How do you access and view Sabre games?

[LTS]

17 hours ago, NE Branch said:

Hulu vs ESPN+, which is better?  Is postgame on Hulu or does it just rebroadcast ESPN+?

It's the same company.. just rebroadcasting ESPN+.  Being on Hulu is just a way to cross-promote to those who don't have the Disney bundle.  Not sure if they broadcast the postgame.  And it should be said that it's Hulu and NOT Hulu Live that has the game.  Hulu Live is the linear broadcasting arm of Hulu (aka, cable competitor).  It's just the ESPN+ stream.. via Hulu.  Likely linking to the same streaming source.

13 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

That would be a game changer for me. Fubo is pretty expensive though.

It is.  There's no avoiding the insane expense.  People believe Spectrum to be cheaper.  Spectrum will offer it's $49.99 intro offer.. and in the fine print is the $21.99 broadcast fee surcharge (for bringing you the local stations) and if you want a box it's another $8.99 minimum. 

Bottom line, there's no shortcutting the costs of TV.  The licensors of the content all want their money and the cable, linear streaming, and satellite companies are at their mercy. 

The changing dynamic now is that the licensors of the content (aka MSG) are bypassing the cable companies, etc.  Their new product, while expensive for what it is, will offer a price point for people, like me, who don't watch anything else on TV that I need Fubo or Spectrum for.

 

[Stoner]

Got a free trial to Fubo to see if I get the Sabres game tonight. Then I will curse all the people who said you have to have cable TV in market to watch the Sabres lol.

Surprise surprise during the signup process they sprung the 13.99 regional sports fee on me.

[mjd1001]

This is an older article (about 1.5 years old) but it brought up some of the issues we are talking about here:

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/21/sports-fans-are-being-sidelined-as-rsns-fight-the-decay-of-pay-tv.html

Some highlights:

 Comcast stopped carrying Altitude Sports, the regional network that owns broadcast rights for both teams, because the two sides couldn’t reach a carriage agreement. Comcast said at the time that more than 95% of its customers watched the equivalent of less than one game per week.“My friends and family used to be so passionate, but now that you can’t watch, you’re not as in tune with what’s going on,” Wieger said. “You’re not as excited. You’re not as engaged.”

Comcast wants to sell its RSNs. Comcast shut down its NBC Sports Northwest RSN on Sept. 30, after losing the broadcast rights to air games from the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers. AT&T considered selling theirs before agreeing to merge WarnerMedia with Discovery earlier this year.

There’s also the future of fandom. If fewer people are exposed to local sports because they’re no longer available on their bundle and consumers can’t find them outside of pay-TV, younger audiences may have little interest in going to games or buying hats and jerseys.

Warning signs are already present. Research shows that younger Americans are far less likely than their parents to watch live sports.

“Forget the actual teams and regional sports networks, it’s not going to be good for the sport or the leagues,” said Michael Schreiber, CEO of Playfly Sports, a sports marketing and media company. “The trick is maintaining high exposure of live games across the U.S. at the same time as creating new, innovative ways to access the content.”

The biggest obstacle for a streaming service is affordability. Based on contracts with pay-TV operators, Sinclair would be forced to charge much more for a direct-to-consumer product than the amount that Comcast, DirecTV and Dish pay the company. One industry insider told CNBC the typical rate for a consumer would be five times higher.

Last month, Comcast dropped MSG Network from its Xfinity channel lineup, claiming that viewership was “virtually non-existent.”“We don’t believe that our customers should have to pay the millions of dollars in fees that MSG is demanding for some of the most expensive sports content in the country with extremely low viewership in our markets,” Comcast said in a statement. “Almost 95% of all customers who received MSG over the past year did not watch more than 10 of the approximately 240 games it broadcast.”

[LTS]

6 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

Got a free trial to Fubo to see if I get the Sabres game tonight. Then I will curse all the people who said you have to have cable TV in market to watch the Sabres lol.

Surprise surprise during the signup process they sprung the 13.99 regional sports fee on me.

What did that bring your bill to?  I think I am still grandfathered under the deal I signed.. something I might have to consider... although they allow you to pause your subscription for up to 6 months so perhaps that won't impact me.

[Stoner]

48 minutes ago, LTS said:

What did that bring your bill to?  I think I am still grandfathered under the deal I signed.. something I might have to consider... although they allow you to pause your subscription for up to 6 months so perhaps that won't impact me.

88.98. Not sure about any taxes fees surcharges etc. I plan on canceling.

 I think a much better option for me eventually will be the Sabres streaming service and the cheapest possible package for basic channels. I really only watch cable news and the Sabres.

[In The Buff]

I watch it on the best hockey website to view hockey ive ever seen.

Basically any camera on the ice anywhere in the world is available to view for free.

Sabres, Amerks, Finnish Hockey, KHL, OHL, QWHL, NCAAD1 Womens, any alphabetic letter you can think of.

More than happy to give the link to pm's

Edited March 9, 2023 by In The Buff

[PromoTheRobot]

On 3/6/2023 at 7:56 PM, NE Branch said:

Hulu vs ESPN+, which is better?  Is postgame on Hulu or does it just rebroadcast ESPN+?

ESPN+ does not show the Sabres MSG pre or post game shows. Other teams do get theirs on but there must be some kind of deal for that between the RSN and ESPN+. MSG has no such deal.

When it's a Hulu/ESPN+ exclusive game, you get the ESPN pre and post, not MSG.

Edited March 9, 2023 by PromoTheRobot

[Stoner]

So yeah I have the game on Fubo.

[WhenWillItEnd66]

Don't do it!!! Runnnnnn

[Contempt]

Regretfully?

[SwampD]

18 hours ago, In The Buff said:

I watch it on the best hockey website to view hockey ive ever seen.

Basically any camera on the ice anywhere in the world is available to view for free.

Sabres, Amerks, Finnish Hockey, KHL, OHL, QWHL, NCAAD1 Womens, any alphabetic letter you can think of.

More than happy to give the link to pm's

If a product is free, you are the product.

[LTS]

21 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

88.98. Not sure about any taxes fees surcharges etc. I plan on canceling.

 I think a much better option for me eventually will be the Sabres streaming service and the cheapest possible package for basic channels. I really only watch cable news and the Sabres.

Hah.. well how about that.  This month they upped my regional sports fee as well.  So I  guess I am now at the same rate.  Going to be putting my subscription on hold for awhile while I determine what I want to do.

 

[mjd1001]

On 3/9/2023 at 5:18 PM, PASabreFan said:

88.98. Not sure about any taxes fees surcharges etc. I plan on canceling.

 I think a much better option for me eventually will be the Sabres streaming service and the cheapest possible package for basic channels. I really only watch cable news and the Sabres.

If you have Hulu/ESPN plus, some people will  take the option of using a VPN and getting the Sabres games that way.  For some they don't want to watch on their computer or run an HDMI cable from the computer/laptop to the TV, but for others the 2-4 minutes of doing that before games is worth it.

[Weave]

2 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

If you have Hulu/ESPN plus, some people will  take the option of using a VPN and getting the Sabres games that way.  For some they don't want to watch on their computer or run an HDMI cable from the computer/laptop to the TV, but for others the 2-4 minutes of doing that before games is worth it.

ESPN+ has very mich figured out how to deal with VPN.  Don’t plan on VPN getting you access to blacked out games.

[mjd1001]

10 hours ago, Weave said:

ESPN+ has very mich figured out how to deal with VPN.  Don’t plan on VPN getting you access to blacked out games.

It is still working for some people.

Edited March 25, 2023 by mjd1001

[LTS]

48 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

It is still working for some people.

The VPN will work until ESPN gets the IP address of the VPN endpoint and blocks it.  I presume ESPN is actually using one of the common security services that categorizes URLs and IPs and simply blocks requests coming from any IP that ends up in the VPN category.  I can do that with my firewall.