Best Sports Streaming Service 2021

There are many advantages to cutting the cord and going digital, and live streaming sports may just be one more. If you live for college basketball, NFL Sundays, or NHL playoffs and are itching to watch the game you want, where you want, then you need to know if fuboTV is better than YouTube TV, or if it’s really Sling that has you covered. To help you choose the right service for your lifestyle, we used our rating of Best Live TV Streaming Services of 2021 to determine the Best Sports Streaming Services of 2021. Here we share the top features included in live streaming sports services so you can tune in and cheer on your favorite sports teams.

YouTube TV: YouTube TV is the Best Sports Streaming Service of 2021. It offers one base package for $64.99 per month and includes more than 85 channels. Customers receive access to local networks such as ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, and PBS. Its sports lineup includes college sports, professional sports, ESPN, MLB Network, NBA TV, and NFL RedZone at no additional cost. You can stream YouTube TV on three devices at once, and create up to six profiles. YouTube has a five-day free trial so you can see if you like it before committing.

Hulu + Live TV: Hulu + Live TV offers 75-plus channels for $64.99 per month. The subscription provides access to Hulu’s on-demand library as well as live content. Each account gives you access to six user profiles and two simultaneous streams. FOX, ABC, CBS, and NBC come in the monthly package. Sports fans can add ESPN+ to the package for $5.99 per month. If you want your money to go further Hulu + Live TV, Disney+, and ESPN+ are currently offered as a bundle for $72.99 per month.

fuboTV: FuboTV’s origins center around soccer. Since its inception, the service has grown to offer more than 100 channels. No other streaming service in our ratings offers more sports channels than fuboTV. The cost is $64.99 per month for more than 100-plus channels and includes more than 130 events in 4K, 250 hours of cloud DVR storage space, and up to three simultaneous streams. If you still want more entertainment choices you can upgrade to fuboTV’s next tier for $79.99 per month and get around 160 channels, 1,000 hours of space, and unlimited screens along with 10 simultaneous streams. A Sports Plus with NFL RedZone add-on is available for $10.99 per month. Latino Quarterly is a budget option that costs $33 per month – prepaid every three months for $99. It comes with 32 channels, 100-plus sporting events, 250 cloud-storage hours, and three simultaneous streams.

Sling TV: Sling offers two packages to customers looking to cut cable and try a streaming service. Sling Blue costs $35 per month and targets news and entertainment viewers, however, NFL Network and FS1 are included here too. Sling Orange is labeled as a sports and family-focused package. It also costs $35 per month and includes ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN3. If you think you’ll enjoy channels from both packages you can bundle the two together for $50 per month. There are also add-ons available, including Sports Extra for $11 per month, which offers more than ten additional channels including NFL RedZone, NBA TV, and MLB Network.

AT&T TV: AT&T combined its AT&T TV Now and AT&T TV under one name, AT&T TV. This streaming service now can provide subscribers with live and on-demand content. It comes in three different packages and prices. The basic package with more than 65 channels costs $69.99 per month and includes ESPN along with access to local networks like FOX, ABC, CBS, and NBC. For a more robust plan, the second tier costs $84.99 and has 90 channels including ESPN News and ESPNU. The Ultimate plan costs $94.99 and includes the same features as tier two but with 130 channels, including NHL Network, CBS Sports Network, and FS1. If you sign up with AT&T for one of its top plans, for the first year, HBO Max is included in the price.

Sports streaming services are streaming services that include live sports as a part of the package. Those that made our rating of the Best Sports Streaming Services of 2021 were vetted through our Best Live TV Streaming Services of 2021. These companies such as YouTube TV, AT&T TV, and fuboTV have access to local news networks, regional sports programming, college and professional sports, international events, or sports networks like MLB, NHL, or NFL. Philo places No. 5 in our Best Live TV Streaming ratings, but it doesn’t offer access to live sports so isn’t included on the Best Sports Streaming list. Likewise, plenty of companies in our Best Streaming Services of 2021 rating offer sports content, however, we’ve differentiated between live sports and other sports content which mainly includes sports analysis, interviews, or pay-per-view events.

ThinkWithGoogle.com says that 30% of all sports fans stream live events from tablets or smartphones. Thanks to the many benefits of streaming that’s no surprise. Choosing digital streaming over cable can provide cost savings, access to entertainment via multiple devices, on-the-go access, and free trial periods. In most cases, there’s no setup cost or installation required and the majority of these services are contract-free, so if one doesn’t fit your preferences you can try out another. Because they are app-based, it’s a simple process to cancel the service and then connect to another app that may have what you want.

To watch sporting events via live streaming you will need the following:

Sports streaming services offer a wide variety of channels, some of which are based on your location. Where one service may provide access to one network another may not. To create a great match between your viewing preferences and your wallet you’ll have to pay attention to your habits and see which companies offer what you want for the right price. There are cost savings that occur with streaming over the internet that cable companies can’t match, but just like your cable bill can creep up with premium channels and additional services, you may not want to add on every feature or network available.

Getting the best bang for your buck can mean aligning what you’re looking for in a sports package with the ideal content for the rest of your family. Luckily, several of the services in our rating have a good balance of content for both sports and other entertainment options. A few services, like Hulu + Live TV and AT&T TV, offer on-demand, live, and sports streaming all on one platform. These plans start at $64.99 and $69.99, respectively. However, you can increase the offerings along with the price to find more options through AT&T TV. Currently, Hulu + Live TV is available in a bundle with ESPN+ and Disney+ for sports fans and those who enjoy Disney movies. Others, such as fuboTV, boast a large number of sports channels for $64.99, with add-on options including international packages, NFL RedZone, and more if your budget allows. YouTube TV includes local channels and NFL, NBA, and MLB Networks in its $64.99 base cost. It offers soccer, NFL RedZone, and FOX Soccer Plus, along with more sports packages at an additional cost. True cost savings could be yours if you keep it simple and choose Sling TV. Its Blue and Orange packages both start at $35 each. The Blue plan includes the NFL Network while the Orange plan has ESPN in the lineup. To maximize savings with options you can combine Sling’s two plans for $50 per month. Sling offers some add-on premium channels that start at $6 per month and a Sports Extra package that starts at an additional $11 per month.

A monthly subscription to one of the sports streaming services in our rating will cost between $33 and $69.99 per month for the starting package. Sling TV wins the low-cost category, but keep in mind that these are starting prices. Some subscriptions come with optional add-ons and upgrades for channels in a specific language. Here’s where pricing can begin to reach cable service costs because add-ons can be as low as $5 per month or up to $10 per month depending on the package. One great aspect of streaming services is the trial period many providers offer. You can try out the sports package on the platform of your choice without being locked into a contract or being stuck with a service you don’t use very often by selecting a service’s month-to-month subscription. Where cable television might have you buy access to a set of channels and be stuck for a year, streaming allows you to tailor your service to what you actually watch with the freedom to change it on the fly.

When comparing sports streaming services along with price, it’s important to look at other features that may impact how you use the package and its overall value. Cloud DVR space is an important factor because no one can be present for every single sports event or every episode of their favorite show. You might want the ability to download content while you’re connected to Wi-Fi and then save it to watch later, in another location or at a more convenient time. The more cloud space you have and the longer you have to watch the content before it expires, the better the streaming package will serve you. Be careful to read each service’s fine print as downloaded content may expire after a certain amount of time. YouTube TV is at the top with unlimited cloud DVR storage and nine months of viewing time, with the rest of the services offering between 50 to 1,000 storage hours. Some services, such as fuboTV, offer additional space with its higher-tiered plans or add-on packages.

If you are sharing a streaming app with other members of your household, it’s convenient to have more than one live stream available. Let’s say you want to watch the big game, but not all the family agrees. You can watch the game while another family member streams something different from the same app, or even the same thing from a different device. Simultaneous streaming capabilities are helpful and give you more options for using your subscription. The same thing applies to multiple profiles. It’s a great option for households that share a service because in some cases, each member can create their own watchlist, or at the least, keep track of where they left off watching their shows. On some platforms, parental controls work within the user profiles so parents can opt to only display specific programming for their children. This provides parents with a better way to streamline the content their children can view, as opposed to a one-profile platform where all content is available for all viewers.

A Nielsen report shows that 86 out of 100 telecasts viewed live or on the same day were attributed to sporting events. With even more growth expected for live streaming in 2021, choosing the right service is important. The following tips will help you choose the right sports streaming service to meet your needs:

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