Will YouTube TV Add the Ex-Fan Duel MLB Teams (Reds, Cardinals Braves, Etc.)?
By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man – Buy Me a Coffee!
TV Answer Man, do you know if YouTube TV will add the Cincinnati Reds channel like DIRECTV did? Please. – Cindy, Blue Ash, Ohio.
Cindy, the Cincinnati Reds is one of 11 teams that exited their relationship with the financial failing FanDuel Sports Network and started separate streaming plans under the ‘team.tv’ banner. (In this case, the Reds can be found at Reds.TV for $99 for the season or $19.99 a month.)
Other teams include the Atlanta Braves, St. Louis Cardinals, Miami Marlins and Detroit Tigers, among others. The Washington Nationals and Seattle Mariners also split from their RSNs (regional sports networks) and launched team.tv streams.
Over the last few days, several cable, satellite and live streaming services (DIRECTV, Comcast’s Xfinity, Charter’s Spectrum TV, Fubo etc.) finally secured official agreements with the 11 clubs to carry their games in 2026. However, there was nary a peep from YouTube TV which has nearly 10 million subscribers.
So, will YouTube TV eventually sign up the ex-FanDuel Sports teams, and the Nationals and Mariners?
Answer: About as much chance as I have hitting a 99 MPH fastball from Paul Skenes.
YouTube TV carries just four regional sports networks (RSNs) – the NBC-owned ones. And they only carry those because they have a carriage agreement with NBC that requires it to do so. Otherwise, YouTube TV would lose the entire NBC suite of channels.
The streamer simply doesn’t believe that carrying RSNs is a wise financial choice because the channels demand such high carriage fees. While other TV providers pay up to keep sports fans in tow, YouTube TV has the NFL Sunday Ticket as an exclusive so it doesn’t think it needs to carry RSNs to attract and maintain the sports audience.
So, Cindy, don’t expect to see the Reds on your YouTube TV lineup anytime soon. If you want to watch your team, you’ll have to switch services or subscribe to Reds.TV.
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Is this enough to make you switch streaming services? Or will you just subscribe to the team.tv plan for an extra $99?
What I don’t understand is why YouTube TV wouldn’t add this as a paid add-on. They’ve got dozens of those!
To me, that’s a win-win… MLB has availability on one of the most popular TV services, and each customer can decide if it’s worth paying $99 for the add-on rather than the old cable setup of being charged a fee for an RSN you might not ever watch.
What does YouTube TV or MLB lose in that scenario?
To answer your question, no, I’m not leaving my provider (YTV), nor am I going to create a new account to watch (in my case) the Mariners.
Because of the MLB blackout policy for so long and me being a cord-cutter, I stopped being an M’s fan years ago.
I thought I might jump back in since it seemed like MLB was going improve availability. And kudos to them for a reasonably-priced service anyone in this area can get. But I’m sick of having multiple services. Most of my watching is YTV which allows me to bounce around to different channels. Call it lazy if you want. For me it’s convenience.
If they want to be where I am, I’m not opposed to paying $99. But I’m not enough of a hard-core MLB fan to take the extra step for yet another, separate service.
Not upset with either side, though… they’ve made their decisions which I respect and I’ve made mine.
The teams (channels) want the carriage fees because it comes to more than the $99 subs. So they are not willing to provide the $99 subs as add ons. They are trying to force the TV providers to pay carriage fees.
MLB RSNs are on Fubo, though, correct. Isn’t that an extra charge for those who subscribe to a certain MLB package, or does _every_ Fubo subscriber pay that without choice?
RSN fee on Fubo is not optional on plans that have RSNs.
YTTV is not a sports fan service, contrary to some opinions. It caters to football fans and that’s about it
Don’t agree with YouTube TV not being a sports fan service and really only catering to football fans.
Between FS1, FS2 and Fox Soccer Plus, I can follow Super Rugby League, AFL and NRL and more international soccer than I could realistically watch. With the Cricket channel I can follow that sport. (All of which I happily pay extra for.)
I have Golf Channel, Big 10 Network, SEC Network, ACC Network, ESPN channels, NBA TV, Tennis Channel, etc.
And apparently we’ll be getting ESPN Unlimited at some point this year.
At that point, I’m not sure which general consumer streaming service is better than that for a sports fans. Maybe Fubo?
If you’re saying it’s not a “U.S.-regional sports channel service”, yeah, that’s true.
Fair rebuttal on YTTV being a sports service. I was actually referring to the top 4 US pro leagues. So for most, not having access to your local NHL, MLB and NBA team makes it not a sports service IMO