It’s 2014, and we live in the height of the information age. Just a decade ago, streaming data such as video or even audio at a quality rate of 400 kilobytes a second for commercial use was unheard of, impossible. Yet, it’s a lower standard of streaming quality today. Every major American sports league has now entered the arena of digitally streaming video feeds of their games, some choosing to provide live coverage, and some choosing to only provide replays.
Let’s break down the streaming options of America’s Big Four to explore how to digitally stream NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL games and content.
NFL
The National Football League does not provide live streaming of their games. However, you can subscribe to their service, Game Rewind, which allows you to replay games after they have been completed. Subscription is based upon a tiered service, which allows you to access the full service for one week ($9.99), watch just your favorite team’s game replays for the season ($24.99), watch all game replays for the season ($29.99), or full-game replays for every team as well as all playoff games for $59.99.
If you subscribe to Game Rewind, the features also include an archive of all games from 2009 to the present day, accessible on any platform you like, including iPad and iPhone, as well as their Android counterparts. You can even download the game film to your mobile device to watch later, when you may not be online. While it’s not an ideal service for those who enjoy the live experience of the NFL, for those too busy to watch the games live, it may present an attractive option. There is also an audio-only service alongside Game Rewind called Audio Pass that mirrors its subscription, tiering at a lower cost to the user.
While the NFL doesn’t provide live streaming of their games, there are a few outlets who do. DirecTV, as part of their NFL Sunday Ticket plan, allows you to watch out-of-market games live on your computer, iPhone, or iPad using the DirecTV app, if you subscribe to the “Max” version of the Sunday Ticket service.
Whenever ESPN broadcasts NFL games, they can be watched live using the WatchESPN app on all major mobile platforms. Fox Sports takes a similar approach with their Fox Sports Go app, as does NBC with their Live Extra app, and CBS with the CBSSports app.
NBA
The NBA has a more encompassing option than the NFL, providing a service called NBA League Pass, which allows subscribers to watch all out-of-market games for the regular season live. Unlike the tiering system for the NFL, the NBA simply gives the option of adding on TV service (through your cable provider) to the digital subscription for an extra $50 for the season, from the standard $149 price for the all-digital service.
The digital service includes your laptop and all mobile devices and gaming consoles, and even works with some smart TVs. The features of the NBA League Pass beyond live broadcast coverage also includes replays of every game and up to four games simulcast at once on the same screen.
NHL
The National Hockey League’s Gamecenter streaming service allows you to watch all games outside of your market live and on-demand. The league charges a single flat fee of $169 for each season of the service, unlike most of the other providers, which use tiered subscription options. As with many of the other services, however, they do provide wide device accessibility to include smartphones and tablets.
Due to the market restrictions, however, the number of games is very much limited for potential subscribers. Services such as this or Major League Baseball’s MLB.tv, with major in-market limitations, are really only good investments for transplanted sports fans, who rarely are able to find local coverage of their favorite teams on television.
MLB
MLB.tv is the MLB’s season-to-season subscription service for watching America’s top tier of professional baseball. It has many focuses, allowing fans to choose from numerous options to suit their needs. MLB.tv has three levels of streaming video quality available, with the lowest level being the cheapest option for subscription at $110 for the entire season or $20 for a month’s worth of games.
This lowest video quality clocks in at 400K, or 400 kilobytes per second of streaming video data, while the two higher quality options clock in at 800K and 1.2MB. Those two quality options are available as the top tier of MLB.tv’s service, MLB.tv Premium, at $130 for the year and $25 month-to-month.
There is another option for potential subscribers to listen to all of the season’s games with an audio feed of the local radio coverage for $20. This feature is also included in the Premium level of the league’s streaming service. As an oft-recurring subscriber to MLB.tv, I can recommend the service very highly, particularly the Premium tier’s video quality and array of options for the viewer, including the ability to lay in a “mosaic” of games on your screen–up to six games on one screen!
However, one large concern for me as a subscriber was the great number of games that were blacked out, unavailable to stream due to television contracts with major networks. Until the number of blacked-out games drops or is eliminated entirely, I’ll likely never pick up a yearly subscription to MLB.tv.
Wrap-up
As the world of entertainment moves increasingly towards a more digital presence, perhaps the limitations of the old guard of the television networks and their gargantuan broadcast contracts with the leagues will begin to disappear. The exclusion of home markets could fade away into a thing of the past.
On-demand live streaming of all sports may become the primary choice for fans to enjoy and follow their favorite teams. However, until this happens, all or most of these streaming options for fans will remain limited to an option for transplanted fans living out-of-market from their home field. If you’re a fan who misses their team’s games due to living far away from your home team, like me, these services are likely to be a great option for you to enjoy and follow every game your team plays each season. If you’re living in-market, digital streaming from the Big Four American leagues has yet to reach you.