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Anyone with ESPN plus experience

Posted on 3/22/24 at 6:54 am
Posted by prattalumni
Member since Sep 2012
772 posts
Posted on 3/22/24 at 6:54 am
I hope I can get an answer since this might be my first year without YouTubeTV. I was looking to get an ESPN+ subscription this year to watch college football this upcoming season and was hoping I could see most games, but I wasn't sure if it works that way. I know there are no DVR capabilities, but I don't care as long as i can see most of the games live. Does anyone here have experience with this?

Plus, with the loss of CBS games, I figure ESPN+ might have those games as well, but I have no clue. Also, I wasn't sure about the SEC network coverage as well.
This post was edited on 3/22/24 at 7:03 am
Posted by Amarillo Tide
Amarillo, TX
Member since Aug 2023
380 posts
Posted on 3/22/24 at 7:06 am to
You can sometimes get Alabama games live on YouTube for free. In the search function, select "Alabama vs Arkansas" (or whoever Bama is playing). You'll find the game shown in a number of options.

The problem is, sometimes the powers that be at You Tube become aware that it's being shown and they'll block it with a message along the lines "This is copyrighted material". Funny thing, is, you'll see there are other iterations where others are showing it, so click on those until you find one that keeps showing the game.

For some weird reason, there is some guy in Vietnam (?!) that shows the games on there and it'll have a running stream of comments from viewers (often NON Bama fans) making absurd comments. And every now and then, the picture will switch to some Asian woman (maybe the wife or girlfriend of the guy streaming this?) making flower displays for maybe 60 seconds. All the time, people are commenting with funny/weird comments like:

"Is Flower Lady available after the game for a date?"

"Would Flower Lady have my baby?"

Then, the game will come back up. So, if you don't mind the commentary on the right hand margin of the screen, you can often find the game for free there on You Tube.
This post was edited on 3/22/24 at 7:08 am
Posted by prattalumni
Member since Sep 2012
772 posts
Posted on 3/22/24 at 7:51 am to
Interesting. I remember the days of justin tv or whatever, and i would watch those free. If I had to, i could go that route, but I'd prefer the traditional setup. I appreciate the tip though and will file that one as an alternate plan if the OG plan doesn't work out.
Posted by Teague
The Shoals, AL
Member since Aug 2007
21671 posts
Posted on 3/22/24 at 7:55 am to
Never mind. Misread your question.
This post was edited on 3/22/24 at 9:33 am
Posted by Riseupfromtherubble
You'll Never Walk Alone
Member since Jun 2011
38373 posts
Posted on 3/22/24 at 8:11 am to
He’s saying first year without YouTube tv.

I’m not sure if the main espn channels play live on espn plus. I have it for college baseball and European soccer
Posted by Sl0thstronautEsq
Antarctica
Member since Aug 2018
9248 posts
Posted on 3/22/24 at 8:44 am to
If you go to the FAQ on the ESPN+ site, it says (emphasis added):

quote:

What is ESPN+? How is that different than ESPN?

ESPN+ has thousands of exclusive live events, original studio shows, and acclaimed series that aren’t on the ESPN networks. ESPN+ allows subscribers to purchase UFC PPV events and access an extensive archive of on-demand content (including the entire 30 For 30 library, select ESPN Films, game replays, and more). ESPN+ content is available to stream in HD through the ESPN App on your favorite connected devices (living room devices, phone, tablet, computer, smart TV) and on ESPN.com. ESPN+ also gives you access to exclusive fantasy sports tools and premium articles from some of the most respected voices in sports news and opinion. All of this is available as part of your ESPN+ subscription.

An ESPN+ subscription does not give you access to stream ESPN’s traditional TV networks or the content on them. To stream those networks, you need a television subscription through a cable, satellite or digital provider.
Posted by Teague
The Shoals, AL
Member since Aug 2007
21671 posts
Posted on 3/22/24 at 9:32 am to
quote:

He’s saying first year without YouTube tv.


Ah, totally misread that as WITH YouTube TV.
Posted by imjustafatkid
Alabama
Member since Dec 2011
50309 posts
Posted on 3/22/24 at 9:42 am to
quote:

You can sometimes get Alabama games live on YouTube for free.


This worked for me every time last season. Sometimes the feed will get cut off, but you just search again and a new one is up.
Posted by CCTider
Member since Dec 2014
24112 posts
Posted on 3/22/24 at 2:13 pm to
I bookmarked the longest post I've ever made, for reasons just like this. It's long as hell, but covered everything...

This post accidently turned into a novel. But it covers pretty much everything you could want to know about IPTVs and streaming options. But I've seen this question come up every football season for years, and you probably won't need to ask any follow up questions after reading it. If you want, I'll let you where to send any "thank you" bjs or Bama tickets.

I'm 40, and have pirating in almost every way you can imagine for about 25 years. I sold pirate CDs in high school before Napster existed. So, I've been around, and here's how it works.

Yes, iptvs can be a awesome to use. But they're illegal as hell, and that's on both ends. What it is doing is providing a live feed of an active, live network. That's different than streaming movies or TV shows that were pre-recorded. That was just illegal for the person providing the stream (though that loophole might have changed.) If you were going to use an IPTV, you'll want a VPN. But those are cheap, usually three to five dollars a month.

So while they can be awesome to use, they can also be sketchy as hell. For example, the specific IPTV that poster mentioned, I looked into it. It is a good one, but has been a referral only system for a few years. A bunch of big IPTVs have gotten busted over the years. So they lock it down for security.

And with that service if you don't pay for a month you lose access. Because it is a good one they limit the number of users, otherwise it would buffer and lag during peak hours or big sport events. So if you miss a payment, someone else takes your spot, and you go to the back of the line. Popular sites can take month to regain access.

When you try to Google it, six or eight different websites with the same name pull up. Almost all of those are either scams or a shitty service trying to use their name. Avoid those like the plague.

You also want to try to protect yourself by not using your credit cards. Some will use PayPal, but that doesn't necessarily mean it is not a scam. Usually some kind of crypto like Bitcoin, or even Visa gift cards or the way to go. If it did get busted, i sure as hell wouldn't want my PayPal or credit card attached to their accounts. Like Wu-Tang said, best protect ya neck.

And some of those random IPTVs, especially ones advertised in Reddit posts, just decide to take the money and run. Whether it's a scam or they get busted, it's always been recommended it's only by a month or two at a time. I've heard a ton of stories of people buying a year subscription, just have the service disappear 6 weeks later.

And while they offer thousands of channels from all over the world, that doesn't mean the more the merrier. If they are offering 10,000 channels, most will not be actively moderated. It's just a bunch of shitty laggy channels, if they even work at all. It's usually recommended to find a service with a couple thousand channels instead of 20,000. They usually try to find one that's geared towards USA TV, UK TV, or whichever country you're region somebody wants to watch. There are very popular in Europe for people that want to watch American networks. That, and immigrants that want to watch network from their home countries. On one that I had, I pulled up TV networks from all over the world. It can be pretty fun to play with. I have YouTube TV, but I still wouldn't mind one just to have fun and play around on. But I can't find one that I trust, so frick it.


I spent a couple hours looking into it again, because I enjoyed watching Bama games on networks from Minnesota or Maine. It made for some funny commercials compared to the sweltering Gulf Coast. But for my needs, being able to already watch 95% of all games broadcasted, it's just unnecessary.

And to be honest, most of y'all do not have a good enough streaming device to use it full-time for iptvs. They will work, but they just lag way too much for my liking. I like to use and Nvidia shield. They work amazingly will. The best 2 streaming devices made are the Nvidia shield from 2019, then the shield from 2015/16. 3rd place is still behind a 7-8 year old device (the one which I'm using). That's how good the run. If your firestick is 3 years old, you might not like how it runs.

You want any sporting event for free? Without having to register an account and it's free? Download Kodi.

Kodi is just a media player. You can download it on your device's app store for free. It runs on any operating system (maybe not Roku, check your app store). PC, Android, iOS, Linux, etc. From there you just need to set it up. You set it up by installing "add-ons" and there are add-ons for pretty much anything you want.

Do you guys remember those sketchy as hell Russian stream sites? The ones with a million porn pop ups, fake video players, and malware just waiting to infect your computer? Yes, they worked. But it was like walking through a minefield. If somebody was dumb enough to install something, you might as well have thrown that device in the garbage.

What Kodi does is it goes to those websites for you, the add-ons have the feeds and link addresses, then Kodi grabs those links for you, so you don't have to risk destroying your device to watch a Bama game. It has no ads. It just grabs the feed that you want, from wherever you tell it to go.

The add-ons are basically programs guys have written that have all the links and feeds. It takes a little bit of experimenting experimenting to learn how to navigate the menus and to pull up different feeds. It's harder than apps like YouTube TV or the ESPN app, but it's not that hard.

Here are some very clear and concise setup guides to install add-ons:

The Loop

troypoint.com/the-loop-

The Crew

troypoint.com/crew-kodi-addon/

So far, I've been able to pull up games like Howard vs Eastern Michigan in HD, and the feeds I've watched from the PAC-2 network were way higher quality than this Tennessee game I'm watching on ABC on YouTubeTV.

So if you only give a shite about sports, this is your best bet, imo. That, or good luck trying to get on a good IPTV service.
This post was edited on 3/22/24 at 2:19 pm
Posted by Amarillo Tide
Amarillo, TX
Member since Aug 2023
380 posts
Posted on 3/22/24 at 4:09 pm to
I forgot to mention, the next morning, the entire game is always available on You Tube. There have been times I was traveling or indisposed and couldn’t watch the game and just watched it in it’s entirety on You Tube.
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