Live sports
Watching live sports without the Saturday panic
Live sports are the hardest thing to stream, and the time when a freeze hurts most. Here is how to prepare your setup, and what to check before you count on a game.
Before game day
Do this at least a day ahead, not ten minutes before kickoff.
Ask about your sport
Tell us the sport and team you follow, and we will tell you what we can see available. We do not promise any particular game, league or event.
Wire up your main TV
An Ethernet cable is the single biggest upgrade for live events.
Find your channels
Add them to favorites now, so that you are not hunting through a list during the first minutes.
Test at the same time of day
Run a stream at the time of the game on a similar day, when the neighbors are online too.
Why streams run behind
Any internet stream takes time to encode, travel and buffer. So it will usually run some way behind a cable or antenna broadcast, and that gap can vary.
In practice, that means the neighbor's cheer or your phone's score alert can spoil a goal before you see it. Turn off score notifications during the game. If it is a group chat, you are on your own.
Live sports questions
Can you guarantee a specific game?
No, and be careful of anyone who does.
Broadcast schedules and availability can change at short notice. If one event is your main reason for subscribing, tell us first, and do not rely on any single stream.
What should I do if the stream freezes mid-game?
Switch to another channel and back. If that does not help, restart the app. Next, check whether other apps work: if they do not, it is your connection. If only that channel is affected, let the desk know.
Can I have a game on two TVs?
It depends on your plan.
Each screen counts as a connection and uses bandwidth. Allow about 10 Mbps per HD stream, and ask the desk how many screens your order covers.
Does the picture get worse with lots of motion?
It can.
Fast sport is hard to compress, so a low-bitrate stream can look blocky. A faster connection helps, as does a capable device. Ask us if you see this often.
Which sport do you follow?
Tell us, and we will check what is available and suggest how to set up for it.