Live NFL Games on the Internet
August 26, 2010 9:43 AM Subscribe
Instead of paying high fees to watch my favorite NFL football games on Direct TV, is there a decent software package or Internet subscription to follow my favorite football teams live on the internet? I am willing to pay a small fee for this service. Any assistance would be appreciated.
No.
NFL has a tight monopoly fist on all broadcast rights, and those rights are locked down through the major networks and Direct TV. You can pay full price to get the online version of Direct ticket, but there are no other legal alternatives online.
There are grey/black market streaming solutions which you can find with some google-fu, but the quality is generally low and reliability is questionable at best.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:59 AM on August 26, 2010
NFL has a tight monopoly fist on all broadcast rights, and those rights are locked down through the major networks and Direct TV. You can pay full price to get the online version of Direct ticket, but there are no other legal alternatives online.
There are grey/black market streaming solutions which you can find with some google-fu, but the quality is generally low and reliability is questionable at best.
posted by T.D. Strange at 9:59 AM on August 26, 2010
See here. Apparently DirectTV is going to make their NFL Sunday Ticket package available via online streaming, without having to have DirectTV. However, at $350 I don't know if that exactly qualifies as a "small fee".
posted by split atom at 10:05 AM on August 26, 2010
posted by split atom at 10:05 AM on August 26, 2010
If you're ok with audio only over the internet, you can get NFL Audio Pass for $30 for the whole season.
There will be pirate options, but in my experience you'll have to deal with a lot of fake links, full streams, and streams that go down often. Not fun during the 4th quarter.
If you're ok with instant highlights, a good substitute is NFL RedZone. Just be prepared to not do anything with your Sunday afternoons.
posted by ALongDecember at 10:19 AM on August 26, 2010
There will be pirate options, but in my experience you'll have to deal with a lot of fake links, full streams, and streams that go down often. Not fun during the 4th quarter.
If you're ok with instant highlights, a good substitute is NFL RedZone. Just be prepared to not do anything with your Sunday afternoons.
posted by ALongDecember at 10:19 AM on August 26, 2010
Sunday Night Football games are going to be streamed live on NFL.com and NBCSports.com. That's only one game a week, but it's something.
posted by something something at 10:22 AM on August 26, 2010
posted by something something at 10:22 AM on August 26, 2010
Are sports bars an option?
posted by theichibun at 10:24 AM on August 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by theichibun at 10:24 AM on August 26, 2010 [1 favorite]
split atom: DirectTV's online NFL service will only be available to people who are unable to receive a DirecTV signal.
posted by zsazsa at 10:24 AM on August 26, 2010
posted by zsazsa at 10:24 AM on August 26, 2010
There are grey/black market streaming solutions which you can find with some google-fu, but the quality is generally low and reliability is questionable at best.
I tried this via a couple of different sites for a Cowboys game last year and it was very frustrating. I could occasionally find a decent stream but it would be killed within a few minutes. I abandoned my effort early in the 2nd quarter.
posted by neuron at 10:28 AM on August 26, 2010
I tried this via a couple of different sites for a Cowboys game last year and it was very frustrating. I could occasionally find a decent stream but it would be killed within a few minutes. I abandoned my effort early in the 2nd quarter.
posted by neuron at 10:28 AM on August 26, 2010
I agree with neuron. Trying to watch shady streams on Justin.TV and euro pirate sites is very frustrating. They're often shut down in the middle of the fourth quarter right when the game's getting good.
If you're not insistent on it being live you could try NFL Game Rewind. It's only $40 and gives you access to high-quality, commercial free rebroadcasts of all the games (as well as archived games from previous years). The games are blacked out from noon to midnight ET on Sundays and during gametime on Monday night but if you can avoid reading or hearing the scores in the meanwhile it's a good way to keep up with the NFL without cable. And no commercials or halftime bullshit so it doesn't take as long to watch a whole game.
posted by otio at 12:41 PM on August 26, 2010
If you're not insistent on it being live you could try NFL Game Rewind. It's only $40 and gives you access to high-quality, commercial free rebroadcasts of all the games (as well as archived games from previous years). The games are blacked out from noon to midnight ET on Sundays and during gametime on Monday night but if you can avoid reading or hearing the scores in the meanwhile it's a good way to keep up with the NFL without cable. And no commercials or halftime bullshit so it doesn't take as long to watch a whole game.
posted by otio at 12:41 PM on August 26, 2010
justin.tv is good if you find the right twitter stream to follow and the URL and password from them. i'll have to find a good source because the one i followed last year dried up. of course, i'd never post the name here, because i want it to keep working.
i also found this extremely useful. it pretty much always works, but sometimes would get laggy or the audio would be off.
if i don't care about seeing the game live, i wait an hour or so and then torrent the game. this is also useful if you care about more than one game that day.
posted by nadawi at 1:30 PM on August 26, 2010
i also found this extremely useful. it pretty much always works, but sometimes would get laggy or the audio would be off.
if i don't care about seeing the game live, i wait an hour or so and then torrent the game. this is also useful if you care about more than one game that day.
posted by nadawi at 1:30 PM on August 26, 2010
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posted by Hurst at 9:50 AM on August 26, 2010