4 ms·

You should look into NBA League Pass. $200 for everything.

by harryh 11y ago

ssharp 11y ago
In the US, League Pass doesn't get you your local team, the national games, or any of the playoffs. I know outside of the US, they offer an international version that has it all and seems great, but they can't do that because of television deals in the US.
fredleblanc 11y ago
The current problem with all of these deals is blacked out games. I subscribe to the NHL GameCenter (same thing, different sport) and for the money you pay, the things you can't watch are ridiculous (it's worse than the NBA one). Only out of market games are allowed, no nationally televised games (always considered "in market," even if they're showing on obscure channels), and the NHL doesn't give you any of the post season. I follow an out of town team that's bad, so it works for me. It's the weird straddling of "old model" and "new model," and the big players trying to catch up while keeping contracts happy. Up until this year, for example, when I watched my team play on their home channel, I'd get all the commercials too. So, same as being in-state. Now I just get a message about a commercial break. The weird crux of it all is that you can watch many of the games if you want to wait 48 hours after the broadcast ends. However, in a world so connected, even not being on social media, even following a team 2,000 miles away from me, it's still hard to be purposefully oblivious to what's happening. I was sorta hoping the next round of contracts would leap the content divide and make streaming a first-class citizen along the rest (I don't mind watching commercials while streaming, I'd assume that would just make those spots even more lucrative.) But it looks like we're still a couple years away from that.
- untothebreach 11y ago
  Yea, the Red Wings are the one thing I miss after cutting the cord. The only option for me other than GC is going to a bar, and for a few reasons, that is not an option either. So, I catch the highlights online, go to the rink when I can, and try to make sure that taking the kids to my parents house to visit just happens to line up with a game night.
  - fredleblanc 11y ago
    My bad team that's not near me are the Avs, so I hate you out of necessity. I'm sure you understand. :) Not that it's a great replacement, but I've really grown attached to listening to the audio-only streams through the NHL app. I'm pretty sure those aren't blacked out anywhere, and radio is still very entertaining. I especially love the crew in Ottawa and the crazy old man in Pittsburgh. Of course, there's the whole weird, questionable business model world of hockeystreams.com -- which puts really high quality streams of all sorta of hockey games up live (not just NHL, but I believe AHL and others too), probably proxied in from other places that don't have all of the silly restrictions. Their site isn't much right now, they limit subscriptions and during the season it's all "use" mode and no "sell."
    - untothebreach 11y ago
      Yea, I always seem to miss the "sign up" window at hockeystreams. I'll have to check out the audio stream, I hadn't heard about that, and I listen to a whole bunch of podcasts so I'm no stranger to audio-only entertainment. Also, I totally understand the hate from an Avs fan, and can only say, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
      - fredleblanc 11y ago
        ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ indeed! The outdoor game is gonna be great.
e40 11y ago
Except for locally blacked out games, which are the most interesting to people. So, that $200 deal is not that interesting to many people. Also, for the less technological among us, a cable subscription is required, which adds quite a lot to the price tag.
- icki 11y ago
  You can use a VPN, or pay for a grey-market service like BallStreams.
aczerepinski 11y ago
There's no way to watch every basketball game for less than $500. LP even blacks out games that it airs on the NBA's own TV network.
- thedavinci2000 11y ago
  Hmmm. Somehow people I know are always able to watch any game they want online in real time for free. Any sport. I think they may be pirating the games though. A google search is enough to find any game they tell me.
  - ssharp 11y ago
    I may or may not have done this when I didn't have cable, but the streams were slow and it would take me a few minutes in Chrome Developer tools to eliminate all the ad code so I could actually see the player!
  - aczerepinski 11y ago
    I don't want to be snarky, but you are basically explaining that things are free if you steal them.
nitelord 11y ago
I don't have League Pass, but I looked into the option last season. It turns out they black out the local team's game based on your IP geolocation. Aside from that annoying limitation, the general consensus on the Internet is that the paid pirate services can be much cheaper and have better quality streams than League pass.

You should look into NBA League Pass. $200 for everything.

by harryh 11y ago

You should look into NBA League Pass. $200 for everything.

In the US, League Pass doesn't get you your local team, the national games, or any of the playoffs. I know outside of the US, they offer an international version that has it all and seems great, but they can't do that because of television deals in the US.

fredleblanc 11y ago

The current problem with all of these deals is blacked out games. I subscribe to the NHL GameCenter (same thing, different sport) and for the money you pay, the things you can't watch are ridiculous (it's worse than the NBA one). Only out of market games are allowed, no nationally televised games (always considered "in market," even if they're showing on obscure channels), and the NHL doesn't give you any of the post season. I follow an out of town team that's bad, so it works for me. It's the weird straddling of "old model" and "new model," and the big players trying to catch up while keeping contracts happy. Up until this year, for example, when I watched my team play on their home channel, I'd get all the commercials too. So, same as being in-state. Now I just get a message about a commercial break. The weird crux of it all is that you can watch many of the games if you want to wait 48 hours after the broadcast ends. However, in a world so connected, even not being on social media, even following a team 2,000 miles away from me, it's still hard to be purposefully oblivious to what's happening. I was sorta hoping the next round of contracts would leap the content divide and make streaming a first-class citizen along the rest (I don't mind watching commercials while streaming, I'd assume that would just make those spots even more lucrative.) But it looks like we're still a couple years away from that.

untothebreach 11y ago
Yea, the Red Wings are the one thing I miss after cutting the cord. The only option for me other than GC is going to a bar, and for a few reasons, that is not an option either. So, I catch the highlights online, go to the rink when I can, and try to make sure that taking the kids to my parents house to visit just happens to line up with a game night.
- fredleblanc 11y ago
  My bad team that's not near me are the Avs, so I hate you out of necessity. I'm sure you understand. :) Not that it's a great replacement, but I've really grown attached to listening to the audio-only streams through the NHL app. I'm pretty sure those aren't blacked out anywhere, and radio is still very entertaining. I especially love the crew in Ottawa and the crazy old man in Pittsburgh. Of course, there's the whole weird, questionable business model world of hockeystreams.com -- which puts really high quality streams of all sorta of hockey games up live (not just NHL, but I believe AHL and others too), probably proxied in from other places that don't have all of the silly restrictions. Their site isn't much right now, they limit subscriptions and during the season it's all "use" mode and no "sell."
  - untothebreach 11y ago
    Yea, I always seem to miss the "sign up" window at hockeystreams. I'll have to check out the audio stream, I hadn't heard about that, and I listen to a whole bunch of podcasts so I'm no stranger to audio-only entertainment. Also, I totally understand the hate from an Avs fan, and can only say, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
    - fredleblanc 11y ago
      ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ indeed! The outdoor game is gonna be great.

e40 11y ago

Except for locally blacked out games, which are the most interesting to people. So, that $200 deal is not that interesting to many people. Also, for the less technological among us, a cable subscription is required, which adds quite a lot to the price tag.

icki 11y ago
You can use a VPN, or pay for a grey-market service like BallStreams.

aczerepinski 11y ago

There's no way to watch every basketball game for less than $500. LP even blacks out games that it airs on the NBA's own TV network.

thedavinci2000 11y ago
Hmmm. Somehow people I know are always able to watch any game they want online in real time for free. Any sport. I think they may be pirating the games though. A google search is enough to find any game they tell me.
- ssharp 11y ago
  I may or may not have done this when I didn't have cable, but the streams were slow and it would take me a few minutes in Chrome Developer tools to eliminate all the ad code so I could actually see the player!
- aczerepinski 11y ago
  I don't want to be snarky, but you are basically explaining that things are free if you steal them.

nitelord 11y ago

I don't have League Pass, but I looked into the option last season. It turns out they black out the local team's game based on your IP geolocation. Aside from that annoying limitation, the general consensus on the Internet is that the paid pirate services can be much cheaper and have better quality streams than League pass.