tv coverage

Torlac

any suggestions for which tv station gives the best NFL coverage?

Was thinking of getting ESPN but not sure.

Max Power1

Apparently ESPN has the MNF games and the resp of the games are on Sky

The Sparrow

I think SNF is the only thing yet to be decided. ESPN have MNF and Sky have the early Sunday games, Thursday NFL Network Games and Thanksgiving and the playoffs. ESPN also have ESPN countdown to MNF every Monday which is basically an hour and a half looking reviewing the sunday games and previewing the Monday game. ESPN will also be showing classic MNF games from July.

I'd say Sky would be best if I had to choose one. Although if ESPN picked up SNF that might change.

Max Power1

The Sparrow wrote: »

I think SNF is the only thing yet to be decided. ESPN have MNF and Sky have the early Sunday games, Thursday NFL Network Games and Thanksgiving and the playoffs. ESPN also have ESPN countdown to MNF every Monday which is basically an hour and a half looking reviewing the sunday games and previewing the Monday game. ESPN will also be showing classic MNF games from July.

I'd say Sky would be best if I had to choose one. Although if ESPN picked up SNF that might change.

Or just get UPC - you get ESPN for free, so only have to pay for sky sports and not both!

Torlac

cheers
i have upc but espn is not for free though its an add on channel

any one streaming games?

Max Power1

Torlac wrote: »

cheers
i have upc but espn is not for free though its an add on channel

any one streaming games?

It should be! I have UPC and i get ESPN free??

Theres normally a few streams here when the matches are on though.

StopWatch

I forked out for Gamepass last season, and it was great. If you've got a decent enough broadband speed it's the bees elbows. Totally worth it, i used it all the time, choose a game to watch live in lovely HD and then watch any other games during the week, also access to NFL Network and NFL films. Great.

Torlac

thanks for the help

Max Power1

StopWatch wrote: »

I forked out for Gamepass last season, and it was great. If you've got a decent enough broadband speed it's the bees elbows. Totally worth it, i used it all the time, choose a game to watch live in lovely HD and then watch any other games during the week, also access to NFL Network and NFL films. Great.

Whats the advantage to gamepass, if you dont mind? Most if not all games would be available via online streaming in good quality (good but not great). Is the picture quality better and thats it?

decies

Max Power1 wrote: »

Whats the advantage to gamepass, if you dont mind? Most if not all games would be available via online streaming in good quality (good but not great). Is the picture quality better and thats it?

Hd also dvr controls,i wouldn,t trust those poor quality streems.It is dear but i watched a lot of pats games live that were not on sky.

Oat23

Just a couple of things from my brief subscription to Gamepass.

It didn't work well for the first 2/3 weeks of the season.
It is around 3-4 minutes behind the actual game.

StopWatch

Max Power1 wrote: »

Whats the advantage to gamepass, if you dont mind? Most if not all games would be available via online streaming in good quality (good but not great). Is the picture quality better and thats it?

Well, yes, one of the major factors for me was the picture quality, i had also bought a HD projector, so gettin the lads round to watch the game on a 10 foot wide screen was pretty f-ing awesome, it made even the crappyest games a bit of an event. Also i found having NFL Network was great, i could listen to those eejits go on and on for hours.
Generally I used to find streams fairly unreliable, just being able to log on and watch the game live, in HD, with my mates over, without any major hassles meant it was worth it for me. (Bar a week one fudge, but that was refunded so...whatever)
Also, i'm a Bengals fan (shields up) so I enjoyed watching all our games this season.... even the bad ones, and finding streams of live bengals games is....tricky.

The Sparrow

Gamepass is class. I got it for a week last year as a Steelers game that I wanted to watch wasn't shown here. I hooked up my laptop to the TV and it was proper HD which was fantastic. Plus it was great watching Sunday Countdown, Gameday and Total Access every day on NFL Network in HD.

I had no problems with it but a lot of posters over on the NFLUK forums posted problems they had encountered.

Only thing stopping me getting it again is the price. I can't justify having Sky Sports, ESPN and Gamepass and both Sky and ESPN have other things I want to watch.

It's great for a week's treat during the season though if your team is playing a big game that isn't being televised and you want to watch all of the build up and reaction in glorious HD.

raddo

How much does Gampass cost per game and per season?

UhOh

The Sparrow wrote: »

ESPN also have ESPN countdown to MNF every Monday which is basically an hour and a half looking reviewing the sunday games and previewing the Monday game. ESPN will also be showing classic MNF games from July.

I knew they were showing MNF but not these extra bits. Lovely stuff. Cant wait for classic MNF...

I had Game Pass & Red Zone last year, got the Off Season Pass at the mo....worth every cent

jack presley

Max Power1 wrote: »

It should be! I have UPC and i get ESPN free??

ESPN and ESPN America are free on UPC if you get the Select Extra pack (€32). The bottom level pack (around €25) doesn't have them.

mattman_iflaf

Roll on the new season...

titans

The Sparrow wrote: »

Gamepass is class. I got it for a week last year as a Steelers game that I wanted to watch wasn't shown here. I hooked up my laptop to the TV and it was proper HD which was fantastic. Plus it was great watching Sunday Countdown, Gameday and Total Access every day on NFL Network in HD.

I had no problems with it but a lot of posters over on the NFLUK forums posted problems they had encountered.

Only thing stopping me getting it again is the price. I can't justify having Sky Sports, ESPN and Gamepass and both Sky and ESPN have other things I want to watch.

It's great for a week's treat during the season though if your team is playing a big game that isn't being televised and you want to watch all of the build up and reaction in glorious HD.

gamepass for regular season is now available. will be my first time signing up but I hear it is really the best way to go for nfl coverage? is it true that sky sports games are blacked out from gamepass each week or is that only in the UK?

https://gamepass.nfl.com/nflgp/secure/registerform

-Wheeler-

Anyone else on UPC getting the following message trying to access the NFL Game Pass page?

You are accessing this page from a restricted territory. NFL Game Pass is not available in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Bermuda, Antigua, the Bahamas, and any U.S. territories, possessions and commonwealths (including American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands). View all restriction details.

Still want to catch the games? Listen to live and archived radio broadcasts with NFL Audio Pass!

Been getting this for the last few weeks. Was a game pass subscriber last season on UPC with no problems. Anyone else?

tallaghtoutlaws

-Wheeler- wrote: »

Anyone else on UPC getting the following message trying to access the NFL Game Pass page?



Been getting this for the last few weeks. Was a game pass subscriber last season on UPC with no problems. Anyone else?

You have to contact them and they will override the system to allow you look.

Go to live chat http://nflsupport.neulion.com/

Jim Jones: Hi
NFL Game Pass: hi can i help you?
Jim Jones: I tried going to the Gamepass page as I am interested in signing up this season but I get the Error message saying I cannot get gamepass
Jim Jones: This is the message: "You are accessing this page from a restricted territory. NFL Game Pass is not available in the United States, Mexico, Canada, Bermuda, Antigua, the Bahamas, and any U.S. territories, possessions and commonwealths (including American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands). View all restriction details."
Jim Jones: I am in Ireland
NFL Game Pass: Ok, that sounds like our system is not recognizing your computers IP address.
NFL Game Pass: Also, the package will not be available for purchase until August 2nd.
Jim Jones: I was talking to a buddy of mine with the same ISP as me and he is having the same issue
NFL Game Pass: but let's go ahead and fix the IP issue.
NFL Game Pass: can you go to www.whatismyip.com
Jim Jones: I contacted the ISP and as usual they say their IP are registered in the UK and Ireland
NFL Game Pass: and tell me what your ip address is
Jim Jones: 109.000.000.000 (not my real IP)
NFL Game Pass: I will override it in our system
Jim Jones: Thank You!
Jim Jones: How long roughly will it take for you to override it?
NFL Game Pass: Ok sir, I have taken care of that for you.
NFL Game Pass: You should be able to sign up with no problem on August 2nd.
Jim Jones: Cool thanks a million. Awesome service
NFL Game Pass: My pleasure. Take care!
Jim Jones: Have a good night!

-Wheeler-

tallaghtoutlaws wrote: »

You have to contact them and they will override the system to allow you look.

Go to live chat http://nflsupport.neulion.com/

Thanks for that. I've sent them an email. Pretty strange that they screwed up the IP filters or whatever they are using, or maybe it's UPC's IPs that are screwed up. I dunno, it worked prefect last season on UPC. Hopefully that will sort it. Thanks again.

Is this effecting all UPC customers or just the odd few I wonder?

Tipperarymike

Am new to the Game Pass and just wondering how to fully get the best from it. Only signed up yesterday on it and would love to check out some of the NFL Films stuff.

Is that possible on this years application?

Cheers

Mike

boccy23

titans wrote: »

gamepass for regular season is now available. will be my first time signing up but I hear it is really the best way to go for nfl coverage? is it true that sky sports games are blacked out from gamepass each week or is that only in the UK?

https://gamepass.nfl.com/nflgp/secure/registerform

No. In Ireland there is full access to all games. The UK guys get screwed over. No access over there for Red Zone. This is great. It shows all of the games as a team gets into the red zone, all TDs scored and big plays. No breaks - just wall to wall football.

mikemac

Gamespass had serious issues for Week 1,2 and possibly 3 last year.

I remember my many rants here
Got refunded though

But worked flawlessly after this.
Red Zone is worth paying for too

boccy23

To help here is my tuppence hay penny worth on Gamepass.

I subscribed last year and for the money $280 or so won't be doing it this year. I just felt that while the coverage was excellent (Red Zone is brilliant), the price was high.

feelingstressed was right as well. It totally crashed in week 1 and we missed nearly all the games. It came back at around 10Pm so none of the early games.

Did get a refund but you had to look for it. Nothing automatic.

It then happened again in week 2. Again a refund was provided but it did spoil the coverage.

Once up and running, the HD quality is really good. The coverage is slightly delayed as most of these PC based programmes are. It can lead to having ESPN game cast open if you are an up to date freak like me. :rolleyes:

When watching, the coverage is direct from the US broadcaster complete with adds. The replays are then the same but with all adds removed which was great. Shortened game coverage by about an hour. These were available from approx. 1 hour after the game was finished.

I am a Giants fan and total 16 week access to the games was good but again for the money being sought I cannot justify it this year. I already have Sky and ESPN and with streaming, the coverage will be fine. Just not as agood as last year, but the bank balance will be better.

mikemac

I will subscribe but it's so, so expensive. NFL know how to milk something for all its worth

280USD for the season
Another 70 for playoffs.
Another amount, forget how much for the offseason.

You'd pay for a subscription to UPC for that.

And major league baseball equivalent is 99USD for the year, now that is value!

I don't have SKY or ESPN so it's my best option.
A price reduction on Gamepass would be nice. Even include the playoffs in the season package.
But no chance of a reduction here

Tipperarymike

I bought the Game Pass yesterday and as the lads say above it is plenty expensive at about 210ish euro. For the 17 weeks it is about 13 euro a week so you couldnt call it cheap especially considering a lot of lads will have Sky, ESPN or Channel Five.

What swung it for me is that the coverage ought to be much better than either of the other two. I know on two previous trips to the States during the football season I was wowed by the coverage the NFL Network does. The Gameday programme alone was nuts. As someone said above you could watch these lads all day banging on about football.

Hopefully the platform will work good enough and we wont be looking for refunds for the first few week.

Rick_

Channel 5 won't be showing the NFL any more, last year was their last season. It will only be on Sky Sports and ESPN now, but I don't know if any other broadcaster has the Free TV rights to a Sunday night game. Maybe a late deal will be annunced and the BBC or ITV will show it instead, or maybe Channel 4 will start again after dropping the sport in the 90's.

Peyton Manning

I doubt it will go to Free TV. Maybe Sky will pick it up, but I'd say we'll have to do without considering nobody bothered with MNF last year.

As for Five, it's a shame they've stopped it. Mike Carlson and Nat Coombs were a joy to watch together.

cooker3

boccy23 wrote: »

No. In Ireland there is full access to all games. The UK guys get screwed over. No access over there for Red Zone. This is great. It shows all of the games as a team gets into the red zone, all TDs scored and big plays. No breaks - just wall to wall football.

I mailed them and they specifically said Ireland will be under the same restrictions as the UK.
Now I recall a similar thing been said last year and there was none but they did seem pretty certain.

My thoughts on Gamepass. I got it last season. It is pretty costly but it is also pretty awesome. It allowed me to watch every Packers game. But there was also so many games where I would put it on in last few minutes to watch a dramatic ending such as Matthew Staffords epic final effort in Lions vs Browns match and the Favre last minute touchdown vs the 49ers (that one bloody hurt though) are 2 that come to mind.

I'm not getting it this year as I don't think I will be free to watch the final half of the season but if there was no restrictions and I was free every Sunday I would definitely get it again.

tallaghtoutlaws

boccy23 wrote: »

No. In Ireland there is full access to all games. The UK guys get screwed over. No access over there for Red Zone. This is great. It shows all of the games as a team gets into the red zone, all TDs scored and big plays. No breaks - just wall to wall football.

Have to agree with cooker3 last year was the first time I didn't pay for it but the years previous we were in the same boat as the UK on restrictions because of Sky Sports.

Syferus

Archimedes wrote: »

I doubt it will go to Free TV. Maybe Sky will pick it up, but I'd say we'll have to do without considering nobody bothered with MNF last year.

As for Five, it's a shame they've stopped it. Mike Carlson and Nat Coombs were a joy to watch together.

SNF is a different beast to MNF for a good few reasons, the most important one being Sky will have their studio and aynalsts in position to add SNF into their existing Sunday line-up - MNF would have meant a whole other night (one Sky never carried, it should be added) and having to carry a game branded with their direct competitor's logos and intertitles. After the last few years, it's more of the norm for these rights to go down to the wire than for them to be tied up in advance.

Trampas

what was the gamepass last year that it is up to nearly $300 this season

Dodge

Syferus wrote: »

MNF would have meant a whole other night (one Sky never carried, it should be added) and having to carry a game branded with their direct competitor's logos and intertitles.

Sky did show MNF for a couple of seasons (up to last year in fact). Granted ESPN weren't in the UK market at the time and its logical for ESPN Uk to pick up MNF ahead of any other package.

Sky and ESPN do work together in other areas though (Sky produce ESPN's football (soccer) coverage for example)

Syferus

Dodge wrote: »

Sky did show MNF for a couple of seasons (up to last year in fact). Granted ESPN weren't in the UK market at the time and its logical for ESPN Uk to pick up MNF ahead of any other package.

Sky and ESPN do work together in other areas though (Sky produce ESPN's football (soccer) coverage for example)

I stand corrected - although I'd still maintain that MNF's no-show last year is a very different beast to the prospects for the same thing happening to SNF this year.

Dodge

Syferus wrote: »

I stand corrected - although I'd still maintain that MNF's no-show last year is a very different beast to the prospects for the same thing happening to SNF this year.

Its different from the branding angle but for a couple of years both Sky and five showed SNF. Sky decided to drop it first. Maybe now they’ll re-enter the market as exclusive rights holders but my own guess is that they won’t.

cooker3

Trampas wrote: »

what was the gamepass last year that it is up to nearly $300 this season

I believe it's the same price as last year in $. It's more expensive for us as the euro has weakened afaik.

I really hope Sky get SNF, I can live without MNF, as the quality of games tends to be variable but SNF is usually the game of the week.

mikemac

Gah, I had gamepass last year.

And it automatically renewed, I only found out on my credit card statement.
I read the terms and conditions, appearanlty automatic renewal is part of it, you need to opt out

If you had gamepass last year, watch for this

Peyton Manning

Good few people complaining about that on the NFLUK forums. If you complain about it, they'll give you your money back.

Royal Seahawk

Is SNF on Channel Five again this season?

Peyton Manning

Royal Seahawk wrote: »

Is SNF on Channel Five again this season?

No. At the moment, it's not on any channel here in Ireland or the UK. NFL UK are "currently in negotiations" to find it a home.

El Horseboxo

They better find it a home. Otherwise i'll be getting up fresh as a daisy on Monday mornings. A lot of the streams just aren't worth staying up for.

damoz

Lads - for those of you who had Gamepass last year the feedback (apart from the issues in the first couple of weeks) looks good.

One question though - what broadband were you using with it. I have 3mb Eircom line, so not sure if that would be sufficient to support it. Anyone use this or less and find it ok ?

frostie500

damoz wrote: »

Lads - for those of you who had Gamepass last year the feedback (apart from the issues in the first couple of weeks) looks good.

One question though - what broadband were you using with it. I have 3mb Eircom line, so not sure if that would be sufficient to support it. Anyone use this or less and find it ok ?

I had a three meg line last year and it worked A-OK. Gamepass is terrific, but the cost is an obvnious issue. I couldnt get over the red zone channel when i started watching it last year. It lets you keep up to date with every game through the league, punching from one to another for scores or incidents of significance such as Welker's injury, and unless there was a specific game i wanted to see I'd always keep it one the RZ. Couldn't recommend it highly enough...if your'e willing to pay the cash!

cooker3

damoz wrote: »

Lads - for those of you who had Gamepass last year the feedback (apart from the issues in the first couple of weeks) looks good.

One question though - what broadband were you using with it. I have 3mb Eircom line, so not sure if that would be sufficient to support it. Anyone use this or less and find it ok ?

I have same line, I think. I did find some weeks I couldn't have all 3 screens open in bottom where I could easily switch.
In saying all that my line been upgraded a lot (I assume yours has well) so should be less of an issue this year I'd guess.

damoz

Cheers for that. I ran the demo last night from home and tbh it was so/so. ran at 400kbps - so a bit grainy and not much better than a stream id say. Ran it from a LAN yesterday and it was excellent - 3000kbps and clear HD.

so im leaning towards not getting it until i have BB to support the HD side of it. Does anyone have experience of availability and quality of live streams for NFL matches. Are they hard to get?

LuckyLloyd

I cancelled Sky last year when they lost MNF, SNF and the extra Thursday night games. I have ESPN for the NCAA side of things, and having MNF is a nice bonus (though realistically I can no longer watch the late games live due to new working arrangements).

Gamepass is simply a no brainer. It's not just about whether you can find streams on a Sunday evening. It's the ability to watch an advertisement free game you missed out on at your convenience later in the week. If you're a fan and you really want to get into things, you can't beat going through ESPN / sports forums on a Monday evening, then spending a few hours the next few nights watching games that had the big talking points that you missed due to following your own team / etc.

You're getting an absolute truckload of football for your €210 bills.

Dodge

Sky didn't lose the Thursday games and showed them all.

Syferus

Yeah, and they hadn't had MNF for years before that. This is as much the NFL's fault for trying to apply US tv deal logic here - the goal of deals here should be to establish the game, not to get a good financial deal. Five riding off into the sunset last season was a huge blow.

Finding NFL GameDay (however you may come across it, ahem) on a Monday morning is a far handier option for seeing the picks of the week's action than trapsing through full games and it wouldn't cost €210 euro for the privilege. Not helpful for people who want to see their team's games live but even in addition to GamePass it's the best option for a good overview of the week's action.

LuckyLloyd

Oops, thought Sky had lost the Thursday night games. Shows what I know.

Go your own way lads. If the 90 minute Gameday package satisfies your taste for NFL action then happy days. NFL.com shows all the big plays from each game for free anyway. €210 is a price I'm happy to pay for a wealth of NFL action to be consumed at my own leisure.

As for the TV deals, we discussed this ad nauseum last year. The NFL no longer has an incentive to "grow" the games on this side of the Atlantic. They have a solid interest base established here and in the UK by this stage. They gave it away practically for free to Channel 4 for years, then Sky Sports for much of the last decade. When things came to be renegotiated last year, they realised that they now have a sufficient interest to up their asking price. People have to get on board.

Even after the change to the deal, we still have it so much better than your average NFL fan in the states. The Gamepass package we get as none of the local restrictions common over there, we don't have to deal with TV blackouts, and we ultimately pay far less for the coverage we receive than our US counterparts. I usually head out to watch the games come playoff times, so for the regular season, I just feel dumping Sky and using the money for Gamepass is a far better deal for me.

I detest Sky's coverage of things like the Premiership anyway, so maybe it is a much easier decision for me to make than it would be for others.

tallaghtoutlaws

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Even after the change to the deal, we still have it so much better than your average NFL fan in the states. The Gamepass package we get as none of the local restrictions common over there, we don't have to deal with TV blackouts, and we ultimately pay far less for the coverage we receive than our US counterparts. I usually head out to watch the games come playoff times, so for the regular season, I just feel dumping Sky and using the money for Gamepass is a far better deal for me.

I detest Sky's coverage of things like the Premiership anyway, so maybe it is a much easier decision for me to make than it would be for others.

I agree with everything you said over the NFL's Gamepass well most odf it anyways but I have to disagree with the bit in bold.

The average American on a basic cable package will have Fox, NBC, CBS and Espn.Meaning they will get to see 3 games min on a Sunday and the Monday night game. And they have the likes of sportscentre and other review and preview shows.

For the price is Average NFL fans pay here you could nearly add another $20 to it and get yourself and solid Satellite/Cable package with NFL Ticket in the US which includes the ticket on the go which is an online service. Also the average Fan in the US has many options to head to a local bar that has every game on which many do.

As for the restrictions to Gamepass this usually is the games they are getting already on their TV in their local area and it the worst case scenario mainly for the sh1t teams blackouts.