NFL puts on blitz for fans with streaming options
Cord cutters have a few more options in their playbook to connect with the NFL this season.
Pro football is already the top sport in the U.S. — one-third (33%) of Americans prefer football, beating out baseball (15%), according to The Harris Poll — but the NFL continues to look for new ways to grow its audience.
This season that includes livestreamed Thursday-night NFL games on Twitter and the addition of the NFL Network, which airs 18 live games, and NFL RedZone channel, which shows live updates of every scoring play during Sunday action, to streaming services such as Sling TV and Sony’s PlayStation Vue.
“The fact that the NFL Network is now available to cord cutters is huge,” said Chris Brantner, who runs CutCableToday.com. “Now that the NFL is making their primary channel, which is seen as the must-have network for football fans, available live outside of the cable framework, well, it’s a sign of things to come.”
Some ways to get your NFL fix this season:
NFL Sunday Ticket. DirecTV subscribers are not the only ones who can get the satellite service’s exclusive NFL package, including all live Sunday out-of-market broadcasts. College students can get NFL Sunday Ticket at a discount ($24.99 a month for four months) and watch via computer, mobile and portable devices, Apple TV, Xbox, PlayStation and Chromecast. Non-student NFL lovers who cannot subscribe to DirecTV can check their availability for NFL Sunday Ticket as a stand-alone service on NFLSundayTicket.TV, at the standard rate ($49.99 a month for four months).
NFL Mobile. Verizon Wireless’ free NFL Mobile service (for Android and iOS, data rates apply) delivers live preseason games, Sunday day games in your local market and night games on Sunday, Monday and Thursday. You can also watch the NFL Network via the app, and live games will also be viewable in the go90 app for Verizon customers.
An antenna. Remember, you may be able to get live NFL broadcasts in HDTV from CBS, Fox and NBC via antenna.
PlayStation Vue (PSVue .com; $29.99-$44.99 monthly, watch on PlayStation 4 and other devices). In addition to the NFL Network and NFL RedZone, Sony’s streaming service also has live local CBS, Fox and NBC channels in more than a dozen markets, including Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles. (Check PSVue.com to see what live channels you can get.) Vue also has ESPN, which has weekly Monday Night Football broadcasts.
Sling TV (www.sling.com). Sling has ESPN in its Sling Orange package ($20 monthly), and local Fox and NBC channels in many cities, including Chicago, Dallas, New York and San Francisco, within its Sling Blue ($25 monthly). With Sling Blue, you can also add the Sports Extra package to get NFL Network and NFL RedZone channels (an additional $5 monthly).
Twitter. The social network will stream, for free, the eight
Thursday Night Football games, starting Sept. 15 with the New York Jets-Buffalo Bills, typically shown on NFL Network.
“The fact that the NFL Network is now available to cord cutters is huge.” Chris Brantner, who runs Cut CableToday.com