Sigh. How the **** do I watch the Royals?
 

- I’m in the KC market.
- I have YoutubeTV.
- YouTubeTV does not carry the Bally sports channels.
- MLB TV pass doesn’t work because I am in the KC market, so it’s blacked out.

What the **** are my options here?

- I’m not buying an additional cable package or streaming provider. I'm fine with one-offs, just not a multi-channel duplication of what I already get with YoutubeTV.
- I’m not clicking into Ethiopian livestream every game to deal with buffering issues, boner pill pop-up ads, or having my identity stolen.

EDIT/UPDATE: For anyone in the same boat, the solution was going direct through the Bally's app.

Direct TV Stream is the one you need.

VPN on a device?

According to your bullet points, you're ****ed.

Buy season tickets...or a good radio.

One option you didn't mention would be to just go to all the games.

For the record, I agree with you. I have a partial season package so I go to a fair amount of home games but I refuse to pay for stupid Ballys. I listen online or follow online the rest of the time. If the team is still in it come August, I may pay for 2 months of Ballys. Maybe

its a mess...hope they figure this shit out

Soooo....you don't wanna pay for any additional service or channel.....and you don't wanna stream it illegally....

Idk, my guy. You're in a pickle here.

I live outside DC. Just said **** it and bought MLB ticket. It's been worth it.

If you know somebody who has bought the Bally's subscription that would be willing to sign you in that is one option. So far I haven't run into any problems doing that for my oldest who was watching at college while I was watching at home.

Stream it illegally and just find a way to deal with the 4 hour erection.

https://www.thestreameast.to/v8/

Bally's isn't great, but it is the only way I get to watch the Royals. I don't like it, especially there being no on demand that I can find. But I bit the bullet in April and have enjoyed watching them boys play some ball.

I felt the same way as you until Bally's made me an offer I couldn't refuse. I got 1 month for $14.95 with the following month free. And then it will auto-renew for $19.95, if I don't cancel. So I basically have Royals games now whenever I want, through August for $35.

I don't know if they are still running that promo or not.


EDIT: I found the email they sent and the offer expired 5/31. The promo code was KCBALLY24, maybe it still works.

I should clarify: I don't want to buy another full-tilt live TV service like Cable, Hulu TV, etc...

I don't mind paying a reasonable price for a standalone service like MLBTV, but the blackouts prevent me from accessing. From what I can tell, the same is true if I buy Bally's as well.

go to minsky's/ thread

No, if you buy Bally's you are good.

Even if I'm in the KC market? Is it really that simple?

Yep. I'm in KC and use the Bally's app. I think it will verify your zip code at the beginning but after that you're good.

Probably more hassle than you want but as others said, MLB.tv and a vpn. I'm out of market so don't have to deal with blackouts on the Royals except when they are playing in Texas. In that case, the VPN works well if I pull the game up on the computer with the VPN (I just hook the laptop up to the tv) on. The phone/tablet still seems to be an issue in that the VPN does not prevent mlb.tv from knowing my location and will still black it out. I assume if I set the VPN up on the router itself, it would work, but for the few times a year KC is blacked out here, it's fine just hooking the laptop up to the TV.

Okay I just signed up for this POS service; $67 bucks for a Season Pass. Let's see if it works for tonight's game... appreciate the assist if so!

I thought about the VPN route, but I'd have to cart around my work laptop to whichever TV I am near at the given time and plug in the HDMI cable, and the whole thing.

If this Bally's thing works, I'll be pleased (while still being irritated). Insane that I have to pay for a service to watch my home market team. Why is this shit not on on one of the main goddamn channels?

totally worth it if you watch a good number of games

My friend has MLB.tv and says the VPNs stop working constantly. So they're on to that basically.

What are you running the Bally's app on? According to some of the forums it's horrible on some platforms like Samsung. Seems ok on Roku/Roku TV.

Whatever you do don't do an unreliable stream. Just buy Ballysports.com or Direct TV has it

You can ask for a shitty streaming link in every single royals thread and somebody will likely provide one

Or spend 20/month and just watch them

Bally's works because it's the actual provider. Mlbtv blacks out because it's stepping on Bally's toes locally if it doesn't

I have everything on Firesticks and one Fire TV. I just loaded the app on one of the Firesticks and it seems to function, although I have yet to watch anything live. Will report back on the experience this evening.

With a barf bag and a suicide prevention hotline on speed dial?

Now if the Royals go on a major slump we know who to blame. ;)

I was there in NYC when we won it all, so if anything, I’m hoping I carry us to the finish line!

These new streaming deals are absolute horseshit/pure ****ing evil. Up here, if you want to watch the Cubs (which I don't) you have to subscribe to Marquee Channel. However, unless you have an ISP that appears on Marquee's list of providers, you don't have an option to buy the service. Our ISP is T-Mobile, and they don't appear on the drop down list, and there appears to be no way around it. And much like everything else internet provided, there is no customer service.

The kicker? On Marquee's main page, it says, and I shit you not, "powered by T-Mobile." You can't make this crap up. :shake:

I only know this because my wife was trying to watch the Cubs games when they were playing the Braves. Likewise, I'll never be able to watch another Cubs/Cardinals game from my house. And even if I could sign up for it, I'm not paying these unholy thieving ****s $20 a month to watch a handful of games over the course of a season.

Bally's has gotta be one of the most hated companies in the KC sports market. Right up there with whatever company Kevin Keitzman sets his name to

Hey, me too! I thought you looked familiar...

Streameast.

I watch them from Green Bay.

Free of charge.

Are you a Yankee fan?

Wait until today to bring this up? IDK, looks suspect.

Gehrig Dieter is a Yankee fan from a family of Yankee fans, that is why he was named Gehrig.

I pay the $19 subscription fee. It works okay on Roku. I watch it more on desktop browser than Roku because not easy to channel surf between innings on Roku.

It really is wild. It's like they're actively trying to kill the sport.

The Pac-12 held firm on making it damn near impossible to get the Pac-12 Network in the LA metro area. That worked out really well for the conference.

Have all these regional channels been bought out by private equity or something, and they're now just being stripped for parts? That's the only thing that makes sense to me.

Yanks and Dodgers this week...not mad about it

Bally's because they SUCK BALLS as a provider

The MLB is one of the worst run sports leagues out there. Bally's has sure helped them get to shit tier by being the shittiest broadcasting company ever. How they were able to get the broadcasting rights to all these teams is beyond me.

They pulled off most streaming services, so they could charge a god damn insane amount of money per month ($20). They've pretty well burnt bridges with the streaming services, so they aren't getting money from them. Absolutely no one wants to give them money to play commercials, because companies aren't gonna waste advertising money on a shitty streaming service. They play the same 3-4 commercials and can't even fill up an entire commercial break, so they have to play annoying ass basketball dribbling sounds or squeaky shoe sounds for 30 seconds to a minute to fill up the commercial break.

No wonder the piece of shit company is going bankrupt. The bate minimum of ad revenue. They have to pay the teams to keep broadcasting the games. They have like one streaming company they're working with. All of that means is the majority of their money comes from the $20/month they get from subscribers and I'm willing to bet that can't be too many. They're literally bleeding money.

Here's some news from about a week ago. After this season we won't be watching on Ballys Sports Network. We will watch the Royals on...

Drum roll please.....

FanDuel Sports Network!!!

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/bal...163257832.html

We’re more than one-third of the way through the Major League Baseball season, and some Royals fans are still hoping to stream games on Amazon Prime at some point this season.

Diamond Sports Group, the parent company of Bally Sports Kansas City, said in January it had a plan to emerge from bankruptcy with the help of a Restructuring Support Agreement that includes a financial deal with Amazon.

That deal with Amazon has yet to be finalized by Diamond, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection ahead of the 2023 season. Those bankruptcy court proceedings are continuing and there was a bit of news this week.

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Sportico reported Tuesday the 18 regional sports networks (RSNs) owned by Diamond, which includes Bally Sports Kansas City, likely will be getting a new name.

“We recently reached an agreement in principle with a third party on rebranding the RSNs and we are working diligently to turn that agreement in principle into a document agreement,” Diamond’s lawyers told the court, per Sportico.

While Diamond didn’t reveal the new rebranding partner in court, Bloomberg reported the gambling company FanDuel was close to an agreement to have its name replace Bally Sports on those RSNs.

“A multiyear deal between the companies would also involve FanDuel-related programming for the channels,” Christopher Palmeri wrote, “according to people familiar with the terms, which are still being finalized.”

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This wouldn’t have an effect on Royals games this year, but the name FanDuel would replace Bally Sports Kansas City at the conclusion of the 2024 season, Sportico said.

That story also noted that Major League Baseball doesn’t believe the Diamond Sports Group has the financial wherewithal to continue carrying games on its RSNs.

“We still have substantial concerns about the viability of the debtors’ business plan,” MLB attorney James Bromley told the court during Tuesday’s scheduled status update, Sportico reported.

In making that case, MLB pointed to the dispute between the Diamond Sports Group and Comcast/Xfinity that has left many Royals fans unable to watch games since early May.

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That impasse is just one issue for Royals fans. Many have been frustrated for years about the lack of affordable streaming options.

Royals chairman/CEO John Sherman is aware of the discontent and said earlier this year that Major League Baseball would like to move away from an RSN model.

“I think long term, the league ultimately would like to get those rights back,” Sherman said. “I mean, that’s really what they’ve been arguing in the bankruptcy court. ... So there’s a lot to do there.

“But ... ultimately we’d like to get the rights back and then put together our own partnership with maybe it’s Amazon, maybe it’s Apple. We think baseball has left some money on the table in terms of our media rights values. When we’re packaged up in a regional sports network with the NHL and the NBA, we have more content and it has higher ratings than either basketball or hockey in most of the markets we’re in. So in some ways baseball is sort of subsidizing those sports on a local level.”

Thanks. I may try that.

Update:

- It’s working fine and not lagging.
- The audio sounds like it’s coming through mono. It sucks.

It's almost like MLB wanted to completely kill baseball with garbage like Ballys. Fox Sports Midwest was the shit

next year Ima just buy a radio and hire a belly dancer to do interpretive dance

Because the team is performing, I buckled down and bought the Bally app to watch.

If the Royals field a good team, I'll pay...
If they suck ass and refuse to do anything about it, I'll pass.

Does the audio on Ballys always suck ass or is it just tonight?

thetvapp.com

I haven't noticed this problem. Have you tried a different device?

Ballys audio can get a little whack on streaming.

I think it’s the streaming that caused it. I’ll bet if I was playing it on YouTube tv it would be alright, but I’ll take this over nothing.

I use YouTube tv during football season and Fubo for baseball season. Same price. Most years Royals are out of it in Sept and you just switch then.

It happens on DirectTV Stream as well. Its just an issue with streaming overall I believe reading others who questioned it on the web.

Too much work

Why did you even come in here and post this thread? You are just out and out saying you are not willing to do anything to change your current situation. Suck it up buttercup.

Except he did change it?

There are streaming sites that work well.

Free to boot.

**** the man!

I had the same problem. So I finally relented and got Ballys. Problem is every time I do that They start losing. So guys I’m sorry for the month of June but my subscription runs out on July 1.

That being said, I found that I enjoy the recaps they put on YouTube. It’s about a 13 minute long clip and generally covers everything.

This site has way more than just sports. There is a list of channels available.

I only watch streams for events like UFC. Those streams have issues because there's many people around the country/world trying to view.

Do baseball streams have similar issues? I figured not because there can't be that many people around the country wanting to view a random Royals game.

It depends, and it's a bit random. Usually I have zero issues with streaming the Royals via Streameast or mlb66. Last night's stream had all kinds of buffering for some reason though.

Nobody knows...