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Grab a Sling day pass to catch the football blacked out on YouTube TV

Grab a Sling day pass to catch the football blacked out on YouTube TV

There are a lot of options that will allow you to stream the football games that you won’t see on YouTube TV this weekend, but for price, convenience, and flexibility, I am going with Sling.

Matt Tamanini
Matt Tamanini is the News Editor at The Streamable, where he oversees daily news coverage and editorial strategy, with a particular focus on breaking stories, streaming comparisons, and major industry events. A well-rounded journalist with a diverse background, Matt joined The Streamable in 2022 after holding key editorial roles at several high-profile outlets. He has an extensive career in sports and entertainment journalism, having served as a senior editor for BroadwayWorld, the world’s largest theater website, and as managing editor for Land-Grant Holy Land, which covers Ohio State sports.
Read full bio ›
Matt Tamanini
•
With a background in sports and entertainment reporting, he’s covered everything from Broadway to college football. He cut the cord in 2014 and has a sharp eye for streaming trends and a soft spot for Hallmark movies.
With a background in sports and entertainment reporting, he’s covered everything from Broadway to college football. He cut the cord in 2014 and has a sharp eye for streaming trends and a soft spot for Hallmark movies.

No. 9 Vanderbilt vs. No. 20 Texas
No. 5 Georgia vs. Florida
No. 18 Oklahoma vs. No. 14 Tennessee
No. 17 Cincinnati vs. No. 24 Utah
The Arizona Cardinals vs. the Dallas Cowboys

That is just a small sampling of the college and NFL games that you won’t be able to watch this weekend if you subscribe to YouTube TV, and if you are as much of a college football sicko as I am, you know this is nowhere near acceptable. On Friday, Disney pulled all of its channels from the live TV streaming service after the two sides were unable to reach a new carriage agreement before the previous one lapsed at 11:59 p.m. ET on Thursday, Oct. 30. That means that heading into a pivitol weekend of college football action, and a “Monday Night Football” game featuring “America’s Team” looming, I need to find an alternative to watching all of the gridiron action that I build my weekends around.

As frustrating as this service interruption is, it is not yet enough for me to cancel my subscription to YouTube TV. After a few years with the streamer, I don’t think that I could do a college football Saturday without the platform’s multiview feature. Since no one else makes anything close to it available across all devices, I will continue to be tethered until a reasonable alternative is found. So, as I start to look ahead to my viewing weekend, I need to figure out a short-term option to make sure that I don’t miss any of the action.

At this point, there is no definitive timeline as to how long this blackout will last. It could be resolved any minute now, or it could drag on for weeks. Personally, I don’t think a protracted dispute benefits either side, so I am optimistic that we will see a resolution sooner rather than later. While it’s possible that we get the channels back before games kick off on Saturday, I want to be prepared to have a streamer downloaded and ready to go by 12 noon ET in order to satisfy my college football craving for the weekend.

There are a handful of streaming options that offer free trials that would cover me for Saturday: DIRECTV’s trial runs for five days, and the Disney-owned Hulu + Live TV’s is three days long. But since we don’t actually know how long this impasse will last, if you go with one of those free options, but the blackout ends up dragging into a second weekend, you will end up having to either find another short-term option or pay for a full month — that is, of course, assuming you remember to cancel following your free trial in the first place.

Personally, I find more value in a subscription option that lets me sign up for just the length of time that I need to see the games that I’m interested in, and that’s where Sling TV’s passes come in.

Launched in August, Sling is now allowing customers to sign up for its Sling Orange base channel lineup for as short of a period as one day. Sling Orange features ESPN and ESPN2 as well as ESPN3, which simulcasts all of the sporting events found on ABC, so that will get me all of the major games that the worldwide leader in sports is airing on Saturday, as well as “Monday Night Football” on Nov. 3.

If I go this route, I can sign up for a single day for $5; I can also do a weekend for $10 or a week for $15. From there, I can also opt to include the Sports Extra add-on for $1 daily, $2 for the weekend, or $3 for the week. This will grant me access to 14 additional sports channels, including ACC Network, ESPNEWS, ESPNU, and SEC Network, all of which are currently unavailable on YouTube TV.

Sling Orange doesn’t have all of the channels that DIRECTV or Hulu + Live TV does, but I’m not looking for a one-to-one replacement. I am just looking for a Band-Aid to get me the football games that won’t be available on YouTube TV. So even though Sling Orange doesn’t offer CBS, Fox, NBC, The CW, FS1, or CBS Sports Network — all of which broadcast college football games — I don’t need a new streamer for those, since they are still available on YouTube TV, which I am already paying for.

Additionally, unlike the streamers that offer a free trial, when your limited-time pass to Sling TV runs out, you will not automatically be billed for another day, weekend, or week-long cycle. You will only ever pay for the duration of time that you sign up for. So, while there are certainly plenty of options to go around, unless Disney and YouTube resolve their differences before kickoff on Saturday afternoon, I will be snagging a Sling day pass to make sure I don’t miss any of the college football action.

Save with Sling
sling.com

Sling TV

Sling TV is The Streamable’s choice for cord-cutters on a budget. Sling is a live TV streaming service with multiple channel packages. The $45.99/month Sling Orange plan offers about 30 channels, including Disney Channel and ESPN. The $45.99/month Sling Blue plan offers about 40 channels, including ABC, Fox, and NBC in major markets.

You can combine Orange+Blue for a total of $60.99 / month. Sling also offers many channel add-on packages starting at $6/month.

Save with Sling
$19.99+ / month
sling.com
Matt Tamanini
Matt Tamanini is the News Editor at The Streamable, where he oversees daily news coverage and editorial strategy, with a particular focus on breaking stories, streaming comparisons, and major industry events. A well-rounded journalist with a diverse background, Matt joined The Streamable in 2022 after holding key editorial roles at several high-profile outlets. He has an extensive career in sports and entertainment journalism, having served as a senior editor for BroadwayWorld, the world’s largest theater website, and as managing editor for Land-Grant Holy Land, which covers Ohio State sports.
Read full bio ›
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DIRECTV Cash Back

Let us know your e-mail address to send your $50 Amazon Gift Card when you sign up for DIRECTV STREAM.

You will receive it ~2 weeks after you complete your first month of service.

Offer Terms

  • Only valid for new DIRECTV STREAM subscribers.
  • Only valid once per household.
  • You must pay and maintain service for at least one month to be eligible.
  • Purchase must be completed on the DIRECTV STREAM website.
  • You’ll receive gift card 4-6 weeks after purchase (~2 weeks after your first month).
  • Cannot be combined with any other promotion and won’t be eligible if you try to use a coupon code or cash back from another site.

Sling TV Cash Back

Let us know your e-mail address to send your $25 Uber Eats Gift Card when you sign up for Sling TV.

You will receive it ~2 weeks after you complete your first month of service.

Offer Terms

  • Only valid for new Sling TV subscribers to Sling Orange, Blue, or Sling Orange + Blue.
  • Only valid once per household.
  • You must pay and maintain service for at least one month to be eligible.
  • You must click from The Streamable and complete your purchase on the Sling TV website.
  • You’ll receive gift card 4-6 weeks after purchase (~2 weeks after your first month).
  • Cannot be combined with any other promotion and won’t be eligible if you try to use a coupon code or cash back from another site.

Hulu Live TV Cash Back

Let us know your e-mail address to send your $35 Amazon Gift Card when you sign up for Hulu Live TV.

You will receive it ~2 weeks after you complete your first month of service.

Offer Terms

  • Only valid for new Hulu Live TV subscribers.
  • Only valid once per household.
  • You must pay and maintain service for at least one month to be eligible.
  • You must click from The Streamable and complete your purchase on the Hulu Live TV website.
  • You’ll receive gift card 4-6 weeks after purchase (~2 weeks after your first month).
  • Cannot be combined with any other promotion and won’t be eligible if you try to use a coupon code or cash back from another site.