Best, most affordable way to get Houston Rockets games [only]?

Hey Batman,

I've got NBA Team Pass that I stream through Roku. I think it's about 120 bucks per year and does all the things you're looking for. With that package you can only watch one team.

 

Is that not still subject to blackouts? I thought it was -- we're talking about League Pass, right?

 

This is not a answer. League Pass has blackouts. You actually can't watch any games aired locally, since you live in Houston, nor any nationally televised games.

Only people outside of Houston buy League Pass for the Rockets.

Spoiler: EDIT: Incorrect info on streaming options. See posts below

[edit] the following should be true, might be true someday, but apparently is blacked out, too. for now...per ATT

Good news is that since you live in Houston, you can get ATT Sportsnet (or whatever the Rockets channel is called now) via streaming options...and they have free trial months.

Try free trials of Hulu TV and DirectTV Now (this is ATT) and maybe YouTube TV. But make sure you get the pricing with the Regional Sports Network. Here's an example for DirectTV Now

http://cdn.directv.com/content/dam/dtv/gmott/html/compare-packages-account.html

They have Cloud DVR features, so you can watch anytime. And these also will support ESPN and TNT and ABC for the National Televised games. Ryan (jamcracker) is a programmer for Hulu working in LA now. He says Hulu had a clunky DVR feature last year. Maybe it is fixed.

Best to try them out on free trials.

 

Also, here's a list of games for the Rockets by ATT SportsNet, with asterisk for games they won't be showing, I presume they are National.

https://southwest-attsn.att.com/rockets/schedule/

 

You'll probably get better answers than this, but I'm able to stream Rockets/Astros games on my phone (while pretending to listen to my wife) through the AT&T Sports app. Haven't tried doing it through my TV but that's because I already have AT&T Sports, so there wouldn't be much point. Maybe that's why it's free?

 

Reddit.com/r/nbastreams

 

@Batman Jones just FYI, DirecTVNow isn't actually run by DirecTV. I think it's some other company that liscenses DTV's name for their streaming service.

I had it for 4-5 months and the product reliability was not great. Had multiple occasions where the site was down (while trying to stream TNT/ESPN Rockets playoff games!!!!) and when that happens there is nothing you can do; there is no phone number to call, no chat service, no anything. Because in order to access their customer service you have to log in to your account, but if their site is down then you can't log in to your account! I called DTV about it and that's when I learned that the services aren't handled by the same company. It's not even a different company under the same parent company, it's just a completely different, unrelated company.

After the 3rd time this happened I cancelled and switched to YouTube TV. Never had any issue with that.

That said... ATT Sports is not available on YouTube TV. Looks like they mainly have Fox Sports and NBC Sports regional channels; no ATT regional channels are listed.

ATT Sports is also not available on DTV Now (even tho ATT owns DTV!!! WTF!). For the Houston area they only have FS Oklahoma and FS Southwest and Longhorn Network as available regional networks.

I can't check Hulu TV because that site is blocked at my work. But if I had to guess, I'd say that's not an option either. (EDIT: just checked on my phone and ATT Sports is in fact not offered on HULU Live TV either.)

The Rockets have a hilariously bad recent history when it comes to enabling local fans to watch their games. They must really want people to stream it illegally.

I think the only thing you can do, outside of getting cable, is League Pass + VPN service. I might try this as I already have VPN through my BitDefender subscription.

 

I would wait until the day off. Check flash seats, stubhub, crigslist, this board etc.

 

Holy mackerel...it's not available on any "virtual tv provider."

From ATT Sportsnet site: http://www.attsportsnet.com/att-sportsnet-app-faq/

Is AT&T SportsNet available on any virtual pay-TV Provider’s service (e.g., DTV Now, Hulu Live TV, PS Vue, YouTube TV, etc.)?

AT&T SportsNet is not currently available on any virtual TV providers. If you would like access to our award-winning live game coverage and streaming services contact your virtual TV provider and ask that they carry AT&T SportsNet.
​

Fock @Batman Jones . It looks like you must have a cable provider to use the streaming options of ATT Sportsnet. Rockets games are apparently totally blacked out from cord-cutters living in the Houston-area that is blacked-out to League Pass.

Note however, League Pass is only blacked out for the live broadcast. It takes a few hours, but you eventually get to see the replay. Then you just need streaming coverage for ESPN, TNT and ABC, which any basic package of the virtual TV options will provide.

 

Yeah, these cable companies are ****ing stupid if they think I'm going to keep paying them a thousand dollars a year just to watch the Rockets. There was a time when I'd do that (last year!), but I'm done with it.

 

i used to have u-verse but once that whole debacle with sportsnet happened..i realized i didnt NEED to watch the rockets games.
i just got used to it. last year i just did the nba streams on reddit on my phone and airplayed it to my apple tv. works great. hd like quality.

 

Yeah, but how are you doing it? Do you live in the LP Houston Black-out region?

 

Wait, I missed this part, and I did not know this.

So I can get LP, living in Houston, without using VPN or any type of masking service, and I could watch the game the day after it aired?

 

I used to be a NBA league pass subscriber but it’s just not a very good product in my opinion.

This season I’m giving NBA reddit streams a chance.

 

Batman, to clarify, I live in California so I don’t have blackout issues with League Pass. Maybe setting up vpn would solve this problem for you?

 

Did hehe last year so i'll do it again this year.

 

In some cases, I'm probably just going to miss games. I'll catch all the national games and the games that I go to naturally.
Other games I'll likely stream them, but this is the cable companies' fault. I pay for YoutubeTV, Netflix, HBO NOW, and Hulu -- I've used DirecTV Now recently as well. **** all their anti-consumer bullshit...especially Comcast.

 

Yes. It comes with an Archive area of all your games, and previous seasons. You'll be able to watch them anytime, just not live. Same applies to *any* black-out game....national, too.

Where Can I Watch Blacked Out Games After They Air Live?
All games that are blacked out or not available live for viewing on NBA League Pass, regardless of your location, are available for viewing on demand as soon as they are moved to the NBA League Pass archives. Nationally telecast games are archived three hours after they have aired. Locally telecast games are archived three days after they have aired.​

I don't know why they are saying 3 days. They go into the archive sooner than that, just not immediately after, like what they are saying for National (3 hours). That said, I never actually tried this in Houston, since I never bought LP when living there. Here in Boulder, I don't recall whether the Nuggets/Rockets blackout games took 3-days to rewatch ... probably didn't rewatch them....but I do know for absolute certainty that all my Rockets games would appear in the archives within hours.

I guess someone in Houston should test the delay, to see if LP actually does a 3-day timer on the Archives if it detects your are in the blackout area. Could be that they are just telling us Worst-Case, based upon each Regional Network negotiating different delays.