Football season is here, with preseason games in full swing. Watching games this year might be more challenging than in previous seasons.
In recent years, streaming services like Amazon Prime, Peacock, and even Netflix have found their ways into the broadcast schedule.
Earlier this month, Fox announced “Fox One,” a new streaming service launching on August 21. It’s a standalone direct-to-consumer service, priced at $19.99 monthly or $199.99 annually.
Fox One will feature the company’s news, weather, and business channels, along with its sports lineup. The Athletic reports that it will include the MLB World Series, Sunday NFL games, and Saturday college football.
This service isn’t meant to replace cable or antenna access you might already have for Fox. If you subscribe to cable or a streaming bundle like YouTube TV, you can access Fox One without extra cost.
Nonetheless, Fox One adds another layer to your ability to watch NFL games this season.
Typically, local stations air the games. But if you’re in Chicago and want to watch the Philadelphia Eagles following their Super Bowl win, it might be tricky. Since you’re outside the Philadelphia market, you’d need to hope for a match between the Bears and Eagles, that the Eagles are in a national lineup, or use a streaming service.
To catch every Eagles regular-season game, you’d need CBS’s Paramount+ once, Amazon Prime Video, Peacock, and ESPN (which launches a new service on August 21, replacing ESPN+) twice each, and Fox One nine times. If you’re aiming to watch the Christmas Day games on Netflix as well, you’d end up using six streaming services for all 16 regular-season games.
Here’s a breakdown of the lowest monthly costs (some have premium subscription plans, or offer discounts for annual subscriptions) for those streaming services, as of August:
| Streaming Service | Monthly Subscription Fee |
|---|---|
| Paramount+ | $7.99 |
| Amazon Prime Video | $14.99 (unless you want the Prime Video subscription only, that’s $8.99) |
| Peacock | $10.99 |
| ESPN | $11.99 |
| Fox One | $19.99 |
| Netflix | $7.99 |
If you had subscriptions to all of these services for the entire regular NFL season — early September to early January, or about four full months — it would cost you about $296, before taxes. You can see where your team’s games will air this season here.
There’s also NFL+, which gives you access to live local and primetime regular and postseason games — on phones and tablets only. At the lowest level, that’ll set you back $6.99 a month, or about $28 for a four-month regular season.
The nonbinding agreement reached between the NFL and ESPN last week makes streaming even more complex. As part of the deal, the NFL Network will still air seven games a season, The Associated Press reports, while four of ESPN’s games will move to the NFL Network. The same is true for the three additional games ESPN will now license. That deal is not expected to be completed until 2026.
All seeming a bit too complicated? For now, you’ll likely be able to catch most (if not all) of your local team’s games on local television. It may not be that simple if you live out-of-market, unfortunately.
Streaming in general remains as strong as ever. Data released by Nielsen Media Research in June showed that viewership on streaming has surpassed cable and broadcast channels for the first time, The Hill reported.
