NFL Plus: How Come I Can’t Watch My Team?!
TV Answer Man, I tried to watch the Dolphins last night against the Raiders on NFL Plus and it wouldn’t let me. How can that be? I thought NFL Plus had all the pre-season games? — Mike, Las Vegas.
Mike, for readers not familiar with NFL Plus, it’s the league’s new mobile service (starts at $4.99 a month) that delivers live out-of-market pre-season games across all devices as well as live regular season or post-season in-market games on your phone or tablet, among other features.
Since the app’s launch late last month, there has been considerable confusion over which games you can watch and on which devices you can watch them. Compounding the confusion is that a significant number of NFL Plus subscribers say the app has been buggy, often failing to allow logins or switching from one game to another without explanation.
https://twitter.com/nathanboyett/status/1561136848218587136?s=20&t=V7775ODy1sG53AT9MsQ7kA
It’s not unusual for a new streaming service (or an old one in some cases) to experience technical glitches but it’s making a complicated situation even worse.
The biggest source of befuddlement seems to be over whether you can watch in-market games or out-of-market games. The reason behind the uncertainty is that NFL Plus’ pre-season games, such as last night’s Dolphins-Raiders game, are only available out of market while the only regular season games that will be available will be the ones airing on your local channels. (If you want out-of-market regular season games, you will need to get the NFL Sunday Ticket.)
For instance, Mike, since you live in Las Vegas, you couldn’t watch the Raiders-Dolphins game on NFL Plus last night because it was airing on one of your local channels (Fox 5 in Vegas). However, if the game was in regular season, and Fox 5 was airing it in Las Vegas, it would be available on NFL Plus.
Yes, I know. Confusing. But the league has designed NFL Plus to generate as much subscription revenue as possible without stepping on the toes of its other TV partners, such as Fox, CBS and DIRECTV (the current rights holder of the Sunday Ticket.)
And if you think you’re confused now, wait until the regular season when you will only be allowed to watch the NFL Plus games on mobile devices. (The pre-season games are available on connected TV devices such as Roku.)
Mike, 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
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bought NFL Plus and would’t let me watch any except for the ones already being broadcast on tv what a rip off. the NFL sucks
I made the same mistake. You have to be connected to a streaming channel like paramount plus or you cable provider
No good so far …. Paid for it and now it provides only listening. At first it wouldn’t allow a log in then once logged in it played for listening with NO PICTURE.
I have a Roku TV and purchased the NFL+ annual subscription on the app, then added the channel to my Roku TV. I don’t have a “cable provider” and the Channel will not let me watch anything (I have the same issue with Paramount Plus). What is the solution so that I can watch these channels?
I tried watching a Raiders game on my phone in Hawaii and the app told me the game was only available to watch live on mobile and tablet devices. How ridiculous!