How Do You Get Your Football Fix?

[River Dog]

By that I mean who is your TV provider?

I used to have Charter Spectrum for both my cable TV and internet, but just before the season started last year, they got into a contract squabble with Disney, the company who owns ABC and ESPN. Even though the first MNF game was broadcast over the air on ABC and they settled right after the first game, it motived me to start looking for other options, so I dropped Charter and went with Fubo. It had everything I wanted: The NFL Network, NFL Redzone, ESPN, and our regional network, Root Sports, which covers nearly all of the Seattle Mariners games. It had up to 1000 hours of DVR capability, something Charter didn't have, I could share my subscription with up to 10 devices, so my daughter and brother-in-law are using my account, I can change subscription levels whenever I want, meaning I could drop the Red Zone package in the offseason, and it was cheaper.

Since I've been an Amazon Prime member for years, I already had access to Thursday Night Football.

A week from Friday following the season opener, there's going to be a very watchable game on Friday night, the Packers vs. the Eagles. It will be the first game played in South America, and you can see it live only on Peacock, NBC's streaming service, so my plan is to sign up with them for $8.00 a month then drop them after the month....unless the wife finds something on it that she likes. I did the same thing last year when one of the playoff games was televised live exclusively on Peacock.

I know that there are a lot of people that are upset, that the league, through their increased use of different internet streaming services, are charging for games that used to be televised over the air for free. But that doesn't include me, as the overall cost of watching football games, when you consider a subscription to a cable or satellite provider, is less, and in my case, when you consider that I'm sharing it with two other family members, a lot less.

So I'm curious what you guys have set up for your football fix and what your opinion of this trend towards internet streaming providers is.

[Aseahawkfan]

I watch a lot of games at my brother's. He has cable. I did use NFL rewind for a while as I was at work for games and couldn't access the games as they played, so just watched them after on NFL rewind. That was pretty cheap. Now there are a lot of online game sources to choose from. FUBO seems pretty expensive and I'm not sure how many Seahawks games they have. Or how their licensing works. I have no interest in spending a great deal of money on any media. I'm content to watch highlights and follow the game on the ESPN or NFL web site until the playoffs.

I do not like to spend a lot of money on media (on anything really). So unless I can find a fairly inexpensive option, then I tend to rely on friends or keep track of the game online.

Come playoff time I'll make sure to find a place to watch, usually my brother's.

[c_hawkbob]

ID Me is the web service that I had to se to get the military discount a Lowes and, as it turns out, many other shopping sites, and they sent me an email offering Sunday Ticket for $199 so I'm gonna see what it's like on Youtube TV as opposed to Direct TV. I've been streaming the games just fine until I inadvertently gave myself a virus last week so the timing of that offer was perfect.

[4XPIPS]

Well considering I live in New Zealand my NFL options are quite limited. I still use Fubo with a VPN on my amazon fire stick. FUBO isn't just sports. They have local channels(US of course), they have Court TV, and many others networks. So many shows, it's almost like having cable all over. So if you are just looking for NFL only then I would stay the NFL Sunday ticket is the go, but if you want NFL and more than go with FUBO. The other part I like about FUBO is that you can pause your subscription, and restart it at any time and during that time you do not lose your recordings and you aren't charged during this time. I do this when football season is done for and I avoid paying anything during those times.

[River Dog]

Well considering I live in New Zealand my NFL options are quite limited. I still use Fubo with a VPN on my amazon fire stick. FUBO isn't just sports. They have local channels(US of course), they have Court TV, and many others networks. So many shows, it's almost like having cable all over. So if you are just looking for NFL only then I would stay the NFL Sunday ticket is the go, but if you want NFL and more than go with FUBO. The other part I like about FUBO is that you can pause your subscription, and restart it at any time and during that time you do not lose your recordings and you aren't charged during this time. I do this when football season is done for and I avoid paying anything during those times.

That's one of the big thigs I like about Fubo and the other streaming services. They're much more flexible than either cable or satellite. They have to be, as there's a lot of competition out there. They're also portable in that you can use your subscription when you're on the road, although you won't get the local network stations when you're out of your region. If I go to an Airbnb or Vbro, I'll take a streaming stick with me so I can get my Fubo and/or Prime Video if the place doesn't have a smart TV.

It will be interesting to see how this lawsuit against the NFL and their Sunday Ticket agreement with YouTubeTV goes. A judge threw out the decision that went against the NFL, so there'll likely file an appeal, perhaps a new trial. But at the very least, it will throw a scare into the league and affect the way they award their contracts.

[jshawaii22]

Last year I coughed up $300 for U-Tube TV football, but not this year at $700 give or take. Not worth the $$$. I'll go the mile to Southpoint if there's really a game I want to watch that's not on local TV and they have the best $1.50 dogs in Vegas.

[Aseahawkfan]

700 for Youtube NFL. Wow. Crazy. How much is FUBO? I hear about FUBO stock all the time. I'm not sure how they can maintain their streaming positioning without owning the content. It seems at any point the leagues can make their own streaming service as well as competing against the Amazons and Youtubes and local network TV. Is FUBO competitively priced and does it offer every Seahawks game?

[4XPIPS]

700 for Youtube NFL. Wow. Crazy. How much is FUBO? I hear about FUBO stock all the time. I'm not sure how they can maintain their streaming positioning without owning the content. It seems at any point the leagues can make their own streaming service as well as competing against the Amazons and Youtubes and local network TV. Is FUBO competitively priced and does it offer every Seahawks game?

So, here are my two cents with FUBO. I use my FUBO with a VPN. I think it's a must. If you get a VPN you can load it up on multiple devices other than per say a Amazon Fire Stick, which I use. So, I have no choice but to use this combo considering where I live. My VPN is ExpressVPN, and its $99 per year. It is one of the more popular VPNs out there, and of course there are some free ones, but pay for what you get. I can set my location to either Los Angeles, Seattle, Phoenix, or Denver. If I load my FUBO up and see that the game is in a black out market(hence regionally blacked out), I just change my VPN region, and reload FUBO and now I can watch it locally, whether it be CBS, FOX etc.. I have rarely had to change my regions to watch the Seahawks, and college football when we watch Michigan play. Well considering Michigan was nationally televised pretty much all year we did not miss any games. So there you have it, you will get the Hawk's games all year with out the Sunday NFL ticket using a VPN and FUBO.

If you want to watch NFL games, or any sports games and not pay a dollar that you can download on Amazon Fire Stick, the Rapid Streamz app. It does provide links for each game, and it does work. Downside is there is no DVR, no pause, and the quality isn't as good as FUBO but it works. I was using Rapid Streamz with out fail this until I noticed I was missing games because of my work schedule and I couldn't record games. The games are live around 6 am or 10 am Monday morning here in Auckland. So, I just said 'f' it and got FUBO and been happy since. Just like RD said, nice thing is you can bring FUBO as well as a VPN anywhere and watch anywhere, as long as you have an internet connection.

[River Dog]

700 for Youtube NFL. Wow. Crazy. How much is FUBO? I hear about FUBO stock all the time. I'm not sure how they can maintain their streaming positioning without owning the content. It seems at any point the leagues can make their own streaming service as well as competing against the Amazons and Youtubes and local network TV. Is FUBO competitively priced and does it offer every Seahawks game?

I'm currently paying $84.96 for the Fubo's basic plus $11.99 for the regional sports package which includes Root Sports, home of the Mariners, plus tax comes to $105.20/month. Once the season starts, I'll add the "Elite with Sports Plus" that includes the Red Zone, bringing the total to $125/month. But keep in mind that I'm sharing this subscription with two other family members, so realistically it's less than $30/month per household during the offseason and less than $50/month when I include the Red Zone. Plus, I get 1000 hours of DVR storage.

Fubo offers all Seahawk games except Thursday nights, which is exclusively Amazon Prime. The Friday night game following the season opener will be televised exclusively on Peacock, NBC's streaming service.

The NFL already has their own streaming service, called NFL+, and they replay all games throughout the week.

[Aseahawkfan]

Interesting. I have been unsure of economics of FUBO and their moat against competition. They just won a lawsuit against some of their competitors. https://ir.fubo.tv/news/news-details/2024/Fubo-Wins-Preliminary-Injunction-Against-The-Walt-Disney-Company-FOX-Corp.-and-Warner-Bros.-Discoverys-Venu-Sports-Joint-Venture/default.aspx

There are some very big media companies trying to dominate streaming sports to maintain their income. I'm wondering if FUBO can maintain in that environment.

Sports eventually have to move to full streaming for a competitive price. Network and cable TV are dying slowly. 105.20 a month for FUBO you can split the cost with others with. A bit like password sharing with Netflix. I wonder what FUBOs licensing deals look like compared to network TV or a big streamer like Amazon.

I heard they do European football (soccer) too.

It perks my interest to see a few folks on here using FUBO. I wonder if they can carve out a niche if they can stream sports internationally. Sounds like 4XPIPS is from Auckland, New Zealand. I did not realize that, though maybe you mentioned it before. How do you become a Seahawks fan form New Zealand? Wild.

[4XPIPS]

I heard they do European football (soccer) too.

It perks my interest to see a few folks on here using FUBO. I wonder if they can carve out a niche if they can stream sports internationally. Sounds like 4XPIPS is from Auckland, New Zealand. I did not realize that, though maybe you mentioned it before. How do you become a Seahawks fan form New Zealand? Wild.

You may not remember, because I took a long time away from this forum. I came over from Seattle PI days, with the likes of most of everyone here, and some that are not here anymore Zorn76, rottirott, humancockroach, pottyp, political, etc... I would not consider myself a longtime OG- PI poster, as I arrived roughly 3 years before it was taken down. I was there the days when everyone was going crazy at the end posting nudes and xxx rated stuff on the forum, knowing all too well it was eventually going to come down. That was a funny few days.

My last post here was March of 2014, and just game back last season to posting here. I grew up in parts of Seattle, but lived the last 16 years in the US, in Las Vegas and eventually Arizona. I ran my own car dealership for 7 years in Arizona before Covid played a roll and it wasn't feasible to fight the market, the current govenment protected bigger companies with PPP loan offers, and the small business owners hardly got a response with the PPP loan apps at the time. However, I turned a new page in my life and my fiancé and I felt it was time late in 2023 to try something different(a lot to do with the government and roe v wade, but that is another subject) and we packed up and moved to Auckland NZ, and have been here since March of 2023. So haven't been here too long, but everyday is a new learning experience and we love it here. Culture is amazing here. After experiencing the same old Pete Carroll year after year I never felt to communicate Seahawk football and return to the forum. However, 2023 Seahawk's year was the season I felt Pete was on the hot seat, and I just had this feeling if we had another dreadful defensive year and we didn't progress with the talent, post Russ Era, I knew he would be gone. Personally for I am re-energized and cant' wait to see the direction this team goes. It's a nice balance in life to come back and see the banter, and back and fourth, and disagreements and various opinions again. So I am glad this forum never went away, even though many aren't posting like the old days

[Aseahawkfan]

You may not remember, because I took a long time away from this forum. I came over from Seattle PI days, with the likes of most of everyone here, and some that are not here anymore Zorn76, rottirott, humancockroach, pottyp, political, etc... I would not consider myself a longtime OG- PI poster, as I arrived roughly 3 years before it was taken down. I was there the days when everyone was going crazy at the end posting nudes and xxx rated stuff on the forum, knowing all too well it was eventually going to come down. That was a funny few days.

My last post here was March of 2014, and just game back last season to posting here. I grew up in parts of Seattle, but lived the last 16 years in the US, in Las Vegas and eventually Arizona. I ran my own car dealership for 7 years in Arizona before Covid played a roll and it wasn't feasible to fight the market, the current govenment protected bigger companies with PPP loan offers, and the small business owners hardly got a response with the PPP loan apps at the time. However, I turned a new page in my life and my fiancé and I felt it was time late in 2023 to try something different(a lot to do with the government and roe v wade, but that is another subject) and we packed up and moved to Auckland NZ, and have been here since March of 2023. So haven't been here too long, but everyday is a new learning experience and we love it here. Culture is amazing here. After experiencing the same old Pete Carroll year after year I never felt to communicate Seahawk football and return to the forum. However, 2023 Seahawk's year was the season I felt Pete was on the hot seat, and I just had this feeling if we had another dreadful defensive year and we didn't progress with the talent, post Russ Era, I knew he would be gone. Personally for I am re-energized and cant' wait to see the direction this team goes. It's a nice balance in life to come back and see the banter, and back and fourth, and disagreements and various opinions again. So I am glad this forum never went away, even though many aren't posting like the old days

Interesting story. They did tend to focus the PPP funds on bigger businesses. COVID crushed a lot of businesses, especially small ones. My buddy has a business based on Japanese tourism in Hawaii, he is just now recovering somewhat four years later. Heavy in debt trying to survive.

New Zealand looks beautiful. That is where they shot Lord of the Rings.

How is the cost of living in New Zealand? My friend's sister moved there for college and stayed. Looks like a beautiful country.

Hopefully this MacDonald era will get us back to competing for a Super Bowl. Be nice to get a hot shot young QB, Macdonald get the defense rebuilt, and compete again for all the marbles.

[4XPIPS]

Interesting story. They did tend to focus the PPP funds on bigger businesses. COVID crushed a lot of businesses, especially small ones. My buddy has a business based on Japanese tourism in Hawaii, he is just now recovering somewhat four years later. Heavy in debt trying to survive.

New Zealand looks beautiful. That is where they shot Lord of the Rings.

How is the cost of living in New Zealand? My friend's sister moved there for college and stayed. Looks like a beautiful country.

Hopefully this MacDonald era will get us back to competing for a Super Bowl. Be nice to get a hot shot young QB, Macdonald get the defense rebuilt, and compete again for all the marbles.

My dealership in Arizona was an EV dealer only, so we mainly sold pre-owned electric vehicles, like Teslas, Nissan Leafs, Fiat 500e etc.. So we were a niche dealership, and we did a lot business with the local government and big companies like GoDaddy and Honeywell. The advantage of buying an EV in the state of Arizona at that time granted you the opportunity to drive in the HOV lane. For those who had long commutes loved owning a cheap little EV, and not have to sit in traffic. We were turning over 50 cars a month with a small percentage over cost, but we did a nice volume for a small dealership. However, when the lockdown came into effect we went from 50 vehicles a month to maybe 8 vehicles a month. Everyone that had a need to commute were granted to work remotely, and all of our government contracts, big company agreements were terminated. Talk about going for the throat. After 4 months of just trying to keep my employees paid I had to close shop and button it up. I still have the emails of when I applied for the PPP loan, and my current bank Chase, responded that my application is under review and they will get back to me shortly. Meanwhile in the news big companies were getting their loans approved, Ruth Chris, Shake Shack, the LA Lakers. I guess those commissions were more enticing than helping the little businesses like mine.

New Zealand is where they did shoot Lord of the Rings, and many other movies as well. Cost of living is quite high, and some it makes sense as most of the materials have to be imported in. A gallon of unleaded works out to be about $9.50 USD, and your common goods are quite pricey as well. However, when I do go for walks along the coastline I do have to pinch myself because how beautiful it is here. In many ways New Zealand has done somethings very well. They have never allowed any nuclear product or device to ever enter the country. Not even a military vessel is allowed near New Zealand if it has nuclear cargo. There isn't a single predatory animal that resides in New Zealand. There isn't a single insect on the island that can kill you. My dogs don't require all the necessary rabies shots, because rabies don't exist here. No coyotes, no snakes, no scorpions, no lions, no mountain tigers, no bears, no alligators, no venomous lizards of any sort. Now, after saying all that they do have a rodent issue that is hurting the bird life here.

I don't post much, below is my Instagram handle, and it's just me posting pics of New Zealand. I don't pics of myself, and I am not trying to be an influencer by any means. However, after many months of peer pressure from friends and family back home I started posting.

https://www.instagram.com/ubiquitous_at ... _source=qr

[River Dog]

My dealership in Arizona was an EV dealer only, so we mainly sold pre-owned electric vehicles, like Teslas, Nissan Leafs, Fiat 500e etc.. So we were a niche dealership, and we did a lot business with the local government and big companies like GoDaddy and Honeywell. The advantage of buying an EV in the state of Arizona at that time granted you the opportunity to drive in the HOV lane. For those who had long commutes loved owning a cheap little EV, and not have to sit in traffic. We were turning over 50 cars a month with a small percentage over cost, but we did a nice volume for a small dealership. However, when the lockdown came into effect we went from 50 vehicles a month to maybe 8 vehicles a month. Everyone that had a need to commute were granted to work remotely, and all of our government contracts, big company agreements were terminated. Talk about going for the throat. After 4 months of just trying to keep my employees paid I had to close shop and button it up. I still have the emails of when I applied for the PPP loan, and my current bank Chase, responded that my application is under review and they will get back to me shortly. Meanwhile in the news big companies were getting their loans approved, Ruth Chris, Shake Shack, the LA Lakers. I guess those commissions were more enticing than helping the little businesses like mine.

New Zealand is where they did shoot Lord of the Rings, and many other movies as well. Cost of living is quite high, and some it makes sense as most of the materials have to be imported in. A gallon of unleaded works out to be about $9.50 USD, and your common goods are quite pricey as well. However, when I do go for walks along the coastline I do have to pinch myself because how beautiful it is here. In many ways New Zealand has done somethings very well. They have never allowed any nuclear product or device to ever enter the country. Not even a military vessel is allowed near New Zealand if it has nuclear cargo. There isn't a single predatory animal that resides in New Zealand. There isn't a single insect on the island that can kill you. My dogs don't require all the necessary rabies shots, because rabies don't exist here. No coyotes, no snakes, no scorpions, no lions, no mountain tigers, no bears, no alligators, no venomous lizards of any sort. Now, after saying all that they do have a rodent issue that is hurting the bird life here.

I don't post much, below is my Instagram handle, and it's just me posting pics of New Zealand. I don't pics of myself, and I am not trying to be an influencer by any means. However, after many months of peer pressure from friends and family back home I started posting.

https://www.instagram.com/ubiquitous_at ... _source=qr

Nice bio, PIPS, and you mentioned a lot of things about New Zealand that I was not aware of. Glad you've picked up your posting activity.

[c_hawkbob]

Sounds like a great place honestly. Nice post Pips.

Not even a military vessel is allowed near New Zealand if it has nuclear cargo

Not just cargo, but weaponry and even propulsion. If you're on a nuke powered vessel you can't port at Christchurch. A bit of overkill IMO, but it's their country.

[Spohawk5092]

Xfinity in Spokane, unfortunately......

[River Dog]

Not sure how many of you have DirectTV as your television provider, but they and Disney, the company that owns ABC and ESPN, are in a contract dispute and just shut down their signal to DirectTV.

It's the same stunt that Disney pulled last year with Charter Spectrum, in other words, waited until a week before the start of the football season and shut off their channels to a couple million subscribers. That's what motivated me to go with an internet streaming service instead of cable or satellite.

[c_hawkbob]

Yeah I had both the Utes and Huskies games set to record and all I got was 8 hours of studio talking heads. Xfinity here, this new conference lineup is turning into a free-for-all money grab by all parties.

[River Dog]

Yeah I had both the Utes and Huskies games set to record and all I got was 8 hours of studio talking heads. Xfinity here, this new conference lineup is turning into a free-for-all money grab by all parties.

Utes and Huskies? I think you meant Weber State and the Huskies.

Did Xfinity lose the Disney channels, too? All I heard was that it was Direct TV where they went dark.

I'm confused.

[c_hawkbob]

Yeah I had both the Utes and Huskies games set to record and all I got was 8 hours of studio talking heads. Xfinity here, this new conference lineup is turning into a free-for-all money grab by all parties.

Utes and Huskies? I think you meant Weber State and the Huskies.

Did Xfinity lose the Disney channels, too? All I heard was that it was Direct TV where they went dark.

I'm confused.

Two games. The Utes game and the Huskies game. I have both teams on auto-record.

And yes Xfinity/Comcast as well.

[River Dog]

Yeah I had both the Utes and Huskies games set to record and all I got was 8 hours of studio talking heads. Xfinity here, this new conference lineup is turning into a free-for-all money grab by all parties.

Utes and Huskies? I think you meant Weber State and the Huskies.

Did Xfinity lose the Disney channels, too? All I heard was that it was Direct TV where they went dark.

I'm confused.

Two games. The Utes game and the Huskies game. I have both teams on auto-record.

And yes Xfinity/Comcast as well.

Ahh, now that I re-read your first sentence, I can see that I mistook games as singular and read right past that 's'. I didn't realize that Comcast and Xfinity are in the same boat with DTV.