I went to sign up today, but the blackouts were too much for me to purchase. I live in SW Oregon. We do get Blazers games on a sketchy local channel that can't make it over the hills, much less the mountains in the area, so I was expecting those games to be blacked out even though it's a 4.5 hours drive to Portland. However, in addition to the Blazers, the Warriors, Kings, and Jazz are blacked out. Now, Sacramento is 5 hours drive time, it's 6.5-7 to the Bay area, and 12+ hours to Salt Lake City. None of those teams broadcast in my area and in no logical sense of the word is my town "local" to those teams. Why would I pay full price to have over 25% of Western Conference teams blacked out? That's 16 Rockets games I wouldn't be able to see--1/5 of the season. This blackout thing seems discriminatory against rural folks. If I lived in Portland, it'd only be the Trailblazers that are blacked out. How does this make sense? Anyway, I guess I'll make do with other means.
As DD said, plus you can then purchase the much cheaper Euro League Pass and not worry about any blackouts. NordVPN (use it myself) is another good one and they just had/are having a promotion for about $4 dollars a month for 36 months + 3 months free. Then just pick a city/country to connect thru and you're all set to go. Since you're rural as I am, you might not have the fastest internet. So if you decide to go with a VPN, checkout the internet speeds to several European cities and pick the fastest one for your League Pass. Some are better than others, but all VPN's slow down your internet speed a little. Another perk, with a VPN, your internet provider can't track you and then sell your online info to a third party.
I live in Portland and feel your pain during the blazers games. I don’t get Blazers games and blacked out when playing the blazers. But only 3 games a year. I use vipleague.cc. Lots of pop ups, works best on PC but works on phone still.
I'd definitely recommend doing the VPN method if that means you guys get the same League Pass we get in Europe. I can watch every single Rockets game with a choice of which commentary I get whilst also watching 3 other games consecutively on split screen if I like on several devices. Nothing at all is blacked out anywhere. The only time you don't tend to get to choose the announce team are on big national tv games where that's the only option. Never ever have an issue with quality either, I'd never go back to illegal streaming with how quality the service is and I can watch every single NBA game live or on playback.
A VPN plus league pass is the way to go. The VPN also enables MLB app or paramount+ for Texans by moving to/from Houston servers. I can get every Houston game from all sports very clearly with that combo
It works everywhere, you simply run it, and it spoofs your IP to another location, so when you login to NBA.com or Amazon it thinks you are there. DD
correct me if I'm wrong, but none of you live in Houston. Have you actually beaten a local blackout? My experience (as I explained to @T for 3 in another thread), and also the experience of several other cfnetters (as well as many on reddit), the NBA (as well as MLB) have cracked down in the past two years. VPN no longer works to circumvent local blackouts. After years of it working, when it started failing, I did my own exhaustive testing two seasons ago while living in Houston to no avail ... I live in Colorado now, but can test again for Nuggest blackouts. But I'll have to time it properly so I can use their 7-day free trial. Will report back. In the meantime, can anyone here please confirm they are currently living in Houston and getting around blackouts with VPN?
Sooo, I live in Houston and found a workaround but I'm not sure its going to last......NBA league pass detects my VPN, so I went ahead and got league pass via Amazon Prime..... However its not so straightforward since Amazon Prime also detected my VPN..... I realized this when I tried to watch anything and it would not let me because of my VPN..... When I signed up for league pass thou I set my VPN to Atlanta, it showed up that Hawks games would be blacked out. Sure, no problem. I then went and chose The Rockets as my team to watch all season. I then turned off the VPN and Amazon Prime has so far let me watch both pre season games from my TV or phone with no VPN...... I don't know if this will work all season, or just preseason or during my 7 day trial....
Yes, All year long the Astros were blacked out here in Austin - turned on Surf shark, restarted Amazon and watched the games. DD
I have used it from Houston successfully while traveling. I use StrongVPN - have for years while living in Dubai and China, both of which have very strong internet controls. I’m back in the NY area now and when Rockets play Nets or Knicks, it works also. Super easy interface and works on both fire stick and iOS. I sound like a salesman, but honestly StrongVPN might be the most important subscription I’ve had this last decade!
I didn’t really test MLB much. Can you confirm by trying a Spurs game. And try directly on nba.com, without using Amazon. When it stopped working for me two yrs ago, Playback wouldn’t detect it, so it was just directly on nba.com using their video player. So, see if you think we need both vpn and viewing on Amazon.
Cool. question: so it sounds like you’re suing the nba mobile app. Does it not ask you to turn on location services during login. To help us determine what all we need, are you still using International League Pass? If not, sounds like Nets and Knicks should be blacked out this year for you. Can you try the next Nets or Knicks game, and try it at nba.com, not any app, just so we can see exactly how to replicate what works for you. also, is the zip code of your credit card that you used to purchase in NYC. sorry for all the question, but each one is relevant to things Reddit users are mention as potential barriers.
@heypartner Thanks for doing some legwork on this. I'm so frustrated because I had SCHN with directTV stream for the past few years but they jacked the price up recently. I think I am going to bite the bullet and at least try the vpn with league pass for Tuesday's game. I'll let you know if it works. If it doesn't, I guess I'll just have to pay more.
Straight league pass, location services on, US credit card from Minnesota (I think - I move a lot and bought it a few years ago). Though I normally watch on my firestick I still use my iPad and phone sometimes I always connect the vpn first, then clear cache on the app (or restart on iOS), then launch. It seems to work but I’ll try again in the next Knicks / Nets game. Ping me if I forget. I went though a lot of VPN’s while overseas and StrongVPN worked best. the only one it can’t seem to beat is Disney+ from Europe.
