fuboTV charges a regional sports fee that increases the price of its monthly plans. However, not all fuboTV subscribers are affected by the RSN fee, as it is dependent on location. Here’s an overview of how much the fee is, which subscribers are affected, and other information consumers should know, starting with why there’s a Regional Sports Network fee to begin with.
Recently, RSNs have become an increasing bigger problem for live TV streaming services. These services have either failed to agree terms with network owners or have had to raise prices to account for their own increased costs. Hulu Live TV dropped a number of Fox RSNs soon after YouTube TV and Sling TV did. While fuboTV also dropped many of the same RSNs in early 2020, they were readded in late 2022 as Bally Sports channels.
With fuboTV so heavily focused on sports, any lack of access to RSNs could prove problematic. Therefore, the service has implemented an RSN fee to cover costs. Even though fuboTV has always been very transparent about the fee, and only applies it in areas where it has to, the way fuboTV has set its RSN fee up does mean there can be some confusion around who is and isn’t affected.
The cost of fuboTV’s RSN fee
fuboTV’s regional sports fee is an additional $11-14 per month on top of the cost of an existing subscription. The exact price a subscriber will pay depends on their current package and the number of RSNs that are available in their area. As fuboTV does not universally charge this fee, where a subscriber lives will determine if they have to pay the additional RSN charge, based on the following availability:
- No Regional Sports Networks – no RSN fee
- 1 Regional Sports Network- $10.99/month RSN fee
- 2 or more Regional Sports Networks – $13.99/month RSN fee
While the RSN fee was only originally applied in select areas, fuboTV has greatly expanded the number of Regional Sports Networks it offers since then. As a result, a wider number of areas and subscribers are now affected by fuboTV’s RSN fee.
fuboTV carries the following RSNs
- Altitude Sports
- AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh
- AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain
- AT&T SportsNet Southwest
- Bally Sports Arizona
- Bally Sports Detroit
- Bally Sports Florida
- Bally Sports Great Lakes
- Bally Sports Indiana
- Bally Sports Kansas City
- Bally Sports Midwest
- Bally Sports New Orleans
- Bally Sports North
- Bally Sports Ohio
- Bally Sports Oklahoma
- Bally Sports San Diego
- Bally Sports SoCal
- Bally Sports South
- Bally Sports Southeast
- Bally Sports Southwest
- Bally Sports Sun
- Bally Sports West
- Bally Sports Wisconsin
- Marquee Sports Network (available nationally)
- MSG, MSG+
- NBC Sports Bay Area
- NBC Sports Boston
- NBC Sports California, NBC Sports California+
- NBC Sports Chicago, NBC Sports Chicago+
- NBC Sports Philadelphia, NBC Sports Philadelphia+
- NBC Sports Washington
- NESN
- ROOT Sports Northwest
- SNY – SportsNet New York
It is worth noting that the various Bally Sports channels listed above have not gone live yet, as of Jan. 9, 2022. This means that the RSN cost for areas that don’t have any other RSNs won’t be charged the RSN fee until the Bally Sports channel becomes available.
How to check RSNs by ZIP code
While the list above should make clear whether an area is affected by fuboTV’s RSN fee, individual subscribers can manually check to see exactly which RSNs are available in their area using this fuboTV RSN checker. Simply click on an appropriate ZIP code range and then enter the actual ZIP code on the next page. The tool will then return a list of the RSNs that are available in that location.
Below is an example of what the checker shows when searching for available RSNs in the 34787 (Florida) ZIP code.
It is worth noting that any area that is not affected by the RSN fee could be in the future. Even though the RSN fee only applies to areas that receive Regional Sports Networks through fuboTV, that could change at any time. For example, fuboTV agreed a deal to add Bally Sports channels in late 2022 and this greatly increased the number of RSNs that are available to subscribers, potentially introducing the RSN fee in some areas and increasing the monthly RSN fee cost in others.
Additional fuboTV RSN fee details
Besides the fact that subscribers in select areas do have to pay the additional cost each month, there are some other points worth noting. The first is there’s no escaping the fee. Regardless of whether a subscriber wants access to their local channels, the RSN fee is included in their monthly bill if they live in one of the impacted areas.
Another point to be aware of, if a subscriber moves from an unaffected area to an area where the RSN fee is applied, their subscription will become subject to the additional monthly cost. This won’t apply if only visiting another area, but it will when relocating and updating billing and home location information to the new area.
The opposite is true as well. Those moving from an affected area to another area where the RSN fee is currently not in effect, can expect their monthly subscription cost to reduce by the amount they were previously paying as an Regional Sports Network charge.
fuboTV RSN fee summary
fuboTV provides access to Regional Sports Networks in some areas and many of those subscribers are charged up to an additional $14 per month as an RSN fee. Whether a fuboTV subscriber has to pay the fee depends on their home location and the RSNs they have access to in that location. In addition, the RSN fee is also dependent on how many RSNs a subscriber has access to.
If only one RSN is available in a given area, the cost each month is $11. Only those receiving access to more than one RSN in an area are charged the higher $14 per month rate. As this is a location-based charge, fuboTV subscribers should also expect their subscription cost to increase or decrease accordingly, depending on whether they are moving to or from an area where the regional sports fee is in effect.
Originally published Feb. 2021, updated Jan. 2023
Leave a Reply