YouTube TV dropped SNY and all of its content at the beginning of this month, after they could not agree on a new deal.
YouTube TV and SNY have decided to part ways after the streaming service and the sport network, just could not reach a new licensing agreement that worked for both parties.
Why did YouTube TV drop SNY?
The streaming television service, YouTube TV and the television home of the New York Mets, SNY (SportsNet New York) recently announced that they would be parting ways, starting July 1, 2023.
This is when SNY’s old licensing with the streaming service expired.
Neither SNY nor YouTube TV provided an official reason for why these two entities have decided to split, but the rumor mill suggests that they have been struggling for some time to reach a new agreement which would satisfy both parties’ interests.
The reality is that the exclusive rights to broadcast regional games do not come cheap and the streaming world is extremely competitive.
This makes negotiating streaming content quite tricky and sometimes, it means that the networks and the streaming services just cannot meet in the middle when it comes to the budgets required to close a new licensing agreement.
This is likely why YouTube TV decided to drop SNY for the foreseeable future.
What about national games?
Although the regional games that used to be aired on YouTube TV via SNY will no longer be available on the streaming service, national games which are broadcast through other networks (that are still part of the YouTube TV Base Plan lineup), including networks like ESPN, TBS, FOX and FS1 will all still be available to watch, as usual.
Will SNY ever return to YouTube TV?
At this point in time, it seems highly unlikely that YouTube TV and SNY will ever be able to reach an agreement which will benefit both parties.
SNY seems to agree and even went as far as suggesting in their official announcement that SNY fans should search for other streaming services to support now that they have been dropped by YouTube TV.
However, that does not mean that a significant drop in viewership for SNY or a significant drop in subscribers for YouTube TV (or both) following this decision, will not convince both parties to reconsider.
Other places to stream SNY content
If you are looking for the next-best place to start streaming SNY content now that the network has been removed from YouTube TV, there a few different options.
There are plenty of other streaming services that will give you access to these regional games, including DIRECTV Stream, FuboTV and Hulu (in the form of the Hulu + Live TV package) and many other area-specific services.