Is FuboTV Really The Best Cord Cutting Option For Sports Fans?

What is FuboTV? When people talk about cord cutting, sports often comes up as an issue. Missing a big game or not wanting to do so is a big reason some people pay for cable. Even if it seems too expensive, As live streaming services began to emerge to entice cord cutters in stepped FuboTV. The service has been marketing itself as a sports fans cord-cutting service. And often those who cover the industry have gone right along in describing it that way. But is FuboTV really the best service for cord cutting sports fans? The Streaming Advisor takes look at some things.

Does FuboTV offer a lot of sports channels? The answer is definitely yes. Out of 70 channels offered within the service’s $40.00 introductory package, 29 of them fall expressly under the sports banner. That’s almost 50% of the overall offering. I bet you didn’t know that there are that many sports networks in the US. Well, that’s because there really aren’t.

Lots of Options, but are they the ones you want?

A dispassionate breakdown of the offerings tells a bit of a different story. For instance, 10 of the networks offered are Bein Sports Networks. The Sports Network is a great place to keep up with International Soccer on multiple levels as well as tennis and motorsports. As far as college sports, Bein is essentially the Conference USA Network. Don’t know who is in Conference USA? Don’t bother learning. It will be different as soon as you commit it to memory.

Screenshot From Fubo TV — This screenshot from the FuboTV website shows some of the popular devices the service is available on.

Keep in mind if you are a casual sports fan, as most people are, the biggest tennis and motorsports events are actually on other networks or even free over the air. Bein Sports is not the home of Wimbledon or the Indy 500. But if you want to dive into the weeds Bein sports and the multiple channels it offers is your scuba gear.

Where you live makes a difference

FuboTV does offer some of the big name regional sports networks. Big Ten and Pac 12 fans will be happy to see tons of contests across a number of sports on TV, including ver importantly lots of men’s basketball and football. Will it include the specific Pac 12 channel for your favorite team, you will have to check with them on that. The service also has access to other regional sports networks based on the location of the user. For instance, I live in Raleigh and therefor Fubo advertised Fox Sports Carolinas as an option while someone living elsewhere would be given something else. For more on that topic, you can check out the FuboTV page on the subject.

Nationally, the channels include Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2 as well as sports specific channels like NBA TV, The NFL Network, and The Golf Channel.

What kind of sports fan are you?

So, is this a strong sports lineup? Well, it’s all about how you look at sports. Are you someone who just wants some kind of athletic competition on TV as often as possible? If so then there is no doubt that you will be able to find it on some channel most of the time. But let’s say that you are like most self-described sports fans. Do you really watch tennis on a regular basis? Do you love intraleague European Soccer/Football? If the answer is yes then access to the Bein sports channels will be heaven sent. But if what you want is the biggest NFL, NBA College Football, and College Basketball events, then the vast majority of the channels offered are not going to get it done. Why? Because the biggest games in any of the major sports leagues are on over the air networks and ESPN. Oh, did we mention that FuboTV does not offer any of the ESPN family of networks? Gosh, that’s kind of a big missing piece of the pie, isn’t it?

No ESPN on FuboTV!

That’s right, the sports-fan-friendly streaming option does not have ESPN or ESPN 2 or anything else from the Disney owned sports giant. That also means that all of the weekly NBA and MLB games are missing. Oh and the college football playoffs and most of the March Madness conference tournament action. None of that is available. Are we sure this is the destination for cord cutting sports fans?

Even more so, Inside The NBA, the multiple award-winning shows on TNT and the weekly signature games are also absent from FuboTV because the service does not offer TNT or any other Turner property.

So what do you not get with FuboTV?
Inside the NBA,, College Football Gameday (the top-rated college preview show on TV, Sports Center, The vast majority of College Football Bowl games,

Are you getting the picture now? FuboTV might really hit the spot for you if you are a very regional fan, with a love for sports that do not get as much play on the big networks as things like Football and men’s college basketball. But if you are a general sports fan who wants to check out the big games like The UNC-Duke Basketball game or The Yankees and Redox, or say, just throwing it out there, The Rose Bowl, FuboTV does not fit the bill.

With some of the things missing from the lineup it feels like saying you have a pizza lovers restaurant but you can’t get pepperoni, sausage or even plain cheese on any of the pizzas but did somebody say, Kale?

Final thoughts

This might seem like a harsh take on an otherwise decent offering. And it is a decent offering that provides not just a number of sports networks, but general content from channels like USA Network, Oxygen and 24-hour news from MSNBC (no fox or CNN). But the purpose of this story was not to find out if the service offered a balanced lineup. It was to determine if it is the option that sports fans should gravitate to. And in our opinion, the answer is no. Unless you are a very specific kind of sports fan a service like this is going to leave you wanting a lot more and missing out on the games and moments that everyone is talking about. FuboTV feels more like a great option for international sports fans who have little interest in mainstream American Sports, which is a real but smaller market.