Trying to watch football games online has been the bane of the streaming TV services because of blackouts and other restrictions that favor cable and satellite TV customers.
But at least watching some games live online is now possible, thanks to services like Sling TV, based in Douglas County.
On Thursday, Sling introduced an easier way to find NFL and college games online. Sling’s new Gamefinder, at sling.com/gamefinder, lets viewers type in team names and ZIP codes to see whether a game is available online. But it pulls up channels only on Sling’s network, which include several ESPNs, the NFL Network, NFL RedZone, the SEC Network, the Pac-12 Networks and others.
The update doesn’t offer fans new access to Denver Broncos games, but it’s part of the momentum to get more live sports online. In August, ESPN said it will start a stand-alone video streaming service “in early 2018,” while the National Football League this year granted Amazon the rights to air Thursday games online.
Increased competition won’t change Sling’s approach, which lets customers pick and pay for smaller channel packs, said Warren Schlichting, executive vice president of marketing and programming for Dish Networks, Sling’s parent company.
“When we launched over 2 1/2 years ago, Sling TV was the only way you could watch live sports from channels like ESPN over the internet without paying for a traditional cable subscription,” Schlichting said. “Sports is still a big part of our packaging structure, but as new (online TV) options enter the market, we remain focused on our unique model. …This means we aren’t forcing customers to pay for extra sports channels that they have no intention of watching.”
The Gamefinder site will start posting NFL games in September, when the regular season starts. However, in Sling’s help area, you can find preseason NFL games available in Sling’s markets. Sling offers Fox and NBC in some markets, so NFL games are airing on those channels — just not Denver.
Gamefinder also doesn’t include CBS, which will air several Sunday afternoon Broncos games. CBS has its own “All Access” app for $5.99 a month, so subscribers can watch live local NFL games.
If you’re scrambling to watch preseason games, all out-of-market matchups are online via the NFL Game Pass for $99.99. But for Broncos fans, the two remaining preseason games are blacked out because the games are being played in Denver.
Seth Medvin, a spokesman for the Broncos, said he knows of just one game to air live online for free. The Dec. 14 matchup between the Broncos and Indianapolis Colts will be available at Amazon, which paid $50 million to the NFL for the online rights for Thursday games.
In August, the Walt Disney Company said it would launch an ESPN streaming service next year, featuring 10,000 live games from “Major League Baseball, National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, Grand Slam tennis, and college sports.” It will also offer separate online channels for MLB.TV, NHL.TV and MLS Live. Noticeably absent is the NFL. The company has no further details, said Paul Melvin, an ESPN senior director of communications.
