How to Watch the NFL During the Disney/YouTube TV Outage
YouTube TV and Disney continue to squabble over higher channel rates, but customers are the ones who are losing out. One of my colleagues learned this last night when her family was unable (easily) to watch their home team, the Philadelphia Eagles, even though they had the NFL Sunday Ticket package added to their YouTube TV plan. The ESPN/ABC blackout has hit YouTube TV sports fans hard, and with Google already compensating customers , there seems to be no end in sight.
Luckily, YouTube isn’t the only way to watch NFL football. While Disney and YouTube negotiate a deal, there are several alternatives you can try, and not all of them involve switching to a different Live TV provider. Before the next game, try subscribing or installing one of these options to watch football during Disney’s YouTube TV outage.
NFL Sunday Game Ticket
While it didn’t work for my colleague on Monday night, depending on how often you watch football, a ticket to Sunday’s NFL game might be enough. Currently, you can either add it to your basic YouTube TV plan or purchase it separately (though you’ll still be able to access it through YouTube). This will give you access to non-playlist game streams on Sunday afternoon, with unlimited simultaneous streams at home and two streams for those away. Plus, you don’t have to watch the live stream if you can’t—abbreviated replays of recent Sunday games are available on-demand from the following Monday through Wednesday.
A standalone NFL Sunday Ticket subscription costs $85 per month for new customers and $145 per month for existing customers. The package price for new customers will remain the same, although existing customers can save slightly by bundling Sunday Ticket with a standard YouTube TV subscription, which reduces the cost to $115 per month. Alternatively, a four-month subscription reduces the cost to $37.50 per month for new customers and $66 per month for existing customers (or $51 per month when purchased as part of a YouTube TV bundle). For the ultimate value, you can also purchase an annual pass, which costs $150 for new customers and $264 for existing customers.
YouTube currently advertises the YouTube TV and Sunday Ticket package as offering “the most live NFL coverage,” and in a normal season, that would be true. However, with the loss of ESPN and ABC, YouTube TV has lost access to Monday Night Football and many local games.
Local games and Sunday Night Football on Paramount+ and Peacock
Before we dive into soccer-specific streaming services, it’s worth mentioning other streaming services you may already be using. Paramount+ and Peacock allow users to watch matches broadcast on CBS and NBC, respectively, which may be sufficient depending on which teams you follow.
According to the NFL’s official ” Ways to Watch ” page, CBS airs six to seven Sunday afternoon games a week, and you can check your local schedule for details. NBC, meanwhile, airs Sunday Night Football, the premier primetime game with no other competitors.
A monthly subscription to Paramount+ starts at $8, while Peacock starts at $8, although the platform currently offers a generous bundle deal with Apple TV . Annual plans for Paramount+ start at $60, while Peacock starts at $80.
Fox One and ESPN package
Fox is currently in a similar position to CBS, allowing users to watch select local games during Sunday afternoons, but there’s a catch. In addition to its own schedule, the Fox One streaming service also offers a package with ESPN. This gives subscribers access to both local Fox games and ESPN Unlimited broadcasts. ESPN Unlimited includes Monday Night Football, which could be a viable solution for YouTube TV subscribers worried about the loss of ESPN.
A monthly subscription to Fox One costs $25, while an annual subscription costs $240. The ESPN package is only available monthly and costs $40.
Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime
If you have an Amazon Prime subscription, you have access to at least one weekly primetime match. Prime Video currently streams Thursday Night Football, which, like Monday Night Football and Sunday Night Football, is a signature game with no conflicts with other games. Since Prime Video is part of Amazon Prime, it’s likely you’ve accessed it without realizing it, unless, like everyone else, you need two-day delivery. If not, you can sign up for an Amazon Prime subscription for $15 per month or $139 per year, or simply subscribe to Prime Video separately for $9 per month.
ESPN, Disney+, and Hulu Live TV Streaming
It’s time to address the issue. If you’re a YouTube TV subscriber and are willing to partner with Disney over Google, you might want to check out its own offerings.
The most comprehensive of these is ESPN , which offers both ESPN Select and ESPN Unlimited. The difference is that ESPN Select only includes ESPN+ content, which primarily consists of entry-level, college, and non-football matches from channels like ESPN2 or ESPN3. ESPN Unlimited, on the other hand, includes all ESPN content, including larger matches from the main channel, as well as ESPN+ content, making it a convenient way to watch ESPN’s primetime Monday Night Football broadcasts.
Additionally, Disney+ subscribers will get access to a rotating “ESPN sports content lineup,” though you’ll need to bundle ESPN with a Disney+ subscription to watch most games.
If you need access to more than just ESPN content, you can also subscribe to Disney’s own live TV service, Hulu + Live TV . It includes all Disney channels currently unavailable on YouTube TV, as well as other channels, including CBS, NBC, and NFL Network (more on that later). It’s worth noting that Hulu + Live TV doesn’t offer NFL Sunday Night Ticket, and when purchased separately, it also doesn’t include on-demand viewing in the ESPN app.
Navigating the pricing for all of this can be tricky, so I’ll start with the cheapest options and work my way up. For simplicity, I won’t include annual plans, though keep in mind that Disney+, Hulu (except Live TV), and ESPN offer annual subscriptions.
A monthly subscription to Disney+ starts at $12, and Hulu is the same. Combined, these services cost just $13, so that’s probably where you should start. However, for higher-quality sports content, you’ll want ESPN. A monthly subscription to ESPN Select also costs $13, but for watching the NFL, you’re better off with ESPN Unlimited, which costs $30 per month.
There are also Disney+ and Hulu packages that include ESPN. Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN Select start at $20 per month, while Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN Unlimited cost $30 per month for the first 12 months, then $36 per month. Considering the first twelve months of the latter package cost the same as ESPN Unlimited, this option may be more reasonable, as long as you remember to cancel your subscription when it expires.
As for Hulu + Live TV, it’s the most expensive option, as it’s essentially a cable package. A package with Hulu + Live TV, regular Hulu (with ads), Disney+ (with ads), and ESPN Select (with ads) costs $64.99 per month for the first three months, which is cheaper than YouTube TV, but then increases to $90 per month. You can also subscribe to Hulu + Live TV separately for $89 per month, though this means losing a lot of additional streaming content just to save a dollar and doesn’t include the cheaper first three months. To remove ads from Disney+, you can increase the package price to $95 per month, and to remove ads from both Disney+ and Hulu, you can pay $100 per month. However, ESPN Select and Live TV will still have ads. Additionally, to watch ESPN Unlimited content in the app, you’ll need to add it to your Hulu for $30 per month (on the Hulu + Live TV landing page, ESPN Unlimited app content is advertised as included in that package, but when you go to checkout, it changes to ESPN Select, and the official plan listing doesn’t currently list ESPN Unlimited as an option in a package with Hulu + Live TV).
Finally, Disney offers a bundle in partnership with NFL+, which I’ll discuss later. This bundle costs $40 per month for the first year, then increases to $46 per month. It includes Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN Unlimited (all with ads), as well as NFL+ Premium. You can also pay an additional $9 (this applies to both the promotion and the ongoing subscription) to turn off ads on Disney+ and Hulu Premium, though ESPN Unlimited will still have ads.
What is NFL+?
Probably the cheapest option on this list, NFL+ gives you access to a ton of content for a small investment, but with some pretty serious benefits.
The service offers two tiers, both of which offer live streams of local and regular primetime football matches, but only on your phone or tablet. That’s right: they won’t work with the service’s TV app, and DRM blocks AirPlay and similar screen mirroring features . Even those who tried connecting the phone or tablet app to a large monitor via cable reported difficulties . Since football games are popular big-screen entertainment, and NFL+ is so low-cost compared to other options, this is likely due to behind-the-scenes content agreements with other services that ensure the app doesn’t take away from their subscriptions.
However, if you have a large enough tablet and only want to watch primetime or local games (including Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football, Thursday Night Football, and even Sunday matinee games), this is a great solution. NFL+ also includes live audio for every game of the season, ad-free highlight recaps, and a selection of original NFL Films content—all available on PC and TV, as well as on your phone and tablet. Upgrading to NFL+ Premium adds condensed game replays and gives you access to NFL Redzone (live streams of all Sunday matinee games), as well as the NFL Pro stats service. Replays and Redzone are available on PC, TV, phone, and tablet, but NFL Pro is only available on desktop and mobile browsers.
There’s also one way to watch games live in your browser: NFL Network’s live stream (also available as a separate channel in some cable and Live TV packages). It’s included in all NFL+ plans, but you’re limited to the content NFL Network broadcasts , which isn’t exhaustive and includes analysis and other non-game programming.
An NFL+ subscription costs $7 per month (or $50 per year), while NFL+ Premium costs $15 per month (or $100 per year). This is a great option if you want to stay up-to-date on stats and important events and don’t mind being limited to watching live games on certain devices.
Other live broadcast services
In addition to Hulu + Live TV, ESPN, local channels, and NFL Network are available on a number of other Live TV streaming services, as well as traditional TV providers, including DIRECTV, Fubo TV, Spectrum, Verizon FiOS, and Sling.
Despite the heated confrontation between YouTube TV and Disney, judging by previous YouTube TV outages, it’s unlikely to last long. This makes DIRECTV , Fubo TV , and Sling particularly attractive alternatives. Both DIRECTV and Fubo TV offer free trials: DIRECTV offers five days, while FUBO TV offers seven. Meanwhile, Sling Orange offers daily passes for $5 each if you only need to watch one specific game.
Buy a digital antenna
Finally, if your eyes are as glazed over by all these different subscriptions as mine, it’s important to remember that local channels like ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX are available via digital antenna in most parts of the US. While this isn’t a complete list, it will give you access to local games, as well as primetime matches, including Monday Night Football (aired on both ABC and ESPN) and Sunday Night Football.
While I personally had trouble receiving a digital signal, Lifehacker’s sister site PCMag offers a proven selection of antennas for just $25. Just install and forget.