- Sports streaming service fubuTV has signed a deal with Marquee Sports Network for Chicago Cubs baseball coverage.
- The Cubs broadcasts will only be available in the Chicago area and ‘surrounding regions’ including Indianapolis, South Bend and Des Moines.
- fuboTV has announced plans to launch their own sports betting platform later this year.
fuboTV–the sports streaming service turned sportsbook provider–has announced a deal with Marquee Sports Network that will bring Chicago Cubs baseball broadcasts to their platform. The parameters of the deal make it less of a big deal than it appears to be initially. The broadcasts will be available only in the Chicago area and ‘surrounding regions’. The press release said that the ‘full carriage footprint was attached’ though it didn’t appear to be. Instead, we hit up the Marquee Sports Network website for the 4-1-1. Bottom line–if you don’t live in ‘flyover country’ you’re out of luck:
Marquee Sports Network is available within the Chicago Cubs home television territory as determined by Major League Baseball, currently carried by more than 50 providers in portions of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Wisconsin.
Here’s the full list of cable providers:
MARQUEE SPORTS NETWORK CHANNEL FINDER
fuboTV is admittedly putting together a beefy lineup of sports programming and the addition of the Cubs broadcast definitely bolsters their position in the Chicago area:
The addition of Marquee Sports Network further bolsters fuboTV’s already strong sports offering, which includes more than 50,000 live sporting events annually – many streaming in 4K – and more RSNs in its base package than any other live TV streaming platform. The agreement also increases fuboTV’s local coverage in Chicago, where it already carries ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, Telemundo and Univision affiliates alongside national sports networks ESPN, FS1, CBS Sports Network, Big Ten Network, MLB Network, NBA TV, NFL Network and NHL Network among many others. With fuboTV, subscribers can stream a broad mix of 100+ live TV channels, including 42 of the top 50 Nielsen-ranked networks across sports, news and entertainment (source: Nielsen Total Viewers, 2020), and more than 30,000 TV shows and movies on-demand each month.
Lots of quotes in the press release starting with Marquee Sports Network General Manager, Mike McCarthy keeping it short and sweet:
“We are thrilled to have fuboTV offering Marquee Sports Network to Cubs fans. fuboTV has prioritized live sports and we look forward to them carrying Cubs baseball all season long.”
Up next is fuboTV’s SVP, Content Strategy and Acquisition, Ben Grad, who uses the opportunity to beckon would be cord cutters in Chicago:
“As we kick off the hotly anticipated 2021 baseball season, fuboTV is thrilled to bring consumers Marquee Sports Network’s extensive coverage of the Chicago Cubs. The addition of Marquee Sports Network to our leading sports, news and entertainment portfolio makes fuboTV a great streaming choice for Cubs fans, as well as other Chicagoans looking to cut the cord.”
fuboTV’s Co-founder and CEO David Gandler, added his comments and got in a mention of the company’s forthcoming gaming efforts:
“We’re excited to add Marquee Sports Network and their coverage of the Chicago Cubs to fuboTV. Our Fubo Gaming subsidiary is headquartered in Chicago, and the midwest market, particularly Indiana and Iowa where we recently closed market access agreements, will be a key cluster for our gaming strategy in the future.”
fuboTV plans to launch their sportsbook by the end of the year with market access in place for Iowa, Indiana and New Jersey.
