If You Signed Up for a Live TV Streaming Package to Watch the NFL, It’s Time to Cancel!
If you subscribed to a channel package or streamer to get channels like NFL Network and NFL RedZone, it’s safe to leave those plans behind.
The darkest time of the year is about to begin for NFL fans. The weeks between the Super Bowl and the beginning of free agency toward the end of March is a bleak time when the reality of the offseason is setting in, and it’s coming up fast. The good news for those who signed up to get a pay-TV package with NFL channels is that at least they can now save some money by leaving that package behind until September.
- YouTube TV and Sling TV offered football-specific packages in 2023, but subscribers can now cancel those subscriptions and save.
- NFL+ can now safely be left behind, particularly for fans on the Premium tier who signed up to stream NFL RedZone.
- Paramount+ is offering a 30-day free trial for new customers, so you can watch the Super Bowl free on the service.
Which Football-Forward Plans Were Available in 2023?
The biggest shift in NFL games from pay-TV to streaming in 2023 occurred when YouTube TV became the home of NFL Sunday Ticket. There were myriad discounts available for Sunday Ticket at various points leading up to the season, many of which targeted fans who did not opt to sign up for a YouTube TV base plan alongside the NFL’s out-of-market games package. These customers in particular will want to ensure they cancel Sunday Ticket before next season and save $450, as those who do not sign up for YouTube TV will see Sunday Ticket auto-renew unless they opt out. Those who did sign up for YouTube TV alongside Sunday Ticket to get $100 off the latter service will also want to consider canceling, as they won’t have to pay $72.99 for another month to watch the Super Bowl this year (more on that below).
Now is also a good time to make sure that you are not set to auto-renew for Sunday Ticket as well. If the value of the out-of-market package didn’t live up to your expectations, you should definitely make sure that you aren’t charged again, but even if it did, it would be a good idea to cancel in order to see if there are any worthwhile deals made available when the season approaches. As of now, YouTube TV has not made any loyalty deals public for those who subscribed for the service’s first season as the home of Sunday Ticket. While the streamer might do so in the future, it would be strategically beneficial to announce those now before any potential mass cancelations following the end of the regular season.
Sling TV also offered a discounted package for the NFL and college football seasons, which included all the channels of Sling’s Orange and Blue packages, as well as its Sports Extra add-on, with channels like SEC Network and ESPNU. If you signed up for Sling just to watch these games, now’s the time to walk away from that subscription; it compelled users to pre-pay for their five months of service, and now that the discount period is over, Sling Orange and Blue with the Sports Extra pack costs $66 per month.
NFL RedZone offers an attractive way to stream seven hours of uninterrupted football daily, showing action from in- and out-of-market games for a price much lower than NFL Sunday Ticket. RedZone came to the NFL+ Premium tier for the first time in 2023, and if you subscribed to that service, now is as good a time as any to cancel before you’re billed again. That’s also true if you subscribed to DIRECTV STREAM for its Choice plan to stream NFL Network, or tacked on the Sports package to watch RedZone with their subscription.
Why You Won’t Need a Pay-TV Package to Watch Super Bowl LVIII
The best reason for canceling these streaming plans now, other than the extra money you’ll pocket by doing so, is that you don’t need them to watch the Super Bowl. Super Bowl LVIII is airing on CBS on Sunday, Feb. 11 at 6:30 p.m. ET, which means it will also be available to stream on Paramount+.
Both Paramount+ tiers will stream the Super Bowl, so you have your choice of Paramount+ Essential or Paramount+ with SHOWTIME for watching the Big Game. Paramount+ Essential comes with all Paramount+ titles streaming with limited ads for $5.99 per month. Paramount+ with SHOWTIME bumps the price to $11.99, but that cost allows you to cut out the ads, watch SHOWTIME tiles like “Yellowjackets” and gives you a 24/7 livestream of your local CBS station and all the live news and sports that appear there.
Best yet, new customers who have not signed up for a Paramount+ subscription yet can use a special promo code to get one month of either plan free of charge. That’ll allow you to watch the Super Bowl and stream all the Paramount+ content you can in 30 days at no cost whatsoever, which totally negates the need for an expensive pay-TV package for watching the Big Game.
Having NFL RedZone or a package with college and pro football channels is great during the fall, but the NCAA’s season is long over, and the Super Bowl is coming up fast. The offseason looms, and that means it’s time to ditch your expensive pay-TV plan if you used it exclusively for watching football, especially since new subscribers can watch Super Bowl LVIII free on Paramount+.
Paramount Plus
Paramount+ is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 40,000+ TV show episodes from BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr. and more. The lineup includes “1883,” “Tulsa King,” “Star Trek: Discovery,” Nickelodeon’s “SpongeBob SquarePants,” and “PAW Patrol.” Subscribers can watch the NFL, college football, The Masters, college basketball, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa, Serie A, and NWSL. The service also offers the option to watch your live CBS affiliate. The upgraded ad-free package includes premium movies and shows from Showtime.