What Is a Regional Sports Network?

RSNs are channels devoted to televising local sports within a designated territory. Keep reading to learn more on how you can get RSN coverage.

By Taylor Kujawa

Mar 26, 2024 | Share

Regional Sports Networks (RSNs) are sports-oriented TV channels dedicated to a local market or geographic area. The primary purpose of an RSN is to air live sporting events featuring teams within its broadcast area.

You can usually find these regional channels in higher-priced TV plans, but not every TV provider carries every RSN. With carriage disputes as prevalent as ever, RSNs are becoming more difficult to find among cable, satellite, and live TV streaming services.

We’ll explain why you would want an RSN in your channel lineup and how you can tune in.

Jump to:

What’s on regional sports networks?
How do I get regional sports networks?
How do I stream regional sports networks?
What are out-of-market sports packages?

What’s on regional sports networks?

As the name suggests, regional sports networks (RSNs) specialize in broadcasting local sports. Each channel’s live game programming depends on the sports teams located within the designated broadcast area.

RSN programming also depends on if the network has a licensing agreement with the teams or leagues in its broadcast region. For example, multiple RSNs serve the New York metropolitan area, but only SportsNet New York (SNY) airs live New York Mets games.

Pro tip: Head to DIRECTV’s local RSN lookup tool and enter your zip code to see which RSNs are available in your area.

Typically, RSNs show anything from high school athletics to major league sports. You may even see less common sporting events like surfing, poker, and fishing competitions. In fact, some RSNs should really be labeled as RFNs (regional fish networks) for all the fishing content they air.

Outside of live events, RSNs also show classic game replays, documentaries, and region-specific studio shows. It’s like having an ESPN channel dedicated to your neck of the woods.

What’s a regional blackout?

A regional blackout is when content doesn’t air in a certain area because a broadcaster in another region has the exclusive rights. TV blackouts exist to protect the exclusivity of RSNs and other local broadcasters.

The only legal way to avoid regional blackouts is to subscribe to an out-of-market sports package.

How do I get regional sports networks?

You can only get RSN access by subscribing to a TV provider that carries the RSNs specific to your home area.

Many cable, satellite, and live TV streaming services offer RSNs, but not every RSN is available through every TV provider. For instance, while Fubo offers a variety of RSNs, that assortment won’t matter to you if none of the RSNs are available to your region. Meanwhile, services like DISH have eliminated RSN offerings altogether.

Before committing to any TV package, you’ll want to verify the provider’s channel lineup with your zip code.

Find local providers with RSN access

Enter your zip code below to view TV providers in your area and compare their RSN offerings.

List of RSNs

Altitude Sports
Bally Sports
- Bally Sports Arizona
- Bally Sports Detroit
- Bally Sports Florida
- Bally Sports Great Lakes
- Bally Sports Indiana
- Bally Sports Kansas City
- Bally Sports Midwest
- Bally Sports New Orleans
- Bally Sports North
- Bally Sports Ohio
- Bally Sports Oklahoma
- Bally Sports San Diego
- Bally Sports SoCal
- Bally Sports South
- Bally Sports Southeast
- Bally Sports Sun
- Bally Sports West
- Bally Sports Wisconsin
Buckeye Cable Sports Network
Marquee Sports Network
MSG Network
MSG Sportsnet (formerly MSG+)
MSG Western New York

Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN)
Midco Sports Network
Monumental Sports Network (formerly NBC Sports Washington)
NBC Sports regional networks
- NBC Sports Bay Area
- NBC Sports California
- NBC Sports Chicago
- NBC Sports Boston
- NBC Sports Philadelphia
New England Sports Network (NESN)
ROOT SPORTS Northwest
Service Electric Network
Space City Home Network (formerly AT&T SportsNet Southwest)
Spectrum OC16
Spectrum Sports
Spectrum SportsNet
Spectrum SportsNet Los Angeles
SportsNet New York (SNY)
SportsNet Pittsburgh (formerly AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh)
SportsNet Rocky Mountain
SportsTime Ohio
SWX Right Now
YES Network
YurView California

How do I stream regional sports networks?

You can watch RSNs with a live TV streaming service, but most don’t have a wide selection of RSNs. For instance, Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV, and YouTube TV don’t carry popular RSN groups like AT&T SportsNet and Bally Sports.

DIRECTV STREAM and Fubo are the best live TV streaming services for RSN coverage. Home to many RSN offerings, both services will most likely carry your regional network. You can verify your RSN availability by visiting DIRECTV STREAM’s channel lookup tool or the Fubo Help Center.

Some RSNs allow you to stream games online. If you already have RSN access through a cable or satellite TV plan, you can sign in to the RSN’s website or dedicated app using your TV provider login. Otherwise, some RSNs offer standalone streaming subscriptions like Bally Sports+ and NESN 360.

Pro tip: Check out our RSN Streaming article to learn more about the state of RSNs and how some networks are ditching sports altogether.

What are out-of-market sports packages?

Out-of-market sports packages are subscription services that give you access to regional content that originates from outside your home region. Apart from RSNs, subscribing to an out-of-market sports package is the only way you can watch non-nationally televised sporting events.

These types of TV packages are designed for sports fans who support non-local teams or who want complete league access.

List of out-of-market sports packages

Package	Service type	Details
ESPN+	Streaming	View plans Read ESPN+ review
MLB EXTRA INNINGS	Cable and satellite	Check Availability Zip Code Please enter a valid zip code. View Plans forXfinity Available in Read MLB EXTRA INNINGS review
MLB.TV	Streaming	View plans Read MLB.TV review
NBA League Pass	Cable, satellite, and streaming	View plans Read NBA League Pass review
NFL Sunday Ticket	Streaming	View plans Read NFL Sunday Ticket review
NHL Center Ice	Cable and satellite	View plans Read NHL Center Ice review
WNBA League Pass	Streaming	View plans Read WNBA League Pass review

Using a VPN to watch regional sports

You can work around regional blackout restrictions using a VPN (virtual private network) with your out-of-market sports package. This method only works for streaming services, as you’ll use the VPN to manually connect to an internet server located outside of the region you want to access.

Let’s say you’re a San Diego Padres fan who lives in San Diego, but you don’t want to pay for an entire TV plan just to watch Padres games. Instead, you can subscribe to MLB.TV and use a VPN service to connect to a server in Los Angeles. You’ll then be able to access all locally broadcasted Padres games on MLB.TV—though, you’ll then have Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers games blacked out.

While some VPNs have a history of being blocked by various streaming services, you’ll want to make sure you choose a high-quality VPN for the fastest and most secure experience. Check out our Best VPN Services guide for a closer look at our top recommended VPNs.

How do I watch an RSN on my TV?

In conclusion, regional sports networks (RSNs) are not viewer-friendly. The region-specific channels are usually found in higher-tiered TV plans, and not all cable providers and streaming services carry them. Sure, RSNs will get you a lot of local sports coverage, but their content offerings outside of major league sports are weak and sometimes rather fishy.

Unfortunately, there aren’t many legal ways to ditch RSNs and still get local sports coverage. But you can try using a VPN with an out-of-market sports app, like NBA League Pass or MLB.TV, to elude regional blackouts without buying into a full TV plan.

Why you should trust us

Our TV experts have hand-tested RSNs for several years across various TV providers and network regions. We’ve also spent over 200 hours researching and analyzing RSN content offerings in relation to MLB, MLS, NBA, NFL, and NHL programming.

Visit our How We Rank page to learn more about our methods.