A regional sports network that has local television rights to games played by several professional sports leagues could go dark on streaming services Hulu with Live TV and YouTube TV in the coming weeks.
On Thursday, Monumental Sports Network said its contract with both streaming services is set to expire before the start of basketball and hockey season. The channel has local TV rights to games from the NHL’s Washington Capitals, NBA’s Washington Wizards and WNBA’s Washington Mystics.
It wasn’t clear from Monumental Sports Network’s statement when its agreements with the two streaming platforms are set to expire. Officially, the network has only said that it will likely end before the start of the upcoming sports season. The NHL’s 2025-2026 season begins in early October, and the NBA’s season starts a few weeks later.
For its part, officials at YouTube TV’s parent company Google say the decision to drop Monumental Sports Network comes after the channel demanded more money for continued carriage, which it couldn’t justify based on the limited reach of its regional network and the viewership of the channel.
Monumental Sports Network disputed this, saying YouTube TV was disparaging Washington, D.C.-area sports fans while “not actively negotiating with us.”
“YouTube TV’s suggestion that they’re shielding subscribers from cost increases is disingenuous,” Monumental Sports Network’s General Manager Friday Abernethy said in a statement by e-mail. “If they drop Monumental Sports Network, will they lower the price of their service for Capitals, Wizards, and Mystics fans who can no longer watch their teams or will they continue charging the same price — or more — for less?”
The decision to drop Monumental Sports Network comes at a particularly onerous time for YouTube TV, which could lose channels owned by Comcast’s NBC Universal and Televisa-Univision by the end of this month. YouTube TV is also expected to renegotiate its distribution agreement with the Walt Disney Company by mid-December, and could lose channels like ESPN, FX, National Geographic and ABC-owned local TV stations if that conversation goes sideways.
For Washington-area sports fans, losing access to Monumental Sports Network on YouTube TV and Hulu may not be too consequential: The regional sports network sells streaming access to live games through its own app, which costs $20 per month or $200 per year.
But adding a standalone subscription to Monumental Sports Network could be costly for Hulu and YouTube TV subscribers who want to watch games through that platform and who watch other channels on a regular basis.
It isn’t clear how many customers in the D.C. area are served by YouTube TV or Hulu — the services combined reach more than 15 million streamers, but neither app releases regular customer figures or offer insights into the locations of its viewers.
Still, Monumental Sports Network is hoping the services will reconsider their plan to drop the channel, and it has called out YouTube TV specifically, likely because it is the larger of the two providers.
“If YouTube TV is serious about serving its subscribers in the DMV region, it should come back to the table,” Abernethy said. “Monumental remains committed to our fans. We invite YouTube TV to do the same.”
