TV Answer Man, Cleveland baseball fan here, whatever their name is these days. How can I watch the Cleveland Guardians if I cut the cord. Can it be done? Sick of cable. — Gene, Shaker Heights, Ohio.
John, Bally Sports Great Lakes is the regional TV home of the Cleveland Guardians and it’s available in different parts of the Cleveland market on such traditional pay TV services as DIRECTV, Cox Comcast, and Charter’s Spectrum TV.
But what if you dropped your cable or satellite service? Is there any way to keep watching the Guardians who are currently in first place in the AL Central?
See Amazon’s best-selling electronics!
Yes.
Bally Sports Great Lakes is available in the Cleveland market on DIRECTV Stream, the multi-channel live streaming service. But if you’re considering subscribing to DIRECTV Stream to watch the Guardians, take note that you will need a Choice plan or above to get Bally Sports channel in your programming plan. DIRECTV Stream’s Choice package costs $89.99 a month, but the streamer is now running a special $10 off the first three months promotion which would bring the price down to $79.99 until July. (The promotion offer is scheduled to end this Saturday, April 30.)
Click Amazon: See Today’s 1-Day-Only Deals!
The other major streamers, Hulu Live, Sling TV, FuboTV and YouTube TV, do not carry Bally Sports Sun.
There is one other way to watch the Guardians via streaming in the Cleveland market. You could install a VPN on your streaming device and/or router which disguises your location. That would allow you to subscribe to MLB TV for $139.99 and watch your favorite home team in your market without blackouts. If that sounds ethically or legally sketchy, read our article on Major League Baseball’s latest position on VPNs and MLB.TV.
One last note: Bally Sports Great Lakes will air more than 150 Guardians games this season, but Peacock will stream three Guardians games exclusively while Apple TV+ will have at least one Guardians game exclusively. Plus, FS1, the Fox-owned sports channel, is expected to air a handful of Guardians games. See this article about Peacock and this one about Apple for more details, and consult your on-screen guide for more information on the FS1 games.
Gene, hope that helps. Happy viewing and stay safe!
Have a question about new TV technologies? Send it to The TV Answer Man at swann@tvanswerman.com Please include your first name and hometown in your message.
— Phillip Swann
@tvanswerman
You really got no sense of humor.
Drop cable and add a live TV stream service for $80 a month. How much did you really save? “Cutting the cord” is not at all a real savings these days. Just a shift from the cable line to a modem line. The only real benefit, is these live tv stream services provide more flexibility, where you watch anywhere and on any device.