How to Live Stream NFL Football for the 2016 Regular Season

Compared to many other sports, ESPN does not own nearly as many broadcast rights for NFL. But it still owns the broadcast for Monday Night Football, which is often times one of the best games of the week and the perfect way to cap off a weekend of football.

The easiest way to watch Monday Night Football online is through the WatchESPN app. In order to get access to WatchESPN, you can either sign in with your credentials from your pay-TV provider, get free access without cable if your internet provider is on this list, or sign up for cable alternative services like Sling TV or PlayStation Vue (more on those soon).

As mentioned above, two other ways of watching ESPN’s MNF broadcast are Sling TV and PlayStation Vue. Both are subscription services that offer cable channels, including ESPN, live streaming on computers, phones, tablets, or over devices like Roku, Chromecast, or Apple TV. Each comes without a contract, so you can cancel at any time.

The Sling Orange package on Sling TV includes ESPN, ESPN2, and access to WatchESPN, along with more than 20 other channels for just $20 per month. You can add more sports channels with the Sports Extra add-on package for just $5 more per month.

PlayStation Vue costs $29.99 per month in most places and you get over 50 cable channels including ESPN, ESPN2, and, once again, access to WatchESPN. There are larger packages for an additional monthly cost as well.

Every Sunday Night Football game will be broadcast on NBC, along with certain Thursday Night Football games as well. There are a few ways to get access to an NBC stream.

The best and easiest option is the NBC Sports app, which you can log into with your credentials from your cable package. Or, you can use your PlayStation Vue login credentials to get access to the app if you subscribe to that service. In certain areas, PlayStation Vue subscribers even get NBC live. These areas have a starting price of $39.99 per month.

Sling TV’s Sling Orange package also offers NBC live streams in multiple markets across the United States, but it does not allow you to sign into the NBC app. This package costs $25 per month.

The last option is completely free and quite surprising for most people: Twitter. That’s right, the social media service made a deal with NBC that it would live stream every one of NBC’s Thursday Night Football games for free. Obviously, this is a great deal for TNF and for customers at home.

One of the leading broadcasters of the NFL, FOX broadcasts plenty of Sunday afternoon NFC games throughout the year. The options for FOX streams are similar to NBC.

You can use the FOX Sports Go app with a cable subscription login or a PlayStation Vue credential. Once again, FOX can be live streamed in certain markets on PlayStation Vue, but you can access FOX Sports Go regardless of your live streaming ability. Sling Orange also has FOX live streaming in a limited number of locations for the $25 per month price tag.

The number one broadcaster of NFL games each year is CBS. They have rights to tons of regular season and playoff games. A CBS stream can go a long way during football season as the network broadcasts Sunday AFC games, some of the Thursday Night Football games, and multiple playoff games including the Super Bowl.

CBS has realized this, and each year the network actually live streams several games for free right on its own website. Last year, there were even playoff games and a free live stream of the Super Bowl. The details are often announced during the year, so keep an eye out.

One thing to note, is CBS’s own streaming service, CBS All Access, is not an option for watching the NFL. Due to ongoing contract restrictions, all of the NFL games are blacked out on the service. But, Twitter once again comes to the rescue on Thursday Night’s with free streams of the CBS TNF games. You can find a complete list of TNF games on Twitter here.

PlayStation Vue is the one subscription streaming service that can get live streaming access to CBS. It is limited to certain locations, but in many of the locations if you get access to CBS, you can also stream NBC, ABC, and FOX. This is not true for every location, but if you’re in one of the select markets, then you’re in luck! Once again, the cost in these areas is $39.99 per month.

The NFL Network is certainly a valuable asset during football season, as it broadcasts TNF games and 24/7 football news. You can access this coverage on the NFL’s app with a cable login.

Both Sling TV and PlayStation Vue also carry the NFL Network in various packages. However, expect there to be blackouts on the games streamed on Twitter. That being said, Sling has announced that games only on the NFL Network will be carried with their Sling Blue package.

The NFL RedZone is now available on both Sling TV and PlayStation Vue, which means either service can be used for a stream on gameday. On Sling TV, you can get NFL RedZone with the Sling Blue for $25 per month and add the Sports Extra package for $5 more monthly. On PlayStation Vue, NFL RedZone can be added to any subscription for $39.99 for the entire season.

For many, NFL Sunday Ticket is the gold standard when it comes to NFL Sundays, as it allows you to watch every out of market Sunday game. It used to be that you needed a contract with satellite provider DirecTV to access the package, but that’s not exactly the case anymore.

DirecTV is making Sunday Ticket available as a standalone streaming service to two sets of people. First, if you live in a condo or apartment where you can’t install a satellite dish, you may be eligible for the streaming service. This is available for $49.99 per month throughout the season. Find out if you qualify here.

The second group that can access the service are college students. If you attend an approved 2 or 4-year school, you can use your .edu email address to sign up. The best part? It’s only $24.99 per month. You can check your eligibility here.

Clearly, there are plenty of options out there not just to stream the NFL, but to stream the NFL on each channel. It may be difficult to choose, but hopefully the above information makes it that much easier!

Chris Brantner is the founder of CutCableToday, a site featuring info on how to watch popular programming such as the NFL without cable.