ESPN & The Big East

[hoopsfan22]

Didn't Val Ackerman already say that all UConn games will be on regular TV channels and not streaming? I know that was like six months ago when the new TV deal was first announced, but I'm still hoping that it will play out that way.

 

[Huskie837]

I was hoping with the new tv deal I wouldn't have to be jumping thru hoops anymore to see every game. With the "old" package I had to subscribe to CBS sports net to catch their two annual games and then unsubscribe; same with Flo Hoops one year as well (I refused to do it last season). If I miss a game or two two with this new deal, oh well. Reading between the lines it sounds like they will stick an "exclusive" game or two on ESPN+ as a revenue grab. Count me out.....

 

[Centerstream]

I think I'm going to wait until the schedule is posted with the networks listed. We now have to stream a number of services thru apps that Spectrum (FL) provides (a pain, actually).

Sounds like a really, really good idea. Especially when it is only July.
But on the other hand, I am already subscribed to Hulu Live, Disney+, ESPN+, Peacock, HBO MAX, and Paramount+ so I think I'm covered.

 

[Cuango]

I had Hulu Live last year (and what a glorious year it was) and was well satisfied with the UConn coverage. Hopefully, it will be as good or better in 25/26.

 

[WiseWillie]

Like BRS24, after reading all of this I think I'll do a wait and see before changing something that turns out not exactly great. I have a package with Comcast (I know, I know) that is costing me way too much and while I have considered options I have procrastinated. This might push me to do it finally but again think I'll wait before jumping. I'll keep reading here, however, because there are many on the Boneyard that have some good suggestions.

 

[Steelerone]

It's like they are attempting to figure out ways to make you say, "Aw, the heck with it. Let's just watch Gunsmoke."

 

[Bone Dog]

Living out west and with no cable service at all, I have to stream everything. That means either YouTubeTV or Hulu Live. The last few seasons, I watched the conference games on SNY through the FoxSports app, and the only way to sign on to it was to provide a cable credential from a service that included FS1. That’s where YouTubeTV (or Hulu Live) came in. I wouldn’t have bothered with either of them except for that.

This coming season, with no SNY I’ll need a completely different solution to get the conference games. It looks like it will be HuluLive in some form, but I don’t know exactly how it will work yet. All this to say I’m going to follow @BRS24’s advice and wait for the schedule to come out. Does anyone know when that will be?

 

[Alydar]

Bob Joyce's radio call is by far the best UConn game commentary, unless you want to know all about the hobbies of the players or where their parents went to college. When TV started filling every timeout with ads the only time left for "game color" was while the game is going on and now there is no game coverage, just color, unless a great play is made. I prefer announcers who tell me when there is a substitution or why a whistle was blown but they don't exist anymore on live TV. Bob Joyce is a UConn fan but he tells you when they play crappy as well as good. I missed SNY's pre & post game shows but then I found that the radio side has a better pre-game and that they almost always get a CD interview during their postgame show, along with a player.

It's not hard to synch it up to the muted video.

 

[YKCornelius]

Bob Joyce's radio call is by far the best UConn game commentary, unless you want to know all about the hobbies of the players or where their parents went to college. When TV started filling every timeout with ads the only time left for "game color" was while the game is going on and now there is no game coverage, just color, unless a great play is made. I prefer announcers who tell me when there is a substitution or why a whistle was blown but they don't exist anymore on live TV. Bob Joyce is a UConn fan but he tells you when they play crappy as well as good. I missed SNY's pre & post game shows but then I found that the radio side has a better pre-game and that they almost always get a CD interview during their postgame show, along with a player.

It's not hard to synch it up to the muted video.

Alydar, I agree that Bob Joyce (and Debbie Fiske) are superb to listen to.

My only gripe is that for some games their commentary is in sync with the video, but most of the times it is not. When the commentary is in advance of the video by 1-4 seconds, no worries for me: I simply mute the video and enjoy that my eyes can watch what is just about to happen. Love it!

However, when the video is ahead of the radio commentary (which, for me, was the case for almost all of the nationally televised games, sometimes for as much as ten seconds), I will lower the volume on Bob and Debbie until which time I need an explanation for something the announcers miss (which happens a lot) or if I think the refs goofed up on a call (also happens a lot).

Regardless, I will listen to them for the 30 minute pregame and until end of the postgame. Religiously!

 

[Bald Husky]

Living out west and with no cable service at all, I have to stream everything. That means either YouTubeTV or Hulu Live. The last few seasons, I watched the conference games on SNY through the FoxSports app, and the only way to sign on to it was to provide a cable credential from a service that included FS1. That’s where YouTubeTV (or Hulu Live) came in. I wouldn’t have bothered with either of them except for that.

This coming season, with no SNY I’ll need a completely different solution to get the conference games. It looks like it will be HuluLive in some form, but I don’t know exactly how it will work yet. All this to say I’m going to follow @BRS24’s advice and wait for the schedule to come out. Does anyone know when that will be?

If you get HuluLiveTV, ESPN+ as well as Disney+ is free. It's true that we don't know where the games will appear, but since it is ESPN a few, if more of our games may be on ESPN+. We will see.

 

[Centerstream]

Let's recap. This ESPN+ deal is in addition to the media rights deal that the Big East signed one year ago.
The Hulu Live bundle with Disney+ and ESPN+ that are being discussed in this thread doesn't guarantee that you will get every available Big East (UConn) game. We may also need to subscribe to Peacock and HBO MAX. Peacock streams NBC content and HBO MAX streams the TNT networks content. However, I believe that they only stream content that is delivered live on NBC and the TNT networks.
This is from the original media rights agreement announced in July 2024 "The new agreement, which will span from 2025-26 through 2030-31, encompasses coverage on FOX Sports (FOX, FS1, FS2), NBC Sports (NBC, Peacock) and TNT Sports (TNT, TBS, truTV and Max)."

 

[uconnfan68]

Sounds like a really, really good idea. Especially when it is only July.
But on the other hand, I am already subscribed to Hulu Live, Disney+, ESPN+, Peacock, HBO MAX, and Paramount+ so I think I'm covered.

No Netflix?

 

[Vowelguy]

Maybe Charlie will project UConn as a 1 seed now

Had he done that this year he would've been wrong.

His job is to predict the committee. Concerning UConn he was correct. And overall he was quite accurate. But sure keep knocking down that straw man.

 

[Alydar]

Alydar, I agree that Bob Joyce (and Debbie Fiske) are superb to listen to.

My only gripe is that for some games their commentary is in sync with the video, but most of the times it is not. When the commentary is in advance of the video by 1-4 seconds, no worries for me: I simply mute the video and enjoy that my eyes can watch what is just about to happen. Love it!

However, when the video is ahead of the radio commentary (which, for me, was the case for almost all of the nationally televised games, sometimes for as much as ten seconds), I will lower the volume on Bob and Debbie until which time I need an explanation for something the announcers miss (which happens a lot) or if I think the refs goofed up on a call (also happens a lot).

Regardless, I will listen to them for the 30 minute pregame and until end of the postgame. Religiously!

The audio feed on "Varsity Network" allows pausing and if it's ahead of the video I use that. I keep the TV remote and my phone handy and usually have to pause one or the other for 5-10 seconds a couple of times a game. Foxsports made that difficult by not allowing me to pause their streaming feed but the ESPN+ allows pausing so that issue should go away. it sometimes becomes a PITA but Joyce makes the game much more enjoyable for me.

I grew up in eastern CT listening to games since there was no Yankee TV or Celtic TV. Phil Rizzuto and Johnny Most were my eyes.

 

[Centerstream]

No Netflix?

I was only trying to list the services that are involved in the Big East media rights. (And looking at my post, I don't think that Paramount+ is going to stream any Big East events....)
And to answer your question, yes, we have subscribed to Netflix since the late 90s when we got DVD media via snail mail. We signed up for streaming shortly after it was available around 2008.

 

[uconnfan68]

I was only trying to list the services that are involved in the Big East media rights. (And looking at my post, I don't think that Paramount+ is going to stream any Big East events....)
And to answer your question, yes, we have subscribed to Netflix since the late 90s when we got DVD media via snail mail. We signed up for streaming shortly after it was available around 2008.

We're in the same boat. I get whatever I need to watch UConn games (most sports). Didn't do the FloSports though.

 

[CL82]

Let's recap. This ESPN+ deal is in addition to the media rights deal that the Big East signed one year ago.
The Hulu Live bundle with Disney+ and ESPN+ that are being discussed in this thread doesn't guarantee that you will get every available Big East (UConn) game. We may also need to subscribe to Peacock and HBO MAX. Peacock streams NBC content and HBO MAX streams the TNT networks content. However, I believe that they only stream content that is delivered live on NBC and the TNT networks.
This is from the original media rights agreement announced in July 2024 "The new agreement, which will span from 2025-26 through 2030-31, encompasses coverage on FOX Sports (FOX, FS1, FS2), NBC Sports (NBC, Peacock) and TNT Sports (TNT, TBS, truTV and Max)."

There was a statement made that no games will be on HBO Max solely. So any game shown there will also be broadcast on one of TNT TBS or true TV. Peacock, on the other hand, will likely have standalone games. We know that because last season it had standalone games. The good news is that Peacock offers a pretty discounted rate from time to time. Typically they offer a very good deal around Thanksgiving. I got that last year for $19 for the year. Recently, I saw that they offered a price of $25 for the whole year, so I don't know if they're going to offer the $19 deal again. The good news is that by the time anyone has to make that decision we have the schedule so you'll know which games are being shown where and you can make an informed decision whether or not to get Peacock. For what it's worth, the games that were broadcast on it last year were professionally done in good streaming quality. Also, though I rarely watch it, Peacock seems to be decent platform with NBC content plus some reasonable movies. It seems like a pretty good value.

 

[HopJim]

Did you just not like Gary Apple, Kara Wolters, Meg Culmo and Allan Bestwick?

With the team of Gary, Kara, Meg, and Allan, you got B level overall talent, but they demonstrated A+ knowledge of UConn basketball. It will be difficult for 99% of the potential announcers to come in and know UConn as the past team did. Most of us will also miss the pre and post-game shows, as well as the special programming that often focused on Geno's and past player's thoughts regarding the UConn women's program. Appears I will be able to manage the streaming selections to be near or close to today's dollars, but net net, the ovevall value will be less.

 

[Bone Dog]

With the team of Gary, Kara, Meg, and Allan, you got B level overall talent, but they demonstrated A+ knowledge of UConn basketball

The only team I can think of that has A level talent and excellent knowledge of the game and the teams is Rebecca and Ryan. Thank goodness they were used so liberally throughout this last tournament. They really helped make the last two games a treat. I hope we get a lot more of that pairing.

 

[CL82]

With the team of Gary, Kara, Meg, and Allan, you got B level overall talent, but they demonstrated A+ knowledge of UConn basketball. It will be difficult for 99% of the potential announcers to come in and know UConn as the past team did. Most of us will also miss the pre and post-game shows, as well as the special programming that often focused on Geno's and past player's thoughts regarding the UConn women's program. Appears I will be able to manage the streaming selections to be near or close to today's dollars, but net net, the ovevall value will be less.

We aren't going to get SNY level coverage. That was amazing coverage for any team, but especially for a woman's basketball team. I'm hopeful that the UConn+ app will pick up some of the gap in terms of behind the scenes looks into the program.

 

[Centerstream]

We aren't going to get SNY level coverage. That was amazing coverage for any team, but especially for a woman's basketball team. I'm hopeful that the UConn+ app will pick up some of the gap in terms of behind the scenes looks into the program.

I would like it if we were able to have Eric Frede and Meg for the games on ESPN+.
Not sure if Eric still does WBB games but I know he did play by play for quite a few softball games on ESPN this past season. Not sure how/if his working for NESN affects his ESPN work.

 

[UC15]

So is the SNY days over with? Or will some games still be on there?

 

[hoopsfan22]

So is the SNY days over with? Or will some games still be on there?

Seems so. SNY said their goodbyes and were honored during the last home game of last season.

 

[Bald Husky]

I would like it if we were able to have Eric Frede and Meg for the games on ESPN+.
Not sure if Eric still does WBB games but I know he did play by play for quite a few softball games on ESPN this past season. Not sure how/if his working for NESN affects his ESPN work.

I believe Eric Frede is one of the principal announcers for the SEC. If you get the SEC network, chances are you will see him. Traitor

 

[CL82]

I believe Eric Frede is one of the principal announcers for the SEC. If you get the SEC network, chances are you will see him. Traitor

Personally, I believe him to be undercover secretly working toward getting us an SEC invite.