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J_Smooth

Last reply Mar 28, 2026 · posted in DISH Network Support Forum

Will DISH change their stance on regional sports this week?

Like many out there, I lost the Detroit sports teams on DISH when Diamond and DISH were unable to come to an agreement several years ago. Now that several teams have been released (including Detroit), do we know if they are planning to add this back? Today they announced that DirecTV, Comcast and Charter have come to agreements with the rest being announced tomorrow. Anyone have any inside information? Or should I just add the streaming service separately?

From the news article: The rest of the of cable providers and channel assignments will be finalized and announced Thursday, before the Tigers' season opener against the San Diego Padres at 4:10 p.m. MLB Media is now handling the Tigers' broadcast distribution. All cable companies that carry the Tigers' former broadcast home, FanDuel Sports Network Detroit, are expected to carry the new channel, and have it available on the same tier package with a similar channel number.

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zippyfrog

Mar 26, 2026

It is hard to believe, but it has been almost 7 years since Dish starting dropping the RSN's...

But back in 2019 when Dish dropped the FOX Sports RSN's as the first big batch of drops, either Charlie or someone else at Dish specifically stated that Dish would like to be in the RSN business, but the current model was not sustainable. And, in essence, said that RSN's would only come back to Dish if they were 100% a-la-carte and treated as premium programming, like HBO is.

The issue is that for the RSN's is if they had that a-la-carte deal with Dish, every other provider would want that same setup, as opposed to everyone paying for the RSN who is on the tier that contains the RSN, like currently is setup for Comcast, DirecTV, etc.

Even though these new channels are coming on for the MLB teams that got out of their Fan Duel sports deals, my understanding is that the way MLB is setting it up is that those fans that are already paying for the RSN would gain the same access as before, just that the channel is not a 24/7 RSN and only plays the live game and pregame/postgame. The fact that Dish didn't get the Padres and Rockies and those other ones these past couple of years is a sign that nothing is going to change.

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telstar_1

Mar 28, 2026

zippyfrog said:
It is hard to believe, but it has been almost 7 years since Dish starting dropping the RSN's...

But back in 2019 when Dish dropped the FOX Sports RSN's as the first big batch of drops, either Charlie or someone else at Dish specifically stated that Dish would like to be in the RSN business, but the current model was not sustainable. And, in essence, said that RSN's would only come back to Dish if they were 100% a-la-carte and treated as premium programming, like HBO is.

The issue is that for the RSN's is if they had that a-la-carte deal with Dish, every other provider would want that same setup, as opposed to everyone paying for the RSN who is on the tier that contains the RSN, like currently is setup for Comcast, DirecTV, etc.

Even though these new channels are coming on for the MLB teams that got out of their Fan Duel sports deals, my understanding is that the way MLB is setting it up is that those fans that are already paying for the RSN would gain the same access as before, just that the channel is not a 24/7 RSN and only plays the live game and pregame/postgame. The fact that Dish didn't get the Padres and Rockies and those other ones these past couple of years is a sign that nothing is going to change.

DiSH made the decision then that the RSNs simply weren't worth it in terms of making large #s of subscribers who don't watch them pay for them in package rates. Thus its ultimatum to the RSNs that going forward it will only carry them as ala-carte, which would require superhigh individual-sub pricing and which DiSH could be pretty sure they wouldn't go for. Thus in effect it was a decision to forego them, along with their exorbitant costs, altogether. I don't see any of it as a bandwidth issue. I really don't see why ESPN could not be next for the same treatment.