JENNI CARLSON

Do you use Dish Network or Sling TV? Then you don't have Thunder games on Fox Sports Oklahoma

Jenni Carlson

You might not be able to watch the Thunder on your TV.

I feel like that needs to be bolded and all-caps.

YOU MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO WATCH THE THUNDER ON YOUR TV.

On the night Oklahoma City opens the regular season in Utah, virtually every Thunder fan will be watching. But if you use Dish Network or Sling TV, you won’t be watching the Thunder on Wednesday night. You won’t be watching Oklahoma City a majority of this season.

That’s because the group that owns Fox Sports Oklahoma is in a contract dispute with Dish and Sling. While the sides try to resolve the situation, Fox Sports Oklahoma has been removed from the lineups by both providers.

All but one of the Thunder’s regular-season games are scheduled to be on Fox Sports Oklahoma.

This, sports fans, is a problem.

I know about it firsthand because over the summer, my husband and I took the plunge and cut the cord. We said goodbye to cable TV for the same reason everyone does. Costs kept skyrocketing even though service remained the same. But we only made the break after my husband guaranteed he could find a provider that had Thunder, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State games.

I made those needs clear from the beginning. I didn’t care what streaming service we used — Hulu, Sling TV, Amazon Prime Video, PlayStation Vue, YouTubeTV — but I had to have access to broadcasts of the teams I cover most.

Sling fit the bill.

Once we added an antenna to get the local network affiliates, I was set. I got a little worried late this summer when some of the Fox stations disappeared. My first concern was college football games — Fox loves it some Big 12 football — but when FS1 and FS2 returned a few weeks ago, I figured all was well.

But I wanted to make sure. Last Monday was the Thunder’s only preseason game on Fox Sports Oklahoma, so it was a good chance to test drive our new service. I fired up Sling and went looking for the game.

Nothing. We tried resetting our streaming box and looking for the game on Fox’s streaming apps.

Still nothing.

Finally, my husband went online to try to diagnose the problem. He eventually started talking to a customer service rep from Sling while I put our 7-year-old to bed. When I came out of her bedroom after 30 minutes or so, my husband had some news.

“We now have YouTubeTV,” he said.

We didn’t know all the ins and outs at the time, but in late July, Fox hit an impasse in a contract dispute with Sling and Dish. When these things happen, viewers usually see a scroll on the soon-to-be-affected channels urging viewers to call their provider before they lose that channel.

Many times, disputes get resolved before a crisis arises.

But in August, with Fox’s dispute with Dish and Sling still ongoing, there was a wrinkle in the standoff. Sinclair Broadcast Group completed an acquisition of 21 regional sports networks that included many of Fox’s regional channels.

So even after Dish and Sling came to a resolution with Fox earlier this month, the dispute between those providers and the Fox/Sinclair bunch remained.

It still remains.

That means if you use Dish or Sling, you haven’t had Fox Sports Oklahoma for several months.

Unless you’re a Texas Rangers or a Dallas Stars fan, you might not have even realized you were without that channel.

But if you are a Thunder fan who uses Dish or Sling, you need to know you don’t have Fox Sports Oklahoma.

Back in the good ol’ days, back when the Thunder was must-see TV, you might have been able to wait out a situation like this. That’s because a big chunk of Oklahoma City’s games were nationally broadcast, and you could still see a bunch of them.

Not now.

Eighty-one of the team’s 82 games are scheduled for Fox Sports Oklahoma.

It’s impossible to say how long this Dish/Sling dispute with Fox/Sinclair will last, but there are much bigger markets than Oklahoma City that have been affected. Dallas. Phoenix. Detroit. Kansas City. Outrage from viewers in any of those cities has yet to move the needle and push for resolution.

So, what can Thunder fans do if they don’t have Fox Sports Oklahoma? Options to legally watch games are few.

Find a friend or neighbor who does. Go to a bar or restaurant carrying the game. Or change providers.

I hate to be the bearer of this bad news, but it’s better to find out now than at 8 p.m. when you sit down in front of your TV and expect to see the Thunder. Many of you will, but some of you won’t.

Plan accordingly.

Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at 405-475-4125 or jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK or follow her at twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok.

When the Oklahoma City Thunder open its regular season Wednesday night, some fans might not be able to get the game on their TVs. [Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman]