Fox to stream Super Bowl LIX live on Tubi in 4K for free
Fox to stream Super Bowl LIX live on Tubi in 4K for free
This marks the first time the free streamer has offered Super Bowl coverage.
If you were hoping for a way to stream this year’s Super Bowl LIX on Feb. 9, you might have assumed you’d be out of luck because of the game’s host channel. Fox will carry the Super Bowl this season, and since it does not have an on-demand streaming partner like CBS does with Paramount+ or NBC with Peacock, it seemed likely that viewers would have to watch on linear TV if they wanted to enjoy the Big Game. Those expectations have been subverted in a big way this week, as on Wednesday Fox announced that it would stream the Super Bowl live on Tubi as well.
Key Details:
- Fox will offer its simul-stream of Super Bowl LIX on Tubi in 4K.
- The service will host an exclusive pregame show dubbed “Tubi Red Carpet at Super Bowl LIX.”
- The disintegration of Venu Sports could have played a part in Fox’s decision to offer a free stream of the Super Bowl.
Tubi’s presentation of Super Bowl LIX will be available in Ultra-High-Definition 4K, the best video resolution that’s widely available to residential customers. So long as you have a 4K-compatible TV and a steady internet connection, you’ll be able to watch the Big Game free in 4K this year.
Preceding the Super Bowl, Tubi will offer a special pregame show called “Tubi Red Carpet at Super Bowl LIX.” Hosted by Olivia Culpo, the show will cover the celebrity, fashion, and culture behind America’s biggest sports event. As with all other content on Tubi, this will also be free to stream.
There could be quite a large audience that decides to tune in and stream the game via Tubi instead of the linear feed on Fox. According to the streamer itself, it now has 97 million monthly active users, a larger customer base than many paid streaming services on the market.
In the past, Fox officials have discussed the fact that they didn’t see Tubi as a good fit overall for live sports rights. But there are a couple of major caveats here: first, streaming the Super Bowl on Tubi is a one-off event, not an ongoing arrangement that the streamer has to find revenue to account for every year.
There’s also the fact that Fox doesn’t really have a good way to offer the Super Bowl via streaming otherwise. Had it been able to launch the joint venture streaming service Venu Sports with Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery, that service would have delivered the Super Bowl via streaming. But last week, the three companies announced that they were shutting down Venu, leaving Fox without another viable option to offer the Super Bowl via streaming. Its news and lifestyle service Fox Nation offers very different programming, and wouldn’t have been a real contender to host a Super Bowl simulcast in any event.
Fans will be able to watch the Super Bowl on Fox using DIRECTV STREAM, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV (in a few markets), and YouTube TV. But for customers who can’t afford to shell out $80 per month or more to watch on those services, the alternative is now clear; Tubi will be a haven, offering a 4K stream of Super Bowl LIX completely free of charge.
Tubi
Tubi is a free video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 200,000+ movies and TV episodes - more than any other streaming service. Its ad breaks are shorter and less frequent than most free services. Fox executives have called their service “TV on steroids.”