YouTube TV says it has deal to extend Fox Sports North, fellow networks for now

The temporary extension comes hours before the streaming service was due to drop the TV home of many Minnesota sports contests.

February 29, 2020 at 6:01AM
YouTube TV reported a temporary extension to continue carrying Fox Sports North on the streaming service.
YouTube TV reported a temporary extension to continue carrying Fox Sports North on the streaming service. (Vince Tuss — Dreamstime/TNS/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

In the hours before Fox Sports North and the 20 other related regional sports networks were due to be dropped from YouTube TV, the streaming service had a glimmer of good news for sports fans.

A tweet in response to one in a wave of frustrated customers revealed "a temporary extension" with Sinclair, the operator of the Fox regional sports networks, to keep the sports action on YouTube TV. The tweet added that "negotiations are still underway." It repeated the news in a separate tweet late Friday.

On Thursday, the service notified its 2 million subscribers of the move, effective Saturday, citing "the rising cost of sports content." Many fans, who had been through the same decisions by Sling TV and Dish Network, lashed out on social media.

Fox Sports North is the home of most Minnesota Twins, Wild and Timberwolves games as well as many Minnesota United, Lynx and area college hockey games.

about the writer

about the writer

Vince Tuss

Night home-page producer

Vince Tuss is a producer working on the StarTribune.com home page most evenings. Before that, he was a copy editor and a night police reporter.

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