouTubeTV drops BTN/Fox for good, I'll ge gone.
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Dish has FSN for you or are you talking about FS1/FS2?
 

From lead post above: "The outage currently affects MLB, NBA and NHL games on the regional networks."

Doesn't it also affect big ten basketball on BTN?
 

Literally could not care less about not being able to tune in Wolves or Wild.

Twins, I usually don't watch a ton, but was nice to have the option.


Overall, FSN to me is very meh.

YTTV is still incredibly awesome, and I recommend to anyone.
 

This doesn't help the FSN problem, but I've seen that Sling plans to add BTN prior to the upcoming football season.
 



Spoofin said:
Dish has FSN for you or are you talking about FS1/FS2?
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My bad. Dish has FS1/2 for me now and BTN. Not sure about FSN at the moment as I'm traveling and in a different regional sports market.
 
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Panthadad2 said:
My bad. Dish has FS1/2 for me now and BTN. Not sure about FSN at the moment as I'm traveling.
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OK. Yeah, I still have BTN right now too - but FSN has been off for months. If you call and complain they will knock $0.50/month off your bill tho :)
 

Sports are the main thing keeping live TV, well, alive.

Who the hell wants to pay money to watch commercials??


So you're going to see the same thing over and over and over: sports channels (content providers) and cable/sat/streaming (content distributors) arguing and haggling over rates, and from time to time a distributor is going to drop a channel before or during a season and see how people react. It's a game of chicken these always play, no matter who you're with.


As someone brought up -- at least these days (unless you're with Sat still, for some odd reason), it's pretty easy to cancel and try someone else.

I have not tried Hulu Live, but that was suggested. I do have Hulu paid service, which is great for watching network shows without commercials.

I pretty much only use YTTV for local/national news and (mostly) for sports.
 

If you know someone with cable or hulu tv you might be able to use the fox sports app with their log in.
 



MplsGopher said:
Sports are the main thing keeping live TV, well, alive.

Who the hell wants to pay money to watch commercials??


So you're going to see the same thing over and over and over: sports channels (content providers) and cable/sat/streaming (content distributors) arguing and haggling over rates, and from time to time a distributor is going to drop a channel before or during a season and see how people react. It's a game of chicken these always play, no matter who you're with.


As someone brought up -- at least these days (unless you're with Sat still, for some odd reason), it's pretty easy to cancel and try someone else.

I have not tried Hulu Live, but that was suggested. I do have Hulu paid service, which is great for watching network shows without commercials.

I pretty much only use YTTV for local/national news and (mostly) for sports.
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I'm still with satellite because the cost difference is in no way worth it to me to go to a streaming service. If you're solo, or sharing a house with one other person, streaming is a cost-saver. For a family, it's worth the few extra dollars a month.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
For a family, it's worth the few extra dollars a month.
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Just curious why? Not trying to sell you or convince you to change, I'm genuinely curious why your situation is such that you've found Sat is best for you.
 

MplsGopher said:
Just curious why? Not trying to sell you or convince you to change, I'm genuinely curious why your situation is such that you've found Sat is best for you.
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For starters, I have a 4-year old who loves the Paw Patrol more than anything in the world right now (Nickleodeon is only available as an add-on to Sling, can't get it on YouTube or Hulu). I've been pretty successful at lowering my bill over the years simply by calling and asking. My DTV bill is about $10 more a month than it would be for me to have the upgraded version of Hulu where you can stream more than two programs at once. Everyone is the house is happy with it, there's no complaining that we don't get one channel or another.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
I’m not sure why YouTube TV, Sling, Fubo don’t just offer the RSN channels (eg FSN) as an ala carte add-on package for $5-10 per month or whatever would make it break even rather than lose a ton of sports fan subscribers. Then again, I know bupkus about the business. Sinclair apparently overpaid for the RSNs and is losing carriage fees from these streaming companies, but perhaps the streaming piece of pie isn’t big enough vs traditional carriers to hurt yet and Sinclair isn’t willing to play ball.

The nice thing about streaming is it’s easy to switch to Hulu plus for baseball season then back to YouTube tv for football season if one prefers the YoutubeTV format. From what I’ve gathered YTTV and Hulu quality is similar although the DVR aspect is different, channel offerings.
Click to expand...

Maybe there was something else in the contract negotiation other than the price that caused the disagreement? Like maybe Sinclair wanted a shorter contract length than YouTube, so they could try to renegotiate the price earlier and YouTube wouldn't agree to that?
 

I don't know where this is going to end, but at some point, I suspect that traditional cable TV is going to go the way of the dinosaur and anyone watching video will be on some form of streaming package.

I live in a city that has a local municipally-owned tele-comm company. They have decided to turn off their cable TV service this fall because they can't make any money on it. The providers keep asking for huge increases in fees every year - sometimes asking for increases of 500% and ridiculous stuff like that.
that leaves the carriers with two choices - drop the most popular channels or keep jacking up rates.

The streaming service that my local tele-comm is planning to offer does carry FSN and most of the other sports channels, but they won't be rolling it out until this fall. It's called Southern Fiber-net and is out of Atlanta - I think. Until then, I'll stay with the traditional cable system.

I confess that I don't understand how this stuff works. I hear people talking about Roku and fire-sticks, and I have no idea what they are or how they work.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
I don't know where this is going to end, but at some point, I suspect that traditional cable TV is going to go the way of the dinosaur and anyone watching video will be on some form of streaming package.

I live in a city that has a local municipally-owned tele-comm company. They have decided to turn off their cable TV service this fall because they can't make any money on it. The providers keep asking for huge increases in fees every year - sometimes asking for increases of 500% and ridiculous stuff like that.
that leaves the carriers with two choices - drop the most popular channels or keep jacking up rates.

The streaming service that my local tele-comm is planning to offer does carry FSN and most of the other sports channels, but they won't be rolling it out until this fall. It's called Southern Fiber-net and is out of Atlanta - I think. Until then, I'll stay with the traditional cable system.

I confess that I don't understand how this stuff works. I hear people talking about Roku and fire-sticks, and I have no idea what they are or how they work.
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In the case you might care...
ROKU and FIRESTICKS are devices used to take media via the internet and put it on your TV. Many new TV's have this integrated into one, but for those with TV's who don't, to play internet provide content, you need a device like this.

It essentially allows a regular old TV to work as a smart TV. (Internet capable tv).
 

Face The Facts said:
In the case you might care...
ROKU and FIRESTICKS are devices used to take media via the internet and put it on your TV. Many new TV's have this integrated into one, but for those with TV's who don't, to play internet provide content, you need a device like this.

It essentially allows a regular old TV to work as a smart TV. (Internet capable tv).
Click to expand...
1582916732480.png
 

short ornery norwegian said:
I don't know where this is going to end, but at some point, I suspect that traditional cable TV is going to go the way of the dinosaur and anyone watching video will be on some form of streaming package.

I live in a city that has a local municipally-owned tele-comm company. They have decided to turn off their cable TV service this fall because they can't make any money on it. The providers keep asking for huge increases in fees every year - sometimes asking for increases of 500% and ridiculous stuff like that.
that leaves the carriers with two choices - drop the most popular channels or keep jacking up rates.

The streaming service that my local tele-comm is planning to offer does carry FSN and most of the other sports channels, but they won't be rolling it out until this fall. It's called Southern Fiber-net and is out of Atlanta - I think. Until then, I'll stay with the traditional cable system.

I confess that I don't understand how this stuff works. I hear people talking about Roku and fire-sticks, and I have no idea what they are or how they work.
Click to expand...

Roku, Chromecast, Firesticks... they're all just little devices you hook up to your TV that through those things you can access other services like Netflix, YouTube, etc. Some are more associated with specific services than others, but generally you can use most services across all those devices.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
I don't know where this is going to end, but at some point, I suspect that traditional cable TV is going to go the way of the dinosaur and anyone watching video will be on some form of streaming package.

I live in a city that has a local municipally-owned tele-comm company. They have decided to turn off their cable TV service this fall because they can't make any money on it. The providers keep asking for huge increases in fees every year - sometimes asking for increases of 500% and ridiculous stuff like that.
that leaves the carriers with two choices - drop the most popular channels or keep jacking up rates.

The streaming service that my local tele-comm is planning to offer does carry FSN and most of the other sports channels, but they won't be rolling it out until this fall. It's called Southern Fiber-net and is out of Atlanta - I think. Until then, I'll stay with the traditional cable system.

I confess that I don't understand how this stuff works. I hear people talking about Roku and fire-sticks, and I have no idea what they are or how they work.
Click to expand...
Roku, Chromecast, Firesticks, etc are all devices that operate in a similar way to a cable box. You hook them up to your TV via HDMI, but instead of providing the TV through a cable connection, you stream using the internet.

However, they don't work alone for TV, you must also subscribe to a TV streaming service to watch TV using them. However most also have ways for you to watch Netflix, Hulu, Regular Youtube, etc.
 

For anyone not understanding all this. Personally I suggest you go to your neighborhood store of choice where they sell tv's and let them explain it all of you. By doing this, you'll see the devices used, what else you need to do, and see if your tv has the capability of making this work.
 

#2Gopher said:
For anyone not understanding all this. Personally I suggest you go to your neighborhood store of choice where they sell tv's and let them explain it all of you. By doing this, you'll see the devices used, what else you need to do, and see if your tv has the capability of making this work.
Click to expand...

If your looking to dabble in cutting the cord it opens up some nice tailgating possibilities. I bought a powered antenna last year and took it and a generator to the state fair grounds and watched a big 10 game on ABC, in the parking lot while we had lunch and beers waiting for the later gopher game. Took it home and plugged it in the backyard and now I can watch network games outside without running a cable out there. Even though I grew up before cable, it feels weird getting broadcasts right out of the air, felt like a wizard. :)
 

MplsGopher said:
Literally could not care less about not being able to tune in Wolves or Wild.

Twins, I usually don't watch a ton, but was nice to have the option.


Overall, FSN to me is very meh.

YTTV is still incredibly awesome, and I recommend to anyone.
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I would cancel my cable instantly if it didn't have FSN. I watch a ton of Twins, Wild, and Gopher hockey.
 

LakerFan said:
If your looking to dabble in cutting the cord it opens up some nice tailgating possibilities. I bought a powered antenna last year and took it and a generator to the state fair grounds and watched a big 10 game on ABC, in the parking lot while we had lunch and beers waiting for the later gopher game. Took it home and plugged it in the backyard and now I can watch network games outside without running a cable out there. Even though I grew up before cable, it feels weird getting broadcasts right out of the air, felt like a wizard. :)
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Ha not exactly new technology...but yep over the air works (set up an antenna in a guest bedroom in a condo years ago and was shocked by number of HD signals) and there are DVRs expressly for recording OTA antenna signal. Problem for streamers is networks like ESPN, BTN require a live tv package to get access.
 

Taji34 said:
Maybe there was something else in the contract negotiation other than the price that caused the disagreement? Like maybe Sinclair wanted a shorter contract length than YouTube, so they could try to renegotiate the price earlier and YouTube wouldn't agree to that?
Click to expand...

Sure, could be anything silly down to the CEO disliking their counterparts attitude but seems shortsighted to quibble too much. Worry about today, today. Both sides have their own numbers penciling out one way or another even if it’s a Mexican standoff in the end.
 

Walking through Costco the sales people ask me if I know how great Direct TV is? I answer by telling them I have a wave antenna. That ends their sales pitch. Used Hulu last fall for Gopher games. May look at Sling this fall.
 

I sent a letter to the Wild, Timberwolves and Twins informing them that since FSN was being removed from YouTubeTV I would no longer be able to watch their games.

The Twolves responded saying that FSN kept attempting to come to agreement and YouTubeTV wouldn't budge. They pointed to Hulu Live as the stream to go with.

I'm not sure that YouTube wouldn't come to agreement as much as FSN's amount of the pie was too pricey for YouTube to swallow and still keep their monthly charge at a reasonable price.
 

YTTV is in a dispute with Sinclair over For Sports North.
The BTN is still there and I cannot remember the last time I watched that channel so if it is gone, so what.
It is a bit slower to change channels on YTTV but anyone can learn in a short time.
I can use YTTV at the lake leaving DirectTV and after cutting the cable at home will get more channels for close to $2000/year less.
 

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