The sports fan’s guide to streaming services

Even in long-term relationships, there sometimes comes a point where both parties need to go their own way. In the case of my 21 years of being a DirecTV subscriber, that moment came when I returned home from a road trip and found some damage to our satellite dish and cable after a storm. Previously, service calls for DirecTV equipment outside the house were free. That is no longer the case. While DirecTV offered a free month of its extended service plan ($8.99 a month afterward) so this one repair would be at no cost to me, I decided we had irreconcilable differences and got a divorce.

The only reason I held on to DirecTV for so long was live sports. Back in the day, DirecTV was unbeatable for live sports. Not only did it have NFL Sunday Ticket, which showed every NFL game live, but it also had basketball, rugby, and even cycling. Over the years, content outside of the major US sports became harder to find on DirecTV as a lot of it moved to streaming services.

Let’s note one important thing—even with all the streaming options, watching sports over the air, cable, or satellite is almost always a superior experience to watching streams. Glitches are unfortunately not uncommon when streaming sports. Even Amazon had some stumbles during its first Thursday Night Football broadcasts. The game action also lags more while streaming than with cable or OTA. This can suck if you like to divide your attention between the game and Twitter X or Discord. It will suck even more if you’re a gambler who likes to place prop bets during games. With streams lagging 30–50 seconds behind broadcasts, some of those bets will be literally impossible to make if you’re streaming.

There’s also no channel surfing with streaming. For college football fans, part of the viewing experience is flipping between games, especially during the afternoon, when there can be multiple games going down to the wire at the same time. Cutting the cord means there are no channel up/down buttons to pound.

Less important, at least to consumers, is that broadcast sports is undergoing a sea change. Over the past decade, broadcasters have paid ever-increasing rights fees for live sports. In an age of cord-cutting, having a massive inventory of live sports has until recently been seen as cable companies’ best hedge to keep customers happy. That model has come under fire over the past couple of years. Regional sports networks, or RSNs, have been hit especially hard. Earlier this year, Diamond Sports, which operates the Bally RSNs that own the rights to some Major League Baseball, NBA, and NHL games, filed for bankruptcy. Even the mighty ESPN, which currently charges cable providers $9.42 per subscriber per month, is under pressure, as the company’s customer base has dropped by 30 percent over the past several years while ESPN’s rights fees have skyrocketed.

Some leagues have gone all-in on streaming—all Major League Soccer games are now on Apple TV instead of a traditional sports network. When the pact with Apple was inked in 2022, MLS became the first league to make 100 percent of its inventory on a streaming service instead of broadcast or cable.

College football has kicked off, the NFL is not far behind, and my beloved Denver Nuggets will begin their NBA title defense in October. And I currently have no way to watch most of the games. It’s time to wade into the morass of live-TV streaming services to see which offers the most for sportsball fans. Although some sports I watch are only available through streaming services, this guide should be helpful for those in the US ready to ditch satellite and cable TV. (And if I could get a Eurosport subscription in the US, I’d be all over that.)

While your needs will vary, here are my must-haves for a streaming service:

• ESPN family of networks
• TNT
• NFL Network and RedZone
• Fox Sports 1; Fox Sports 2 would be a nice-to-have
• At least one RSN or two (I would care about this more if I were a baseball or hockey fan)
• Big Ten Network, but not necessarily SEC, ACC, Longhorn, or Pac-12 4 networks

As I surveyed the streaming landscape, five services stood out as having a lineup that could come close to replicating what I got from DirecTV.

Nota bene: I am not covering standalone streaming services that offer sports, like Peacock Premium, Paramount+, or GCN+. This guide is focused on cable/satellite TV replacements.

YouTube TV

YouTube TV instantly became the top choice for NFL fans when it acquired the rights to NFL Sunday Ticket. Additionally, YouTube TV carries the major broadcast networks, along with the following sports-focused outlets:

• ACC Network
• Big Ten Network
• CBS Sports Network
• ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNU, and ESPN News
• Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2
• Golf Channel
• NBA TV
• NFL Network
• SEC Network
• TNT

YouTube TV offers a Sports Pack for an additional $11 per month which offers

• NFL RedZone
• BeIN Sports
• Fox Soccer Plus
• VSiN
• MAVTV
• Stadium
• Billiard TV
• SportsGrid
• PlayersTV
• Fight Network
• IMPACT Wrestling
• Tennis Channel.

What’s missing: MLB Network, NHL Network, and non NBC Sports RSNs.

How much: $64.99 per month for first three months, $72.99 per month afterward. $10.99 per month additional for the Sports Pack.

This is a solid option for me, but I would feel differently if I were a big Chicago Cubs fan. YouTube TV recently dropped all regional sports networks from their lineups, except for NBC Sports in the Bay Area of California, Chicago, Boston, and Philadelphia. If you live outside of those four markets, no RSNs for you on YouTube TV RSNs across the country are in varying degrees of a death spiral due to cord-cutting and unsustainable broadcast rights fees. Long story short, the NHL, NBA, and MLB will become much more involved in televising and streaming in local markets.

If you currently watch your local baseball, hockey, basketball, or soccer club on cable, YouTube TV is not for you because it doesn’t carry RSNs. But all of the ESPNs are there, as well as the Golf Channel, the Fox Sports networks, and CBS Sports Network. YouTube TV has also supplanted DirectTV as the home of NFL Sunday Ticket. As a long-time Denver Broncos fan living in Illinois, I’ve been a Sunday Ticket subscriber off and on over the years, depending on how bad the Broncos are (don’t get me started on the Russel Wilson trade). YouTube TV subscribers pay $299 for Sunday Ticket, which is $399 for non-subscribers.

Hulu+ Live TV

Hulu has made live sports a centerpiece of its advertising campaigns, and for good reason. It has a good lineup of sports networks, including RSNs, and it has an additional sports pack that you can add on for $9.99 a month that includes NFL Red Zone.

What it has:

• ACC Network
• Big Ten Network
• CBS Sports Network
• ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNU, ESPN News, and ESPN+
• Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2
• Golf Channel
• MotorTrend
• NFL Network
• SEC Network
• TNT
• Some local RSNs
• Sports Add-on for $9.99 per month, which includes MAV TV, Outdoor Channel, NFL Red Zone, Sportsman Channel, Fanduel TV, and Fanduel Racing

What’s missing: MLB Network and NHL Network, some RSNs.

How much: $73 per month.

Hulu has two big advantages over YouTube TV. First, ESPN+ and Disney+ are included in the price. That’s huge for sportsball lovers, especially college football fans. Hulu+ Live TV also offers a limited lineup of RSNs.  If you live in a market with multiple RSNs, be aware of this limitation. If you live in a market with multiple RSNs, like New York, Boston, Chicago, or Los Angeles, to name a few, you may not be able to catch all of the local games with Hulu+.

I live in the Chicago suburbs, so Hulu+ gives me access to NBC Sports Chicago, which has the rights to the Chicago Bulls, Blackhawks, and Chicago White Sox. The Chicago Cubs are on the Cubs-owned Marquee Sports Network, which Hulu doesn’t offer.

FuboTV

FuboTV is arguably the most complete package for fans, carrying multiple RSNs and even BeIN Sports, which disappeared from DirecTV and many other cable companies years ago.

What it has:

• Multiple RSNs (for Chicago, that means both NBC Sports Chicago and Marquee Sports Network)
• Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2
• ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN News, and ESPNU
• Big Ten Network
• ACC Network
• BeIN Sports 1-8
• Billiard TV
• Bleav Sports and Bleav Football
• Boxing TV
• CL Sports
• CBS Sports Network
• CSTV
• Fox Soccer Plus
• Fubo Sports
• Gol TV
• Horse & Country
• Impact Wrestling
• Mav TV
• MLB Network
• NBA Network
• NHL Network
• NFL Network
• Pac-12 Network
• Racing America
• Sportsman Channel
• Tennis Channel

What’s missing: One big name for basketball and hockey fans: TNT.

How much: $75–95 per month, depending on the package.

FuboTV comes closest to replicating the traditional cable TV sports lineup with its almost staggering array of choices. If you live where your favorite teams are on different RSNs, it’s easily the best option.

FuboTV also has a strong lineup of niche networks. And if you’re a fan of, say, team handball, you’ll be able to catch that action on BeIN Sports. The lack of TNT is a deal-breaker for NBA and NHL fans, however.

Sling TV

In 2015, Sling TV became the first streaming service to emulate the traditional cable TV model. Even though it launched with just 12 channels, one of them was ESPN, which was a big win for Sling. Eight years later, Sling TV is arguably better known than its parent, satellite TV provider Dish Networks.

What it has (italicized networks available with cheapest plan):

• ESPN, ESPN 2
• TNT
• Fox Sports 1
• NFL Network
• ACC Network
• BeIN Sports
• Big 10 Network
• NBA TV
• NHL Network
• ESPN News, ESPN U
• FS 2
• Golf Channel
• SEC Network
• MLB Network
• Longhorn Network
• Tennis Channel
• Pac-12 Network

What’s missing: RSNs.

How much: $60 per month.

Sling is fairly customizable, but its entry-level packages that are priced at $40–45 per month skimp on the sports. If you want all the sportsball Sling has to offer, you’ll need Sling Orange & Blue + Sports Extra.

Even then, Sling’s $60-per-month price tag is the lowest of the services. But there are no RSNs, so you’ll need to subscribe to your local RSN. Not all RSNs have streaming rights, though, so even a subscription might not let you watch your local MLB, NHL, or NBA team.

DirecTV Stream

DirecTV followed Dish’s example when it launched what is now known as DirecTV Stream in 2016. DirecTV has tried to replicate its satellite TV lineup in many ways, including the high prices. Its entry point of $75 is at the high end, and if you’re in it for the sports, expect to pay anywhere from $100 to $155 per month.

Listing image: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images

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