I’m going with Sling TV plus the Orange package again this year. I, too, only use it for sports, and, more specifically, college basketball. The only issues in the past were with those games acquired by Bally and its use of blackouts (although Sling did have some technical issues at the end of the season last year which were problematic. That said, they didn’t debit me for that period.) With the switch to the CW, I don’t anticipate those problems this year. Things ought to be much better, IMO.
If the CW signal is available in your area, consider attaching an antenna to your TV and watching the over-the-air broadcast version. As a rule, resolution is better than with a cable/internet signal.
Not sure where to put this, but checking @haney ’s ground rules, I’m pretty sure I’m good here. Still @jazznutUVA can feel free to relocate this as is his prerogative.
I’m going to be homeless for November and December. What’s the best way to find and stream Virginia basketball?
Public libraries are good places for homeless folks to watch streams, plus they are heated and have bathrooms. I found the librarians to be very helpful in getting me set up.
You will need a library card, which will be tricky without a local home address. Just use a local Planet Fitness address. Works for me.
I have had DirecTV for years, with ESPN+, and that got me ACCN. I’ve always been able to get all of the games on TV, and record them on my DVR. But DirecTV is pricey, and when we move back in after the renovation, I’m figuring on cancelling it, as we really use a fraction of the hundreds of channels.
But at the moment, I’m bouncing around in my Airstream and staying with relatives for a couple of months, so I need both a short-term and long-term solution.
So, I’ve got a $17.99 subscription to Hulu, that I have basically because my grown up kids still use it. But I’m planning to cancel that at some point in the near future. However, it appears that I can add ESPN+ for $10.99. That seems like a reasonable option for the short-term solution, but only if that gets me all of the ACCN and ACCNX, as well as the CW.
After that, I’ll have to explore the more permanent solution that can get me good resolution on my actual TVs, as well as the ability to record the games and/or watch them on replay. Happy for any advice from you guys.
Also, @73CAV, I have NordVPN as well. But is there a quick way to figure out which location is not blocked? And can you use that on your TV, or do you have to go to a computer or mobile device?
The Sling Orange (for ESPN/2/U/News) + Sports (for ACCN/X) that I have will get you 90% of our games. The exceptions are the Ft Myers event which is on Fox Sports and anything on CW, which is considered a local OTA channel and Sling doesn’t do local channels, as well as any NCAAT games on either real CBS or TruTV. I think Hulu Live and YouTube TV have options for local channels which get you the CW and CBS games. I put an HD antenna on my roof years ago for about $100 in parts that by and large does the trick, plus has the non-sports benefit of giving me TV to watch if/when the internet ever craps out.
Typically, I connect through the Manassas servers. When a game was blacked out, I simply went to a West Coast server assuming the further away, the less likely it would be blacked out there. I think in one instance, that wasn’t the case so I just tried another. Sooner or later, you can find one that works. That said, this shouldn’t be an issue with the CW. They’re available nearly everywhere, either through streaming services, cable, or over-the-air broadcasts. This ought to be a vast improvement.
As far as my TV goes, I only stream and use over-air-broadcasters. I use a Synology router which is compatible with NordVPN, but I’ve never bothered setting it up with the router.
Thanks. That makes a lot of sense. I just couldn’t figure out what the rationale drawing the lines for blackouts is. We’re out in CO, but sometimes east coast games are inexplicably blacked out.
However, we’re hard-wiring the house with this renovation and putting in a new router as well, so I’ll put the VPN on that too.
So, I did some other digging around and remembered that Verizon is offering a free promotional access to Disney+ with Hulu and ESPN+. ESPN says that “Telco” providers are one of the options for getting access to ACCN, so hopefully I can stream for free during our time in the wilderness. After that, I’ll figure out which avenue is going to be most cost-effective among the options of Sling, cable, or some other avenue. I just need to make sure that I still have access to CW.
I get ESPN+ via one of my Verizon subscriptions, can’t remember if it’s FIOS or Wireless, but either way, I can’t use it to watch ACCN.
I second the suggestion of getting a digital antenna for CW/CBS/FOX/ABC. I got a 30 buck one on Amazon and get all the local channels. It advertises a 150 mile range, but I highly doubt it can do that. YMMV. But just stick the antenna on a window, connect it to your TV and you’re probably good.
There’s also the thetvapp.to site that i use regularly. I use my TVs browser or my Firestick’s browser to navigate to the site and just watch straight from that. Resolution isn’t quite HD, but good enough for me. Even though ACCN isn’t listed on the channel guide, our game yesterday was listed under NCAAF and I watched the feed from that.
Thanks! I plan on calling Verizon tomorrow, but I’ll probably do the digital antenna as well. Trick is getting all of the wiring done now while the drywall is torn out.
I have YouTubeTV for ACCN/ESPN/local channels (including CW), and ESPN+ ($11/mo independently, but I have it in a bundle w/Hulu & Disney+ for $25 total) for ACCNX. That package delivered all the UVa games I wanted to watch last year, with the exception of the early game that was available only through the Fuzznuts streaming service, or whatever it was called. Wait–was that last year or the year before last?