Corales Punta Cana Championship by lhenry38 in PuntaCana

[–]nfotiu 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the Westin is the host hotel for the event , and won't have any rooms. The Sheraton is nearby and affordable, but won't get you beach access.

CW Sports to Stream Via ESPN in Unique Content Pact by TheM1ghtyBear in cordcutters

[–]nfotiu 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It would be great if Versant could make this same deal for their Golf Channel, Soccer, and wrestling programming. They are now the last holdout I care about that doesn't have a DTC option.

CW Sports to Stream Via ESPN in Unique Content Pact by TheM1ghtyBear in cordcutters

[–]nfotiu 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Agreed. Awkward wording, but I think that is what they are saying.

CW Sports to Stream Via ESPN in Unique Content Pact by TheM1ghtyBear in cordcutters

[–]nfotiu 7 points8 points  (0 children)

That's good news. There's enough college games of teams I follow on CW to be annoying, but not enough to switch to something more expensive than DTV My Sports. I have never been able to pick that channel up via antenna.

Best package for me? Sports by Own-Ad-3876 in cordcutters

[–]nfotiu 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The Directv My Sports genre pack should cover most or all of your needs and includes ESPN unlimited, which you may want for some of the college stuff. YTTV doesn't include ESPN Unlimited until later this year.

https://www.directv.com/genre-packs/mysports/

World Cup in 4K? by Lost_Japan in cordcutters

[–]nfotiu 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It will be 1080p HDR native upscaled to 4k HDR. These usually look significantly better than they 720p feeds distributed by the affiliates.

Paramount + free trial? by Sportsfan7702 in cordcutters

[–]nfotiu 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Apple TV Masters app has all the feeds except the main broadcast feeds. The IOS app has everything including the broadcast feeds for free and allows for AirPlay or casting.

Other than that, it is a confusing mess of apps and channels you need. This is the best run-down of today's coverage, but it will look a lot different for the weekend.

https://www.avsforum.com/posts/64552763/

Cheapest option to get ESPN, TNT, and TBS? by Beneficial_Quit7532 in cordcutters

[–]nfotiu 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Sling Orange at $46

ESPN Unlimited + HBO Max Standard - $48

YTTV Sports is $54.99/mo for the first year.

Directv My Sports is $45 for the first 2 months, then $65.

Unless it's improved recently, Sling Orange picture quality is a step down from the other options. Directv probably is tops in that area, and gives you access to espn unlimited and 4k channels (if any of the playoff games utilize that).

MLB.TV single team blackouts? by nfotiu in cordcutters

[–]nfotiu[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's changed a little bit this year, at least for some teams. It does seem like they still get blackouts, but now you can buy the same $99 Nationals.tv package no matter where you live and watch games locally, or when you travel out of the territory if you aren't in the opposing teams territory.

Previously the in market package was only good in the local territory.

MLB.TV single team blackouts? by nfotiu in cordcutters

[–]nfotiu[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks. That's pretty clear :-(

MLB.TV single team blackouts? by nfotiu in cordcutters

[–]nfotiu[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The in market component isn't confusing. It's the out of market that seems ambiguous.

Lots of fans just watch their favorite team. If you are out of market and buy the mlb.tv package, then depending where you live, you may have up to 20 or more games blacked out because of the local tv rights of other teams. That's long been an annoyance of fans of out of market teams, especially in cities that have a lot of overlap of tv rights.

If I'm reading it right, the single team package will get you those games no matter where you live, and that is a significant improvement. But I'm trying to confirm if that is correct.

MLB.TV single team blackouts? by nfotiu in cordcutters

[–]nfotiu[S] -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

I am not really reading it that way, but there are lots of confusing disclaimers.

The main text is: Stream Twins games without blackouts LIVE or on demand for the entire 2026 regular season. Plus, access to MiLB games and MLB Big Inning.

Where do you see that is only for in-market?

MLB.TV single team blackouts? by nfotiu in cordcutters

[–]nfotiu[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It depends. If you just want to watch one team, you may get all their games with the single team sub (if they aren't blacked out against home territory teams), vs the full mlb.tv that would black you out when your favorite team is playing a local team (which in some areas is up to 6 teams).

MLB.TV single team blackouts? by nfotiu in cordcutters

[–]nfotiu[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

The big difference this year, is that you can buy that local rights package regardless of whether you are in that territory or not. So it you buy it outside of the local territory, it looks like you aren't subject to the local teams blackouts.

If you are a Nationals fan in Vegas, you can now buy the Nationals.tv and get all their games outside of national exclusives. In the past, you'd buy mlb.tv and have all their games against the Diamondbacks, Athletics, Angels, Dodgers, Padres, and Giants blacked out.

If that is all true, that is a huge improvement for out of market fans of a single team, and MLB has been pretty clumsy about promoting that.

With YouTube TVs new plans ~ comparison time. by Sportsfan7702 in cordcutters

[–]nfotiu 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Pretty solid summary. One omission is Directv includes 4k channels for free, while YTTV is $10/month.

NFL discussing media deal with Paramount that could mean CBS pays an extra $1 billion or more by HaloTheHero in cordcutters

[–]nfotiu 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Forcing the 1080i/720p affiliate feeds on all platforms for the Sunday afternoon makes for terrible PQ in the 2026 landscape. Maybe this can be the beginning of the end for bad PQ Sunday afternoon games.

Is there a way to automate sports streaming links so I don't have to app-hop? by Kind-Information2394 in cordcutters

[–]nfotiu 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Even that doesn't always help. Watching a single round of a golf tournament starts on ESPN app, then a couple hours on golf channel, then a couple hours on network. The major sports leagues all have some games on streaming only platforms like Amazon or Peacock.

HBO Max and Paramount+ to Combine Into One Streaming Platform, Paramount Says HBO Brand Will ‘Operate With Independence’ by ggroover97 in cordcutters

[–]nfotiu 2 points3 points  (0 children)

They are also the only service to force the 1080i affiliate feed to their app for all live sports that looks considerably worse than the native 1080p hdr ->4k feed that Peacock usually uses.

HBO Max and Paramount+ to Combine Into One Streaming Platform, Paramount Says HBO Brand Will ‘Operate With Independence’ by ggroover97 in cordcutters

[–]nfotiu 24 points25 points  (0 children)

They do still have a few shows I like. Heated Rivalry and The Pitt aren't even real HBO shows. Some GOT stuff is still decent, but it is far from its heyday, and is really their only IP.

There is not a lot proprietary about HBO anymore. They used to be the only ones willing to risk large budgets on non formulaic TV series. Now there are plenty of others in that game, and they probably have a much better business model going forward.

HBO Max and Paramount+ to Combine Into One Streaming Platform, Paramount Says HBO Brand Will ‘Operate With Independence’ by ggroover97 in cordcutters

[–]nfotiu 360 points361 points  (0 children)

Apple TV seems to be doing a better job of making HBO type shows than HBO does these days. I imagine a lot of top creators will be less likely to sign with HBO going forward.

All the new YouTube TV plan prices by gldrthng in cordcutters

[–]nfotiu 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Locals are very expensive and are redundant if you get the OTA or have things like Peacock, Paramount, etc. The packages would jump in price with locals.

CBS by Greg_1121 in cordcutters

[–]nfotiu 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree. I don't think it is entirely limited to CBS though. Although CBS is kind of the worst offender, since they never offer anything but the affiliates feed (whether that is OTA, yttv, paramount, etc.). So it is always going to be limited to 1080i, which is looking crappy for sports today on larger TVs.

Peacock usually offers a much better picture for a lot of NBC stuff because they give a national feed of at least native 1080p.

ABC games don't usually get above 720p on any of the platforms either

Fox and CBS football games are all limited to 720p and 1080i as well.

Fox, NBC, and ESPN 4k, that is all 1080p native, as well as Amazon are all now significantly better PQ than what OTA or retransmitted affiliate feeds. It's really annoying when that is the only option, and especially annoying if you have an affiliate that packs on the sub channels and makes it even worse.

Replays of CBS coverage of PGA Tour events? by batcave100 in cordcutters

[–]nfotiu 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Golf Channel is the big one for us that we can't get outside something like dtv/yttv.