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NBA League Pass is now available through Amazon Prime Video Channels
If you can't get enough NBA action, you're in luck. Amazon is now offering live games from NBA League Pass part of its Prime Video Channels service. You'll have to get a League Pass subscription to access the content, which you can get through Amazon for $29 per month or $169 for a full season of action. A free week of access to League Pass is available starting today through December 20th.
The best ways to stream live sports
If you're a sports fan, there's nothing quite like kicking back on the couch, cracking open a cold one and watching your favorite team rise triumphant over the other guys. For the longest time, it was thought that the only way to have such an experience was via a TV coupled with a cable or satellite subscription. That's because, for the most part, sports are best enjoyed live, and watching live TV hasn't always been the province of cord cutters. Things have changed in the past few years, however. Not only can you now stream most live sports on your computer or your smartphone, but you don't even need a cable or satellite provider to do so, which can potentially save you plenty of money. Yet the process is less easy than you'd think -- it depends a lot on what sport you're into and which teams you support -- and there are occasionally local blackouts to contend with as well. But with the cord-cutting movement gaining momentum recently, it's now a lot easier to watch live sports online than it's ever been, as long as you know what to look for. For the purposes of this guide, we decided to focus on the five major sports that are most often watched live -- American football, baseball, basketball, ice hockey, and domestic and international soccer -- though we also offer information about other sports like tennis and golf where relevant.
NBA League Pass transforms games into VR viewing parties
Live sports broadcasts in VR tend to be solitary affairs, but they're about to become decidedly more social. Now that the 2018-2019 NBA season is getting underway, NBA League Pass and NextVR have revealed that they're offering shared viewing through Oculus Venues. If there's a friend across the country who can't show up to watch a game in person, they can don a VR headset and enjoy that sense of camaraderie. You'll even unlock a team jersey for your avatar if you tune in, so you can rep your favorite squad whenever you like.
YouTube TV adds NBA League Pass for cord-cutting sports fans
If you're all-in on YouTube TV and want more basketball in the mix, that's an option now. For $40 a month, you can add NBA League Pass to your subscription, or you can pay $249 for the entire 2018-2019 season up front -- as spotted by Cordcutters. This means you'll get every out of market game, commercial-free. Earlier this year, YouTube TV added MLB.tv to its sports streaming lineup, and it launched with the MLB Network and others for watching live games and sporting events. All that to say, the streaming service has slowly become a solid destination for sports fans since arriving early last year.
NBA League Pass offers a discount on in-progress games
If you're a sports fan, you've no doubt had that moment when you scrambled to watch the end of a live game after leaving a social function. And that can be expensive with streaming services -- do you really want to pay for a whole match just to catch the last 15 minutes? You won't have to with NBA games. As it hinted before, the basketball association and Turner are launching an option to watch games in progress at a "reduced price." They're not saying what that price is, but users have been seeing options to watch the last quarter of a game for 99 cents.
Turner's live sports streaming service launches April 7th
Turner's long-in-the-making live sports service is here... almost. The broadcaster has announced that its Bleacher Report Live service will debut April 7th in a free preview mode, with "flexible" pricing when you have to start paying in the summer. It'll present live sports in a Facebook-style home feed, with personalization that aggregates content based on your tastes. The sports selection won't suit everyone's tastes (you may want to consider ESPN+), but there are some reasons you'd want to consider BR Live over other options.
Sling TV offers League Pass to expand its NBA streaming options
A day after Sling TV revealed that it counts 2.2 million subscribers, the over-the-top internet service announced that it's added new add-on options to watch NBA games. Users can access NBA League Pass today to watch out-of-market games, and in the coming weeks they'll be able to subscribe to Team Pass to follow a single club.
YouTube TV gets TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network, CNN and a price bump
It's been almost a year since Google first announced YouTube TV, its $35-per-month service for cord cutters. Since then, Google has been iterating to improve on a product that was solid at launch -- but today marks the biggest expansion of YouTube TV thus far. The service now has access to a host of new channels from the Turner network, including TNT, TBS, Cartoon Network, CNN, Turner Classic Movies and a few others. For sports fans, YouTube is also adding NBA TV and the MLB Network as well. But there's a bit of bad news that comes along with this: New YouTube TV subscriptions will now cost $40, up from the $35 price that the service has cost since launch. The price increase will hit on March 13th, so new potential customers still have a month to get in the door and lock in the $35 rate; existing subscribers won't see a change to their bill at all.
Yahoo Sports teams with NBA on live games, AR and more
Verizon isn't just obsessed with football. The carrier has unveiled an expanded partnership with the NBA that will make basketball games and related content available across Yahoo and "other Verizon media platforms." To start, it's making much ado over NBA League Pass. You'll have the option of buying League Pass on sites like Yahoo Sports, and Verizon's "It's On Us" program will let you preview what you'd get without committing to a purchase. There will be additional material for non-subscribers, too.
NBA will broadcast every game in VR this season
While other broadcasters and sports leagues dabble in virtual reality, the NBA is taking the plunge. It raced ahead of the competition last year by streaming weekly live games in VR. Now, it's making its entire season immersive for League Pass subscribers. With the NextVR app, you'll not only be able to watch 27 live games on your Samsung Gear VR or Google Daydream headset, but you'll also get access to something called the Screening Room. Here you'll be able to pick and choose from every League Pass game in virtual reality. On top of that, the feature will let you select up to 13 NBA games to livestream on a massive virtual screen. And soon, you won't even be restricted to a Samsung, Google, or ASUS phone -- as long as you're willing to invest in a Windows Mixed Reality headset, that is. Yes, Microsoft's VR platform (which is coincidentally arriving just in time for the new NBA season) will support NextVR.
Dish helps you follow out-of-town NBA teams
It's tough being a San Antonio Spurs fan living in New York City, since I can only watch games shown on national TV. With NBA Team Pass, though, that's not a problem. And starting today, Dish is making it available to its subscribers for $119 per season, becoming the first pay-TV provider to do so. Up until now, Team Pass was only available as an online streaming service, but you should note that out-of-market blackout restrictions still apply with Dish's offering.
NBA gives you a better view of games on your phone
Just because you can watch live sports on your phone doesn't mean you'll enjoy it -- the footage is usually optimized for TV, which sometimes means staring at players the size of ants. You won't have to squint if you're an NBA League Pass customer during the 2016-2017 season, though. The basketball streaming service is trotting out a Mobile View option that gives you a close-up shot in its Android and iOS apps. You can switch back to a traditional view when you want an overview, but this promises to help in those moments when you want to identify the ball carrier or get a good look at that impending dunk.
NBA will livestream weekly games in VR this season
As far as professional sports leagues go, the NBA may be the most tech-forward of the bunch. Last year, it teamed up with NextVR to stream the first game of its 2015-2016 season in virtual reality. Today, both parties are taking that partnership one step further. NBA Digital and NextVR have announced that, starting this season (which tips off October 25th), they will be livestreaming one game per week to Gear VR headsets. It is the first deal of its kind, according to NextVR, something that bodes well for virtual reality as an entertainment medium.
Apple TV software update adds NBA League Pass, MLB.tv and Netflix 5.1 audio support
It didn't make it into the iOS 4.3 update notes, but second generation Apple TV owners are experiencing several new capabilities today including the ability to stream baseball and basketball games via NBA League Pass Broadband or MLB.tv and support for 5.1 audio on Netflix Watch Instantly. The Apple TV isn't the first device to bring these in front of the TV (the PS3 says hello, while Roku is still enjoying a decent lead in sports) but if it's the box hooked up to your flat screen already we see no reason to quibble -- if you're not seeing the 4.2 update yet, try hooking the lil' hockey puck to your computer via USB and letting iTunes do the work. NFL Sunday Ticket access is still the big fish no one has managed to land yet when it comes to sports in a post-cable cutting world, but we'll wait to find out if there will even be a 2011 season before expecting any word on that.
Holiday giveaways: NBA apps and prize pack
The crowds in the stores and the recuperation from holiday over-indulgence got you down? We've got the prescription: more cowbell holiday giveaways galore! There's several on tap for this weekend, and a couple of them will be App Hub exclusives, so you'll have to check there later today to see what pops up in the freebie cornucopia. The first giveaway du jour is a valuable prize pack for any NBA basketball fan, so fire up those commenting fingers and get ready for gametime. You can enter the giveaway just by leaving a comment with the name of your favorite basketball team. One lucky reader will be going home with these items: Two NBA iPhone apps, the audio game tracker NBA Game Time Mobile [$9.99, iTunes link] and the live streaming video app NBA League Pass [$39.99, iTunes link] to keep you up to speed on all the action through the rest of the 2009-2010 season A NBA-branded gift pack including an Adidas league sweatshirt, handy backpack and other assorted b-ball swag Our thanks to Patrick W. and the NBA for providing today's giveaway prizes. There's more to come! Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are 18 and older. To enter leave a comment on this post letting us know your favorite basketball team. The comment must be left before Monday, 12/28 at 11:59PM Eastern Daylight Time. You may enter only once. One winner will be selected in a random drawing. Prizes: One copy each of NBA League Pass for iPhone and NBA Game Time for iPhone; NBA branded merchandise pack (total ARV $150.00) Click Here for complete Official Rules.
