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YouTube TV to Drop Fox Sports Networks, Though Talks Continue

The stations were acquired by Sinclair in $9.6 billion deal

YouTube TV to Drop Fox Sports Networks, Though Talks Continue
The logo for YouTube Inc. is displayed on a laptop computer in an arranged photograph taken in the Brooklyn borough of New York, U.S. (Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg)

YouTube TV is dropping 19 Fox regional sports networks owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. after the two sides failed to resolve a long-running dispute, but negotiations continue.

Though Google’s YouTube and Sinclair agreed to a contract extension in March, the terms of that deal are set to expire at the end of this month. Sinclair said Wednesday it is still working to reach a new accord.

Disputes with carriers have hampered Sinclair’s high-stakes push into regional sports coverage. In 2019, the broadcaster paid $9.6 billion for the Fox sports channels, known as RSNs, which were acquired by Walt Disney Co. in a previous deal.

“While we are disappointed that YouTube will discontinue carriage of the RSNs, we remain in discussions in an effort to find a mutually acceptable path to returning the RSNs to YouTube TV,” Barry Faber, Sinclair’s president of distribution and network relations, said in a statement.

YouTube TV is an alternative platform for watching live television. For $65 each month, TV cord-cutters can see more than 70 channels of news, sports and entertainment.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.