FuboTV Inc. this month struck a carriage agreement with Spectrum SportsNet LA that will bring the Los Angeles Dodgers to its sports-first live TV streaming platform, the two parties announced on March 26, 2026. The deal, effective immediately, gives Fubo subscribers access to SportsNet LA's coverage of every available Dodgers game, including pre- and postgame shows and exclusive content. Timing was tight - the 2026 Major League Baseball season opens tomorrow, March 27, with a Dodgers home game against the Arizona Diamondbacks that will also feature the team's 2025 World Series ring ceremony.

The agreement arrives at a significant inflection point for Fubo. Following its merger with Disney's Hulu + Live TV, completed on October 29, 2025, the company now identifies itself as the sixth-largest pay TV company in the United States, citing UBS estimates. The addition of SportsNet LA strengthens its regional sports network portfolio - a segment that has become a competitive battleground among streaming platforms seeking to retain and attract sports-minded subscribers.

Coverage scope and technical access

At launch, SportsNet LA is available exclusively to subscribers of the FuboTV base plan who reside within the SportsNet LA geographic footprint. According to the announcement, Fubo will carry every available Dodgers game on the network, with coverage extending to pre-game and post-game programming as well as exclusive behind-the-scenes content.

For the 2026 season, SportsNet LA will televise more than 140 regular season games. That figure represents a substantial portion of the standard 162-game MLB schedule. The network operates as the exclusive 24/7 TV home of the Dodgers and holds rights to the signature series Backstage: Dodgers, which provides access to the club's internal operations. A special episode of Backstage: Dodgers will premiere tomorrow to coincide with the season opener.

The SportsNet LA footprint restriction is worth noting. Charter Communications operates SportsNet LA, and the channel has historically been unavailable - or available only under limited terms - on a range of pay TV and streaming platforms due to protracted carriage disputes. For years, the Dodgers were effectively inaccessible to millions of Los Angeles-area households that lacked a Charter/Spectrum cable subscription. Today's Fubo agreement represents an expansion of that access within a footprint-limited, streaming context.

Fubo's broader MLB and sports infrastructure

Fubo's MLB coverage extends considerably beyond SportsNet LA. According to the announcement, the platform carries MLB.TV, MLB Network, MLB Strike Zone, regional sports and broadcast networks, local broadcast networks, and the national sports networks ESPN and FS1. Tens of thousands of live sporting events stream annually on the service, with many available in 4K resolution.

The company has also steadily expanded its standalone streaming capabilities, launching Fubo Channel Store in November 2025 to provide access to premium direct-to-consumer services - including multiple regional sports networks in select markets - without requiring a base Fubo subscription. Whether SportsNet LA will eventually become available through that mechanism was not addressed in today's announcement.

In addition to live sports, the platform streams live entertainment and news programming and maintains a library of more than 40,000 TV shows and movies available on demand each month. The combination of live sports depth and on-demand breadth has been central to Fubo's positioning since its earliest days as a soccer-specific streaming service.

Corporate context: Disney, Fubo, and the post-merger landscape

The SportsNet LA agreement takes place roughly five months after Fubo and Disney completed their business combination on October 29, 2025. Under that transaction, Disney holds approximately 70% interest in the combined entity, with existing Fubo shareholders retaining approximately 30%. Fubo co-founder and CEO David Gandler continues leading the combined business.

The merger itself resolved a years-long legal battle. Fubo had launched an antitrust lawsuit against Disney, Fox Corporation, and Warner Bros. Discovery over their proposed Venu Sports joint venture, which Fubo alleged would control between 60% and 80% of live broadcast sports content. A federal court granted Fubo's preliminary injunction in August 2024, halting the Venu Sports launch. The January 6, 2025 settlement resolved the suit, with Fubo receiving a $220 million one-time payment and securing a carriage agreement for Disney's suite of channels.

Within weeks of the merger closing, the integration began producing content synergies. Fubo Sports Network started streaming on Hulu + Live TV's $89.99 plan from February 10, 2026. The owned-and-operated FAST channel carries 1,200 hours of live content annually, including UEFA World Cup Qualifiers, UEFA Nations League, Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, and World Poker Tour coverage.

Disney's advertising revenue across the combined streaming operation has been growing rapidly. The company reported that Disney+ and Hulu generated more than $5 billion in streaming revenue during the quarter ended December 27, 2025, with Entertainment SVOD operating income climbing 72% year-over-year to $450 million. The combined platform at that point served 122 million ad-supported streaming subscribers. Fubo's advertising sales group transitioned to Disney's advertising sales organization following transaction completion.

The regional sports network puzzle in streaming

The arrival of SportsNet LA on Fubo underscores how regional sports networks remain one of the most complex and commercially sensitive areas in streaming television. These channels carry the bulk of professional baseball, basketball, and hockey coverage that fans have historically received via cable, but their transition to streaming has been marked by disputes, blackout rules, and geographic restrictions that continue to complicate content delivery.

The competitive landscape for live sports streaming is shifting quickly. YouTube TV announced plans in December 2025to introduce genre-based subscription packages in early 2026, including a dedicated Sports Plan incorporating all ESPN networks, FS1, NBC Sports Network, and other major channels. How regional sports network availability will be handled within that structure was not fully specified at time of announcement.

From a broader market perspective, sports remain an anchor for streaming advertising. According to Nielsen's 2026 Upfront Planning Guide, sports accounted for nearly 30% of all ad-supported TV viewing among adults 25 to 54 in the fourth quarter of 2025. Streaming, overall, now accounts for 66.7% of ad-supported TV time among adults 18 to 49 - the highest proportion on record. These figures illustrate why carriage agreements for marquee sports properties retain commercial urgency for streaming platforms competing for subscriber growth and advertising revenue.

Advertising implications for the marketing community

For marketers and advertising buyers, the SportsNet LA addition to Fubo's base plan carries specific implications for connected television inventory planning. Regional sports network audiences are highly engaged and, in the case of a franchise like the Dodgers, substantial. The Dodgers drew attendance of approximately 3.8 million in 2024, ranking among MLB's highest, and their broadcasting footprint across greater Los Angeles represents one of the largest sports media markets in North America.

Connected TV advertising spending reached $33.35 billion in 2025, driven by enhanced targeting capabilities and improved ad formats. Live sports content within that ecosystem traditionally commands premium rates due to simultaneous, engaged audiences that are difficult to replicate in on-demand formats. Research from Google's programmatic access to NBCUniversal's Olympic Winter Games inventory in early 2026 highlighted how live sports advertising is increasingly moving toward biddable CTV formats that allow advertisers to reach fans at scale.

The growth of addressable TV investment compounds this trend. A survey by Go Addressable released November 6, 2025 found that 43% of major advertisers - those managing budgets exceeding $1 million annually - planned to increase addressable TV spending in 2026. Sports content on streaming platforms, particularly on services with robust subscriber data like Fubo, offers the kind of addressable inventory that brands in automotive, financial services, and consumer goods have historically sought through cable providers.

Fubo's advertising sales now sit within Disney's broader commercial infrastructure, which has pursued aggressive programmatic expansion. Disney connected its DRAX system directly to Google's DV360 and The Trade Desk in March 2024, and expanded biddable ad technology across streaming platforms in April 2025 to make live content from Hulu and Disney+ available through programmatic channels. SportsNet LA inventory on Fubo thus becomes potentially accessible through that infrastructure, though the precise mechanics of how the network's advertising is sold and distributed under the new carriage agreement were not disclosed.

Fubo's trajectory and the road to profitability

Fubo reported its first quarter of positive Adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter of 2025, achieving at least $20 million - an improvement of at least $30 million year-over-year. Total North American revenue for that quarter exceeded $365 million, surpassing the prior guidance midpoint of $345 million. Paid subscribers exceeded 1.350 million, against prior guidance of 1.240 million at the midpoint. Combined with the Hulu + Live TV subscriber base, the merged entity totals nearly 6 million subscribers in North America.

The company launched Fubo Sports - a dedicated skinny sports streaming service - at $55.99 monthly on September 2, 2025, offering 20+ sports and broadcast networks. It had earlier introduced standalone premium subscriptions in October 2024, allowing consumers to access channels including FanDuel Sports Network, NBA League Pass, and Paramount+ with Showtime without a base plan requirement. These moves reflect a deliberate strategy to broaden reach beyond core subscribers - a strategy now unfolding under Disney's majority ownership.

According to the announcement, FuboTV Inc. is ranked among The Americas' Fastest-Growing Companies 2025 by the Financial Times, a recognition that followed the company posting a compound annual growth rate of 84.5% and absolute growth rate of 528.4% cited in April 2025. The company also owns Molotov, a French entertainment and sports streaming service. FuboTV Inc. is an affiliate of The Walt Disney Company.

Whether today's carriage deal with SportsNet LA was negotiated under the commercial leverage that comes with Disney's ownership - which includes major content relationships across the entertainment sector - was not addressed in the joint announcement.

Timeline

Summary

Who: FuboTV Inc. (NYSE: FUBO), a Disney affiliate and the sixth-largest pay TV company in the United States, and Spectrum SportsNet LA, the exclusive 24/7 television home of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

What: The two companies announced a carriage agreement giving Fubo base plan subscribers access to SportsNet LA's live coverage of every available Dodgers game, including pre- and postgame programming and the Backstage: Dodgersseries. For the 2026 season, SportsNet LA will televise more than 140 regular season games. Access is limited to subscribers within the SportsNet LA geographic footprint.

When: The announcement was made on March 26, 2026, with streaming access effective immediately - one day before the Dodgers' 2026 season opener against the Arizona Diamondbacks, which also features the team's 2025 World Series ring ceremony.

Where: SportsNet LA coverage is available to Fubo base plan subscribers within the SportsNet LA geographic footprint in the United States. Fubo operates primarily in the United States, with additional operations in Canada, Spain, and France (via Molotov).

Why: The agreement expands Fubo's regional sports network offerings at the start of the 2026 MLB season, strengthening the platform's appeal among sports subscribers in the Los Angeles market. For Fubo, the deal adds one of the most closely followed franchises in professional baseball to its already substantial MLB coverage portfolio - at a moment when the company is working to demonstrate subscriber growth and advertising revenue momentum following its October 2025 merger with Disney's Hulu + Live TV business.

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