NBCUniversal channels will return to Fubo after the two sides reached a new distribution agreement on Wednesday, ending a six-month carriage impasse between the two sides. The company’s Spanish-language networks Telemundo and Universo were available starting Wednesday ahead of the FIFA World Cup. English-language networks, including the primary NBC broadcast network, NBC Sports Network and its suite of RSNs, will be available on the service “in the coming weeks.”
Fubo users were unable to watch NBCUniversal networks on the service beginning November of last year. The blackout began during the NFL season, meaning Fubo subscribers went without access to NBC’s broadcasts of “Sunday Night Football,” playoff games and the Super Bowl, plus the Olympics, NBA Playoffs and the first two legs of the Triple Crown.
“We’re thrilled to announce the return of NBCUniversal networks to Fubo, given their robust portfolio of top-tier sports, entertainment and news,” Fubo EVP/content strategy and acquisition Todd Mathers said in a statement.
Fubo combined its business with Disney-owned Hulu + Live TV in October after receiving approval from the U.S. Department of Justice.
The streamer had been reportedly seeking to obtain local broadcast rights for NBA teams who had been associated with Main Street Sports Group, but pulled out of the bidding due to “uncertainty surrounding proposed minimum guarantees,” per a report by Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal.
The company recently earned global revenue of $1.57 billion and plans to make its Fubo Sports service available through the ESPN “e-commerce flow” in the first half of next year. Fubo co-founder/CEO David Gandler said on an earnings cal last month that the company “navigated the issues with the NBC loss in a particularly dominant month for NBCUniversal,” referring to its February programming slate.
Fubo previously accused NBCUniversal of pressuring it “to add expensive, non-sports channels” that it said would raise prices for its subscribers. Moreover, the company said that NBCUniversal wanted to sign a multiyear deal to distribute channels owned by spinoff company Versant. Fubo conversely only wanted to sign a one-year deal and believed NBCU wanted for “Fubo subscribers to subsidize these channels.” Fubo also said that NBCU was “discriminating against” the company and its subscribers by not permitting Peacock to be integrated in its channels store.
NBCUniversal claimed at the time that the situation was “part for the course for Fubo” and noted that the company has “dropped numerous networks in recent years at the expense of their customers, who continue to lose content.” NBC and Versant networks have remained available on Disney’s Hulu + Live TV.
Fubo has had a variety of programming disputes over the years, including a three-year absence of RSNs then-owned by Diamond Sports Group resolved in 2022. TelevisaUnivision networks have not been available on Fubo since December 2024, nor has the SportsNet New York RSN.
