Sinclair Media and the Regional Sports Networks

Fox was forced to sell their regional sports networks (RSN) when it was acquired by Disney.  Sinclair media purchased the RSNs and has been playing hardball with the price since obtaining the channels.  The RSNs were pulled from Dish network and was one of the reasons why we switched from Dish to YouTube TV.  Last week we were notified that the Fox RSNs were being pulled from YouTube TV due to a contract dispute with Sinclair.  I knew this day would come at some point but was hoping it was further in the future than just 4 months after switching service providers.

The regional sports networks are important to us because they carry Pacers and Cardinals games, so having a TV service without them doesn't make a lot of sense for us.  Due to restrictive MLB blackout rules, we have to get MLB.TV regardless, but we would have no way to watch the Pacers if our carrier didn't have Fox Sports Indiana.  Not even subscribing to NBA League Pass works because they assume we can access Fox Sports Indiana and thus we are blacked out on that service.  

Luckily for us, I can access Fox Sports Go using my dad's DirecTV login.  I don't usually take other people's passwords but I don't feel bad about it in this case.  Since they initially announced the channels were being pulled from YouTube TV, they have since delayed removing the channels, leaving them on the guide while a deal is worked on.  But I am not enthusiastic that a deal will get signed.  The channels have been dropped from several carries since Sinclair came in charge.  They don't seem to be playing nice and carriers are not biting.  It will be interesting to see what happens when the DirecTV deal needs renewed since DirecTV seems to dominate the restaurant and bar scene and losing those locations would be huge to advertisers.  The availability to get the channels is dwindling, and there is a breaking point where advertisers and leagues will have to jump to another channel for their content.  I fear, however, that their endgame is to make the RSNs a premium channel so that they can charge to stream their own app.  More to come, I suppose.  In the meantime, I will enjoy the channel on YouTube TV or Fox Sports Go while I have access.