Fox Sports on DirecTV: Where Everything Lives
The channel lineup shifted again last year when DirecTV wrapped up its contract transitions with the regional networks. If you're looking for Fox Sports on your receiver, the answer depends on which one you want and where you live. FS1 sits at 665 (SD) and 665HD (HD) across most of the country. FS2 is on 655 (SD) and 655HD (HD). Those two are national channels and don't change by region unless DirecTV renumbers something without warning, which they do more often than they admit. The regional Fox Sports channels are the messy part. Before the rebranding to Bally Sports, those occupied various slots in the 671 to 680 range depending on your local market. For example, Fox Sports Southwest was 669 in Dallas, Fox Sports West was 671 in Los Angeles, and Fox Sports Net Midwest was 671 in Kansas City. Most of those are gone now. DirecTV dropped the Fox Sports Networks brand entirely when the Bally Sports deal hit, and the channel numbers for those replacements vary by zip code and sometimes by model of receiver you have.
If you have a DirecTV satellite system and your local market got rebranded to Bally Sports, check your on-screen guide and search for "Bally." That's where the regional sports content went. If you specifically need Fox Sports regional coverage and your area isn't on Bally, your options are limited and you'll want to verify whether your market even still carries any Fox Sports regional feed. I ran into this exact problem last October when my wife wanted to watch a Yankees game and I told her to go to channel 671. The game was blacked out because that slot had already flipped to a Bally Sports regional feed that doesn't carry Yankees games outside the New York market. We ended up watching it on the MLB League Pass app on the TV instead, which cost extra and still had a delay. The workaround was simply checking the DirecTV website channel lookup tool with my zip code before the game started, which would have shown me the correct channel was 655 on FS1 for that particular broadcast. Here's how to find your exact numbers without guessing. Go to the DirecTV channel lookup page and enter your zip code. It gives you the precise channel for your location. Alternatively, press Guide on your remote, scroll to the Sports category, and look for FS1, FS2, or whichever regional network is active in your area. If you have an HD receiver, make sure you're tuned to the HD version of the channel. The SD feed sometimes lags behind or runs a different program, especially during live sports when the HD feed is the primary one.
Some things to keep in mind that most guides miss. First, channel 665 and 665HD are not always on the same tuning position if you have an older receiver. I've seen cases where 665 plays one thing and 665HD plays another because the HD subchannel got remapped during a software update. Second, if you're on a smaller plan like Choice or Beyond, you definitely have FS1 and FS2. If you're on the entry-level Entertain package, you won't have either of them and you'll need to upgrade, which costs more per month and locks you into a longer contract term. The big pitfall people run into is assuming the national Fox Sports channels carry the same games as the regional ones. They don't. FS1 airs select national games and studio shows. The regional games — MLB, NHL, college sports specific to your area — live on the regional networks, which are now mostly Bally Sports on DirecTV. If you cancel your DirecTV subscription and switch to a streaming service, those regional games are often blacked out anyway because of the same regional exclusivity rules, so you might not actually solve anything by leaving. Streaming exists as an alternative if you want to avoid the satellite commitment. YouTube TV carries FS1 and FS2 in most markets and includes most Bally Sports regions, but the coverage is patchy in certain cities and the price has crept up past eighty dollars a month. Fubo has similar coverage with a slightly lower price point but drops some regional networks in smaller markets. Both require a stable internet connection and neither guarantees your local team's games will be available without blackouts.
Get the Full Details
If you're set on DirecTV and just need the quick reference: FS1 is 665, FS2 is 655, and anything regional is wherever the Bally Sports channel landed in your zip code. Verify it once using the lookup tool and write it down somewhere so you're not scrolling through the guide every Sunday.
