Fubo TV blasts NBCUniversal for pulling channels

by

Fubo TV subscribers can no longer watch channels from NBCUniversal due to a disagreement between the two companies.

As a huge football and movie fan, I was really disappointed to see Fubo and NBCUniversal fail to reach an agreement. It means a bunch of NBC channels went dark on Fubo right before Thanksgiving – seriously, the worst timing! Think about it: everyone’s getting ready for turkey, family, and, of course, football. NBC was supposed to show the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the National Dog Show, and a key NFL game with the Bengals versus the Ravens. And if you were hoping to stream any of that, it’s also on Peacock now. It’s a real bummer for Fubo subscribers, honestly.

The service disruption, impacting channels like Bravo, CNBC, and Telemundo, affects almost 1.6 million Fubo customers.

This disagreement happened just a month after Disney bought a majority share of Fubo, adding its sports content to Hulu + Live TV. Hulu + subscribers can still watch NBCUniversal channels, as those are part of a different agreement.

Fubo stated on Tuesday that NBCUniversal wouldn’t allow them to offer just a limited selection of its channels, insisting they carry the whole package. Fubo is trying to keep costs down and created a streaming service that offers fewer channels than traditional cable, but still includes a lot of sports networks.

Fubo also objected to NBCUniversal negotiating deals for its cable channels, even though NBCUniversal intends to separate those channels in January as part of a company restructuring.

Several established cable channels – including MS Now, Syfy, CNBC, USA Network, and Golf Channel – will combine to create a new publicly traded company called Versant.

Fubo said it agreed to carry Versant’s channels for a year, but believes most of them aren’t worth the expense.

Fubo claims NBCUniversal is pushing for a long-term agreement that extends beyond when its channels will be managed by a different entity. Fubo believes NBCUniversal wants its subscribers to essentially pay for these channels.

Hollywood Inc.

Disney has acquired a 70% ownership stake in a sports channel, making it the sixth-largest pay-TV provider in the country with almost 6 million subscribers.

NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, said it proposed the same deal terms to Fubo as it has with other TV providers, but Fubo declined.

NBCUniversal stated that this situation is typical behavior for Fubo. They pointed out that Fubo has removed many channels in the past, which has consistently resulted in customers losing access to content.

The power outage on November 21st happened just a week after Disney settled a major disagreement with YouTube TV. This earlier dispute had caused Disney-owned channels, like ESPN, to be unavailable to around 10 million YouTube TV subscribers for two weeks. The core issue was Disney’s request for higher fees.

The companies disagreed about YouTube TV wanting to include the ESPN streaming app for its subscribers without any additional fees.

YouTube and ESPN reached an agreement, allowing YouTube to stream select ESPN content.

Just hours before a potential disruption, YouTube TV reached an agreement with NBC in September, successfully preventing a blackout of its channels.

Fubo highlighted recent agreements NBCUniversal made with YouTube TV and Amazon Prime Video, enabling those services to include NBC’s Peacock streaming app in their offerings. Fubo claims NBC denied them a similar arrangement.

Hollywood Inc.

While others were skeptical, Stein recognized potential in the Universal Studios tour and added exciting, sudden movements and dramatic effects – innovations that became known as ‘JayBangs.’

Fubo wants to provide its customers with a high-quality, affordable live TV streaming service featuring the shows and sports they enjoy. They offer a variety of options, including a service specifically for sports fans, all within the Fubo app. Fubo is hoping NBCUniversal will change its position, but if not, they will have to continue without their content.

Read More

2025-11-26 03:01