YouTube TV to Dump FOX Sports Ohio, Cavaliers This Weekend

YouTube television subscribers will no longer be able to watch Cavaliers games on FOX Sports Ohio, starting Saturday.

The streaming service announced that it is dumping both FOX Sports Ohio and sister station SportsTime Ohio after failing to reach a financial agreement with Sinclair Broadcasting Group. Sinclair purchased FOX Sports Ohio and other similar regional networks from Disney in August.

A tweet from YouTube TV detailed its decision.

“We do not take this decision lightly," the tweet read. “This is a reflection of the rising cost of sports content. You may have noticed several other TV services have also decided to remove FOX Regional Sports Networks from their lineups.”

SlingTV and fuboTV also dropped FOX Sports Ohio last month.

“We offered YouTube TV the best terms under which their competitors carry our Regional Sports Networks," Sinclair said in a statement. "Unfortunately, they alone decided to drop these channels citing ‘rising costs’ despite our offer to actually lower the fees they pay us,” a Sinclair spokesman said in a statement to media outlets including CNET."

Along with the Cavs, YouTube TV subscribers will now no longer to be able to watch telecasts of regional games involving baseball's Cleveland Indians or Cincinnati Reds, or the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets.

“We also offered to continue negotiating under a short-term extension so that their subscribers could continue to watch their favorite hometown teams", Sinclair's statement read. "They’ve not yet responded to this offer. Given the ease with which YouTube TV subscribers can drop the service and switch providers, we are surprised that they’ve chosen this course.”

FOX Sports Ohio has not released a statement or commented.

The Cavs visit the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday. They return home to face the Indiana Pacers on Saturday, the first game not available on YouTube TV.

The majority of cable providers in Ohio will continue to carry FOX Sports Ohio and SportsTime Ohio. The Cavs and FSO are also available on streaming services AT&T Now's Max plan and Hulu TV.