UPDATE (Jan. 12, 2021): The Mavericks’ local broadcast situation is still very much a confusing and frustrating mess with no end in sight.
In a recent radio interview on Sportsradio 96.7FM/1310 The Ticket, Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said that everyone is working hard to find a solution, but there is still a lot of work to be done.
“Look, I’ve had conversations where we were going to get all the teams impacted by this and try to work out a deal, work together, create our own virtual digital cable system,” Cuban said. “I’m looking at every option possible. It just is what it is.
“Businesses in the digital technology age, we’re just going through it right now. It’s hard on Sinclair. They don’t like it. It’s costing them hundreds of millions of dollars, if not a billion dollars. It’s not like they like it like this. It’s just the way those contracts were signed by Fox, not even Sinclair but Fox, years and years ago. They have these MFN’s in there and that protects the cable company and that makes it difficult to be flexible. It always sounds crazy when you say it’s not really somebody’s fault, it’s just a problem, but that’s where we are.”
As we reported back in December, the only streaming option available was the $80-per month package of AT&T TV Now. AT&T is now phasing out AT&T TV Now, merging its services with AT&T TV. Cross-eyed yet?
“You’ll still be able to stream the Mavs,” Cuban said. “That’s not going to be a problem. It’s just going to be branded differently.”
So if you’re already signed up for AT&T TV Now, nothing should change for you. And if you’re signing up for AT&T TV because you want to be able to stream Mavericks games, just make sure you select the $84.99 or the $94.99 packages that contain regional sports networks.
Original story (Dec. 23, 2020): If you are among the tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of Mavericks, Stars and Rangers fans whose primary TV content provider dropped Fox Sports Southwest, we regret to bring you the latest update.
There isn’t one.
And in this case, no news is not good news, given the Mavericks’ season starts Wednesday night and the NHL season is scheduled to begin in three weeks.
So if you haven’t switched to one of the drastically dwindled number of providers that still carries FSSW, you’re running out of time if you plan to watch the entire 2020-21 Mavericks season.
Despite Mavericks owner Mark Cuban saying two weeks ago that he believes some of the carriers who have dropped FSSW “will come to their senses and realize in Dallas-Fort Worth, North Texas, you’ve got to carry the Mavs,” there is no indication that is about to happen.
Cuban’s comments on Sportsradio 96.7FM/1310 The Ticket came three days after we contacted Cuban and wrote about FSSW’s shrinking availability, in response to upset fans reaching out to The News via email and Twitter.
The very short-term good news for fans is that the Mavericks’ first three games can be seen on networks other than FSSW. Wednesday night’s season opener against Phoenix will air on ESPN (as well as FSSW). The Christmas evening game at the Lakers is on ABC. And the Dec. 27 game at the Clippers is on NBA TV (and FSSW).
After that, however, the next four games will solely be on FSSW. As will six of the next eight games. And 13 of the next 16.
The emails from incensed readers increased in the days after our original story ran, in part because some fans had not realized their provider stopped carrying FSSW. Many of the fans wondered what their options would be in the event their provider doesn’t reach an agreement with Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns Fox Sports Southwest and 20 other Fox regional sports networks across the country.
As we noted Dec. 5, this is far from just a Mavericks issue. NBA, NHL and MLB teams across the country are dealing with this. As of now, here is what we know about fans’ options for watching FSSW:
• The only streaming option is AT&T TV Now. As I learned the hard way, if you add AT&T TV Now on a month-to-month basis in order to get Mavericks games, make sure you get the correct package. The $55-per month AT&T TV Now Plus package doesn’t include FSSW. The $80-per month does. AT&T TV Now, which offers chat support but not phone support, apparently realized some potential customers were confused, because during the past week they’ve embedded a Mavericks logo and the word “Included!” in the AT&T TV Now Max advertisement.
Meanwhile, within the past year streaming and satellite providers Dish Network, Sling, FuboTV and more recently YouTube TV and Hulu stopped offering FSSW and the other Fox regional networks.
One Hulu customer, “Matt K,” emailed to inform me he started a complaint thread on Hulu’s website, pointing out, as have many others, that one of Hulu’s main branding efforts is commercials with pro athletes talking about how many live sports events are available on Hulu.
As of Tuesday night, 165 comments and 870 votes had been posted on the Hulu complaint thread from sports fans across the country threatening to drop Hulu, especially given its inability to reach a deal with Sinclair coincided with a $10-per month rate increase for customers.
• As many readers have pointed out to The News, FiOS TV by Frontier, one of the largest linear TV providers in North Texas, stopped carrying FSSW in early September.
Cable providers in North Texas that still carry FSSW include Spectrum, Grande Communications, AT&T TV, DirectTV and Suddenlink, but the availability of those carriers vary in North Texas, and fans will need to contact those carriers to inquire about which packages include FSSW.
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