Source
r/nba•
InLike14

does anyone here use the NBA League Pass?

Hey everyone, first post in r/nba here. I'm moving to a new place at the end of the month and I am trying to figure out if I want to get cable or not. There is nothing I watch on TV, except sports. I am thinking of just buying the NBA and NFL passes instead. More of what I like, none of what I don't, less money over a year. I have a couple of questions, if you don't mind:

  • First, in general, is it worth it? Amount of access, streaming capability(I will have a decent interwebs connection), etc

  • How can I stream it to my TV? I'll have an XBox 360 and a PS3. I'd like to cancel Xbox Live if possible, so if it works on PS3, even better.

  • Does the package offer highlights? As much as I hate ESPN sometimes, I will want to keep up on the league. I will be watching more games with the package, but obviously I can't watch them all.

I don't post a lot, so I apologize if this is in the wrong forum or format. If so, please let me know where/how I should post this.

Thanks!

EDIT: Seems like the package is a cool addition, but not a replacement for cable service as it blacks out local games. Thanks for all of your great responses! I've really enjoyed r/nba so far!

Posted Aug 14, 2012, 2:55 PM UTC · edited

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Aksan_Wizards•

It is definitely worth it. If you get the full league pass you can watch any game from the entire season any time that you want. Live or not. The streaming is some of the best I've ever used and if you have a good Internet connection, the quality is fantastic.

I had league pass for some of last season. I've tried it on the PS3's web browser and it didn't work. Not sure if the 360s web browser is any better. If you really wanted to have it on your TV perhaps you could use a VGA cable or something.

As for highlights, nba.com has highlights of every game, but that stuff is free anyway. But also, there is an option on the league pass window to just view highlight plays instead of the whole game which is cool if you're short on time.

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InLike14OP•

Thanks! That does sound awesome. From the comment above, it sounds like it is in addition to your cable package because local live games will be blacked out? Unfortunately, I'm trying to save money and probably won't be able to do both. I was hoping this would replace my local coverage as well.

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Aksan_Wizards•

I'm not sure about the local games. I live in the UK so I get every game. I'd be interested to know if someone with league pass who lives in a smaller market gets their local games because I think Knicks games are shown on MSG network?

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InLike14OP•

Sounds like all local markets are blacked out. Plus the Celtics are my team, so I would be in the same situation as a Knicks fan anyway.

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[deleted]•

Yeah you don't get to watch the games that are aired on local stations and I don't think you get any playoff games.

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[deleted]•

I got the five team option last year and the full version is worth it. Do it!

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basketball_reasons•

The NBA makes a ton of money on their TV deals, so because of this League Pass has blackout restrictions on all locally and nationally televised games. If a game is on a local channel, regional (foxsports), basic cable (ESPN/TNT), or NBATV it will be blacked-out. If this isn't a deal-breaker already I'll try and address your other questions.

There are two packages you can get, the less expensive one allows you to select like 5 teams who's games (both home and away) you can watch, while the more expensive option is for every team. You can stream games live (with DVR-like timeshifting) or watch already aired game from that week. Quality-wise on a PC with fast broadband the streams are probably around 720P, and look very good. Play-by-play is done by local announcers so the quality can vary depending on the market.

If you don't have a PC hooked up to your TV the only set-top boxes supported are AppleTV and Roku. At E3 Microsoft did announced they will have League Pass for both NBA and NHL this year. PS3 already has NHL I believe, but I haven't seen anything about NBA.

You actually don't need to pay for League Pass for highlights. They go up on NBA.com very quickly, or the free Game Time app for smart phones, smart tvs, and set-top boxes (ATV, Roku, & Google TV) lets you watch highlights.

They always have a free preview of League Pass the first week of the season so I'd check that out when it comes up and see for yourself. If you can't justify the cost you can listen to radio streams for every game for free on nba.com. There are also pirate video streams scattered around the net. Once the season gets going you can usually find links here. The quality of these range from around a 320/480P youtube clip to completely unwatchable garbage though.

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InLike14OP•

Thanks. I was looking for a replacement option and with my team being the Celtics, it wouldn't make any sense for me. The 5 team option might be pretty sweet, I'll look into that.

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[deleted]•

[deleted]

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InLike14OP•

Sounds to me like you'd still be blacked out of most of your home team's games. And if you're a Laker's fan, it sounds like even more because a lot of them will be national. I think the 5 team package is to pick 5 other teams that aren't usually available in your area. Since they aren't available in your area, they won't be blacked out. Unfortunately, it sounds more and more like this is an additional option, not a cable replacement option. I was hoping for that as well.

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basketball_reasons•

No sorry, blackouts still apply to those teams. It just lets you pay a marginally smaller amount if you only care to follow a limited amount of teams. I should clarify though that the regional/local blackouts are based on IP address location, so if you aren't in that market it will be available. You could also pull some proxy magic to get around some of it I think.

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[deleted]•

[deleted]

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OptimusCompositeLakers•

Let's say a game I wanted to watch is blacked out for one reason or another. Can I go back the next day to League Pass and watch a replay of that game?

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basketball_reasons•

There's some weird rules about this I think. I believe nationally televised games don't ever come up for replay, but local ones might after a waiting period, but don't quote me on it. I used it for watching out-of-market teams so I never really ran into that situation. Pretty much only watched live games with it.

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[deleted]•

[deleted]

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orsauce4Lakers•

not sure about your area but here in NYC they black out local games (knicks games), so you might not even get to see your home team play if you live in a city with a nba team. they gave out free trials at the start of the last season and it was awesome. was watching on my iphone/pad no issues. and you get NBA tv access which is a 24/7 nba channel including highlights and what not.

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InLike14OP•

ah, I'm in Boston and I bet the do the same here if they do it in New York. So is the service supposed to for seeing games your local TV won't show and not a replacement?

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orsauce4Lakers•

ya you wont be able to replace your local coverage. unless the game is aired nationally on abc or something then you will be able to see it.

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InLike14OP•

ah, that's disappointing but I guess it makes sense with all the TV revenue the league runs off of.

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orsauce4Lakers•

dont tell anyone i said anything but you can stream ALL nba games for free on http://www.thefirstrow.eu/

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xMdotRaptors•

I'm also curious about streaming through a PS3

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mrzackBulls•

it's not worth it. dont waste your time watching all those games. for me following one team throughout the season is more than enough. use pirate streaming. quality is still good enough.

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SulasiLithuania•

Hey, so this is a month late but I'm currently on the same mission. Xbox is going to release an app this season, as basketball_reason said, so that we don't have to use the shitty web browser. it's gonna feature highlights, game replays and stats/standings as well as live games. There is no firm release date but I've tweeted @xbox to try and confirm that it will happen sometime this season. from all the rumors i've read, it will be at least before 2013 but maybe not right at the start of the regular season. i'll reply here if i find out.

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InLike14OP•

thanks for the update! Unfortunately, since they still blackout local games, I had to get Comcast and won't have the extra cash to spend on League Pass in addition. Does sound like it has some pretty cool features though!

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