As consumer demand to “cut the cord” grows, companies are scrambling to offer acceptable alternatives to the traditional cable bundle. While cable television is not necessarily phasing out, more companies are working to create alternatives. There are a myriad of options that allow viewers to watch their favorite movies and television shows without paying for a cable subscription. Unfortunately for sports fans, there are not as many options because services like Netflix and Amazon Prime, which provide television content without requiring a cable subscription, do not include live sporting events. This market gap is due to the complications that accompany offering an online streaming option for sports, because most leagues have agreements with broadcasters that give them the exclusive right to show live games.
Live Streaming Options
Since major leagues often arrange broadcast rights agreements with networks, it is more challenging to watch league sports without a cable subscription. Sling TV is the streaming service that most resembles a traditional cable subscription. While it still offers a broad range of programming, it does not require a contract and can only be used on one device at a time. Sling TV is also less expensive than a cable subscription–only $20 per month. Both ESPN and ESPN2 are available through this service, which allows users to view Monday Night Football games, a number of MLB and NBA games, as well as many other sporting events. The service also includes TNT, which airs numerous NBA games, and TBS, which airs many MLB games.
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Depending on their Internet provider, a user may have access to live ESPN streams either online or via the WatchESPN app. Many college students in the United states and U.S. based military personnel can also access ESPN streams for free when their computer is connected to their respective networks.
If a user is looking to cut the cord and continue to view a particular league’s games, a subscription service for that specific league can also be purchased. The NFL, NHL, NBA, and MLB all offer their own packages for fans to watch games without a cable subscription.
NFL
NFL games are nationally broadcast on stations such as ESPN, FOX, CBS, and NBC. Without access to cable, one option for football fans is to purchase a subscription to NFL Game Access. This subscription package has two main components: the $30 Audio Pass and the $70 NFL Game Rewind. With the $30 Audio Pass, fans can listen to all preseason and regular season games in real-time. And with the $70 NFL Game Rewind package, fans are provided with an HD on-demand service of any pre-recorded games. Fans have the option of purchasing just one component of the subscription service or both, but neither gives fans the ability to actually watch live games.
Streaming live NFL games is complicated without a cable subscription. In order to watch live NFL games online, users can only watch if the channel the game is being broadcast on offers streaming. CBS is one network with the rights to broadcast NFL games, and it recently created a subscription-based streaming service–CBS All Access–for live content that features plenty of network programming. However, this service does not include NFL games because the network does not actually hold the streaming rights to those games. The CBS All Access streaming service does allow users to watch some live sporting events, such as NCAA Men’s Basketball. Cord-cutting NFL fans can watch games broadcast on CBS through Sling TV, and can view Monday Night Football through WatchESPN.
Fox Sports Go streams live NFL games broadcast on FOX, but this service requires a valid cable subscription. Sunday Night Football can be streamed via NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports Live Extra app, but also requires a cable subscription.
NFL Sunday Ticket is another option for NFL fans looking to stream live games without cable. Traditionally NFL Sunday Ticket required a DirecTV subscription, but it is now available for users without DirecTV–just at a much higher cost. Unfortunately, this package only includes Sunday afternoon games. And local games available on CBS or Fox cannot be streamed through this service.
The stand-alone NFL Sunday Ticket package begins at $200 per season. The preliminary $200 package only allows fans to access games on a mobile device or computer, though fans could easily use an HDMI wire to hook up their computers to a television screen. Upgrading device access, which allows fans to watch on the TV through their Xbox or PlayStation consoles, brings the package up to $240 per season. But this $240 package limits the user to only one console per season. In order to watch games on any device, the plan bumps up to $330 per season. In addition to access on any device, the $330 plan includes NFL Red Zone.
It is possible to watch in-market NFL games without either a cable or steaming service. Since most games are broadcast on traditional over-the-air broadcast networks–NBC, CBS, and FOX–it is possible to receive HD signals for free via an antenna. Though it is not a perfectly consistent method, and lacks advanced features such as recording, rewinding, or pausing the games, antennas allow fans to view most NFL games for a one-time hardware cost that is usually under $60.
The newest streaming option for NFL fans will debut during the upcmoing 2015-2016 season. For fans outside of the Buffalo and Jacksonville markets, the October 25th matchup from London will be streaming live at 9:30 EDT on Yahoo. Thus far, the NFL has only arranged for one game to be streamed in its entirety on the internet, but it is promising for the future of streaming.
NHL
Streaming services for the other major leagues–the NHL, NBA, and MLB–luckily are much less complicated than the NFL’s options. There are two major options for streaming NHL games in the United States: through the NHL’s streaming service NHL GameCenter Live and via NBC Sports. For $159 a year, hockey fans in the United States can purchase a streaming package that gives users access to live out-of-market games and live audio feeds to every game. Fans of teams outside of their local market (i.e. a Minnesota Wild fan living in New York) can purchase a more affordable single team package for the 2015-2016 season, giving fans the ability to only subscribe their team’s games, except when that team plays in their local market (following from the above example, when the Wild play in New York, it would be blacked out for the New York-based fan). Single team packages will be sold for $105 per season.
Unfortunately, local market games are blacked out for fans across all of these packages, as are nationally televised games. All nationally televised games are aired through an NBCUniversal affiliate. For those games, fans can stream via NBCSports.com or the NBC Live Extra application, but this option requires users to login with their cable subscription information. Coverage of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is also provided by NBCUniversal, which is impossible to access without a cable subscription. Numerous games are aired on NBC though, which is a traditional over-the-air broadcast network, and can be viewed by anyone using an antenna.
NBA
Similar to the NHL, the NBA offers their own subscription service: NBA League Pass. With this service, fans can stream games from their mobile devices, tablets, computers, and televisions. For $190 a year, fans can access games from all NBA teams. There is also a more limited subscription, giving fans the option to pick five teams to follow for $130 per season. And like the NHL, the NBA’s service includes local market blackouts. Also similar to the NHL’s service, full game replays and highlight reels are available after a game airs.
TNT also streams NBA games during the regular season and playoffs. TNT has a unique service that does not require cable: TNT Overtime. However, TNT Overtime does not stream full games, but rather provides second-screen “enhanced coverage” for free to a user’s computer, tablet, or phone. With this service, fans are given options of four HD camera angles to watch a particular view of the game, or can watch all four in a “mosaic view.”
Certain NBA games are broadcast on ABC during the regular season and playoffs. ABC has the exclusive rights to the NBA finals as well. So, fans without cable can use an antenna to view all games aired on ABC.
MLB
The MLB offers two streaming services: MLB.TV (Major League Baseball) and MiLB.TV (Minor League Baseball). MLB.TV costs $130 per season and fans have the opption to add MiLB.TV for an addtional $20. These services offer full out-of-market game video and audio live. But similar to the other major leagues, live streams of local teams are subject to blackouts. Along with their streaming service, the MLB is now streaming the MLB Network to computers and devices running the MLB At Bat app. In order to receive that stream, users have to prove they have a cable subscription, even if those users have purchased the most expensive MLB subscription (MLB.TV Premium).
Archived Sports Related Content
Some sports related content is available through streaming services like Netflix, HBOGo, and Showtime Anytime as well. HBOGo, for example, has a library of archived boxing matches, as well as original content on a variety of sports. HBO offers a stand-alone online service, HBO NOW, for non-cable subscribers that costs $14.99 per month. Showtime is also launching a stand-alone service as well, which allows customers to view their sports content that includes archived boxing, multiple sports related television series, and original sports documentaries. Netflix offers sports related content in their library, including 30 for 30 (ESPN’s documentary series) and EPIX’s original NHL series (Road to the Winter Classic/Road to the Stadium Series).
Cord cutting streaming is much more difficult for fans of major league sports due to the numerous restrictions created by the governing leagues. Sling TV is a great option for casual fans of football, baseball, and basketball because it provides a decent amount of content for each of the sports. If a person is really only a fan of one particular league and are a fan of a team that is not their market, then they may be best served by that league’s’ respective package. Until leagues lift local market blackouts, their subscription services are not nearly as valuable to fans as they have the potential to be. Therefore, and perhaps unfortunately, sports fans truly are best catered to by keeping their cable subscriptions, since that is the only legal way to watch all of their local market teams.