PatAg said:
It was on Bein or sometimes as pay per views too, I think a lot of people are either forgetting how difficult it was to watch the games the last 12+ years, or weren't watching back then. (no shame in that, the more the merrier)
It's not USSF fault either, I believe CONCACAF sells the away game rights.
If you had Bein, you were almost certainly spending more to have that package then you would need to spend now to have Paramount+...and DirectTV is ****tier than the streaming channels. Investing in a Roku or a Chromecast w/GoogleTV is something you should look into as well, then you arent stuck with only a monitor to watch.
I still think all the games should be on national channels during prime time, isntead of shunting them onto FS1 or streaming channels. Its freaking World Cup Qualifiers, not a friendly against a random team during camp cupcake.
I agree wholeheartedly they should be on the major channels (ESPN, ABC/FOX) or at minimum the next tier (ESPN2, FS1, etc.). And you're right, it's CONCACAF that sells those rights, and we all know they're more corrupt than a three dollar bill.
In my case I have subscribed to the regional sports pack (and NHL Center Ice) with DirecTV since 2002, and I believe BEIN was part of the regional sports pack last WCQ.
My other point was, I simply don't prefer to watch TV, especially live sports, streaming on the internet, PERIOD. It doesn't matter what service it is, or what program, or interface, or who is streaming it, or what device I'm using... I don't want to watch live sports streaming on the internet unless it's my only option. I'll do it for Aggie soccer, Aggie baseball, and Aggie softball because most of those games are only on SECN+, but if they were on the regular cable/satellite channels I would never fire up the ESPN app as my first choice.
That being said... I really do appreciate having the option to stream and having the "backup" of my DirecTV credentials on the (very) rare occasion a storm is strong enough to temporarily interfere with the satellite signal. But to me, the option to stream is my backup plan... not my first choice.
On the other hand, unfortunately, if I got rid of cable/satellite, there is no backup for when the internet is down in reverse.
That being said, we do have three Roku TVs in our house, and two of us use various streaming services extensively and prefer it for regular TV shows/movies. They are happy streaming, and if that makes them happy I'm happy to pay for whatever streaming services they desire that don't already come with our DirecTV credentials.