How do watch/stream sports these days?

[Auggie]

I cut the cord years ago to save money but recent increases in alternative live TV (Hulu, YouTubeTV, etc.) plus the cost for high speed broadband have negated a lot of those savings.

One solution I took was to drop live Major League Baseball. The only way in the Bay Area to watch the S.F. Giants is via NBC Sports Bay Area, at a cost of $72.99 a month*. My savings April through August is $364.95. Add March (goodbye Madness) and it totals $437.94.

Baseball is just as good on radio as on TV IMO, and local radio is free.

I will probably re-up the live subscription in September for the NFL, college football, and a taste of the NBA, but I won't subscribe to Prime for Thursday night NFL nor another streaming service like Peacock to see just one NFL playoff game.

I'm curious ... how is everybody handling sports streaming? What do you give up? What's sacrosanct? What do you consider the best deals?

*YouTubeTV: there are other options, but I've found this service to stream the most reliably. Plus the DVR storage is unlimited and it comes with MSNBC ... and ESPN. By streaming only six months of live TV, the "yearly" fee drops to $36.50 a month.

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Related: ESPN is moving towards a streaming service.

USA Today / May 18, 2023

An ESPN-specific subscription-based streaming service is in the works, according to the Wall Street Journal. ESPN would continue to offer its TV channels for cable subscribers, even after the debut of its stand-alone streaming service geared toward cable cord-cutters, the Wall Street Journal reported. There is no timetable for the launch of the ESPN streaming service, a project that has been internally code-named as "Flagship."

According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, ESPN collects more than $9 per cable bill. Comparatively, other cable networks average $0.49.

LINK: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/media/2023/05/18/espn-plans-to-launch-subscription-streaming-service/70233888007/

Old news, but the first I've heard of it.

[True Dough]

1. My wife and I

still have a cable package (the "middle" option with most of the sports channels at a decent monthly rate) so I watch most of my sports that way. But I do love having a game playing on the radio when I'm in the car or walking the dogs.

[we can do it]

2. Free MLB.com from T-MOBILE.