Looking to cut cable due to cost. Would like to use MLB TV to watch games but they do local blackouts. Has anyone used a VPN to get around this? What is the success rate?

https://xtremehdiptv.org/

It's shady and probably slightly illegal but it's cheap and you get every baseball game for every team all season.

used proton VPN last year. Once connected it worked very well. I did have to cycle through a handful of locations before watching Rangers games, but I never once could not find a connection that worked.

It really depends on the device you're using. Android phones want to verify your location even if you're on VPN, so you would need a VPN that can spoof location services. It's very likely watching on your PC might do the same thing, but I haven't tried. The one way I've found to make it work in the past is using an iPad, turning off location, and denying the MLB.tv app access to location. That's worked the past 2 years. However, it would not shock me to see them close that loophole this year.

I used VPN and never seemed to have issues once I connected through Toronto.

Resurrecting an old thread but with the DirecTV Disney impasse, I have finally just about had enough

Thinking of switching to youtube tv and then subscribing to MLB TV. I have a Sony TV that uses android so I am assuming I would have to subscribe to a VPN to be able to get around the blackout thing for the Astros.

The question is this really working for folks? Does the use of the VPN affect your youtube tv and locals? Not sure how all of this stuff works.

I understand using a VPN can slow your connection down quite a bit. Out in the sticks, our speedtest on T-Mobile runs anywhere from 50 mbps to 210 mbps depending on network traffic, with most of the time in the 135-180 mbps range. How much would it slow it down? The goal is save money but if gets to where I am "buffering" all the time then its not worth it.

Call MLBTV and see if your zip code is within the Astros territory. If so they have a home team package.

jja79 said:

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Call MLBTV and see if your zip code is within the Astros territory. If so they have a home team package.

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I don't think that is valid if you live in Texas and want to watch the Astros or Rangers because the RSN has territorial rights. I think it would work if I lived outside of Texas.

Sgt. Schultz said:

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Resurrecting an old thread but with the DirecTV Disney impasse, I have finally just about had enough

Thinking of switching to youtube tv and then subscribing to MLB TV. I have a Sony TV that uses android so I am assuming I would have to subscribe to a VPN to be able to get around the blackout thing for the Astros.

The question is this really working for folks? Does the use of the VPN affect your youtube tv and locals? Not sure how all of this stuff works.

I understand using a VPN can slow your connection down quite a bit. Out in the sticks, our speedtest on T-Mobile runs anywhere from 50 mbps to 210 mbps depending on network traffic, with most of the time in the 135-180 mbps range. How much would it slow it down? The goal is save money but if gets to where I am "buffering" all the time then its not worth it.

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I have a vpn to watch Bay Area baseball and my internet speed is probably similar to yours. I often have 3 streaming feeds going at the same time, plus normal internet use, and never have any speed/connection issues.

Im curious about the YouTube component to your question too. I have directv stream and am considering changing, but only if there are no issues using my vpn to watch channels from other regions.

I live in Phoenix and the Diamondbacks were blacked out on MLBTV. I called that number and they confirmed my zip code and turned my service on.

jja79 said:

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I live in Phoenix and the Diamondbacks were blacked out on MLBTV. I called that number and they confirmed my zip code and turned my service on.

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Not trying to be contrarian but I think the D'Backs are 1 of 2 teams that you can do that with. Space City and Bally's have territorial rights to Texas for some reason.

I have no idea..I was just offering a solution that worked for me.

The RSN model is collapsing under the cost of local broadcast rights. I can pay Bally $20 per month for the Royals as a standalone streaming service. But why would I do that when, with VPN (which I already have) and mlb.tv, I can watch the Royals... and every other team as well?

I used to subscribe to DirecTV Stream, which includes Bally Sports (w/Cardinals & Royals), but I saved $32 per month by switching to Hulu+Live TV.

I don't know why the Cardinals (the favorite team for the overwhelming majority of people here in Mid-Missouri) aren't offered stand-alone by Bally.

EDIT - And I use Surfshark for my VPN. Usually go through the Bamahas, which has no commercials (although all of the flashback clips get old), and sometimes through Montreal, because of the French-language commercials.

Based on what I'm seeing here in Houston I'm wondering if Fubo with the sports package is the best to get coverage for both the Aggies and Astros. YouTubeTV has anything the Aggies would be on but can't watch the Astros unless they're on ESPN or Fox

Currently the local Astros broadcast is on ATT SportsNet Southwest- what channel can I get on Fubo to watch the Astros?

While traveling, I tried to get the Stros on MLB.tv in Amarillo. No providers carry the games out there. But, nope, it was blacked out.

dabo man said:

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The RSN model is collapsing under the cost of local broadcast rights. I can pay Bally $20 per month for the Royals as a standalone streaming service. But why would I do that when, with VPN (which I already have) and mlb.tv, I can watch the Royals... and every other team as well?

I used to subscribe to DirecTV Stream, which includes Bally Sports (w/Cardinals & Royals), but I saved $32 per month by switching to Hulu+Live TV.

I don't know why the Cardinals (the favorite team for the overwhelming majority of people here in Mid-Missouri) aren't offered stand-alone by Bally.

EDIT - And I use Surfshark for my VPN. Usually go through the Bamahas, which has no commercials (although all of the flashback clips get old), and sometimes through Montreal, because of the French-language commercials.

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I have written Space city Network about this. They mentioned they have a contract with DirecTV and FUBO that runs through 2032 or something like that. Basically, they don't give a **** that they could sell Astros on a standalone basis and probably make more money.

I got a VPN and have 7 day trial on MLB.TV so I am going to see if I can get the Astros Tuesday (9/10).

Please reply and let us know if it worked! Would love to use this next season if it seems like a viable alternative.

I've been using VPN all summer and it works. You have to set it outside of Texas and every now and then you have to switch it. I don't know if they figure it out and you have to change it or what but I can always find a connection that works.

I use my work computer (out of state VPN) for MLBTV and hook up to my tv...works just fine.

To follow up from about 10 days ago, MLB TV works fine with VPN. Just make sure the location you select is outside of the team's protected regional territory. I used Phoenix.

VPN did not affect YouTube Tv as long as the location selected was in the US. When I used VPN with Toronto, YouTube Tv didn't like that. When I used Phoenix, no problem.

I found YouTube TV to be ok for watching tv. It just would take awhile to load as it would "buffer" for about a minute when I changed channel. Maybe that was because we live in a rural area and use cell phone based internet or have an older Sony smart tv. Speeds are normally greater than 135 Mbps....so IDK????

Good to know, great info! May I ask what VPN service you're using?

Sgt. Schultz said:

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VPN did not affect YouTube Tv as long as the location selected was in the US. When I used VPN with Toronto, YouTube Tv didn't like that. When I used Phoenix, no problem.

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When you used phoenix (assuming this isn't your physical location?), did you get the local phoenix channels, or was what you could access based on where you actually live? With directv stream, when I switched to Bay Area location with my vpn, I got the Bay Area local channels, including the sports network for the giants. But I have been doing the trial for YouTube tv the past week and even though ill pick different locations with the vpn, YouTube blocks anything outside of my area (boise), because of location services. It won't change the location for what I actually watch based on vpn, as it gets upset if I turn off location services and cuts the stream. I can't manually change my home location on my settings, even though it gives that option. It only gives me boise as a location that it is happy with.

I like YouTube tv, but this aspect is kind of frustrating, especially since directv stream has allowed this since it came into existence. I really wanted to switch over, but now I'm not so sure, as I'm concerned that this will be an ongoing issue when I take the firestick on my trips out of state.

Enzomatic said:

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Sgt. Schultz said:

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VPN did not affect YouTube Tv as long as the location selected was in the US. When I used VPN with Toronto, YouTube Tv didn't like that. When I used Phoenix, no problem.

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When you used phoenix (assuming this isn't your physical location?), did you get the local phoenix channels, or was what you could access based on where you actually live? With directv stream, when I switched to Bay Area location with my vpn, I got the Bay Area local channels, including the sports network for the giants. But I have been doing the trial for YouTube tv the past week and even though ill pick different locations with the vpn, YouTube blocks anything outside of my area (boise), because of location services. It won't change the location for what I actually watch based on vpn, as it gets upset if I turn off location services and cuts the stream. I can't manually change my home location on my settings, even though it gives that option. It only gives me boise as a location that it is happy with.

I like YouTube tv, but this aspect is kind of frustrating, especially since directv stream has allowed this since it came into existence. I really wanted to switch over, but now I'm not so sure, as I'm concerned that this will be an ongoing issue when I take the firestick on my trips out of state.

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I use Nord VPN. I still got Houston area locals with YouTube Tv. I just had to make sure I had a US connection. I did get Arizona commercials on plain old YouTube so ......

I've been doing NordVPN and MLB TV this year for the first time, and I have been extremely happy; however, it is not perfect. A couple of things I have found:

1. NordVPN defaults to the closest VPN location to you. For me, that's still in the Astros home market. Easy fix, though, as I can just select a different location.

2. I have found when watching on my TV (using a Chromecast) it works almost all the time, unless the Astros are playing whatever city my VPN is connected to. I just have to change the location to a different city, and I am back on line.

3. Watching on my phone or PC has proven much more difficult. I can usually watch the game, but I can't login to MLB. What I have found I have to do is to disconnect from VPN, log into MLB, go to the Watch and let it tell me the game is blacked out, log back into VPN and then refresh the page.

4. Occasionally, when trying to watch YouTubeTV on my phone, I will get a popup that I can't use it while connected to a public VPN. I just have to turn off the VPN and it works fine. I have only ever got this message on my phone, and I don't always get it.

It has been the first time in a decade I've been able to watch the Astros during the regular season, and that has been nice. I was really disappointed this off season that the Astros and Rockets were able to start their own network after getting the rights back. I was really hoping they would go online, and I could just buy from them, but using the VPN hasn't been awful, and I found it was nice to have when I travelled this summer and was connecting to hotel wifi.