The 2021 Baseball Season is happening, and you don’t need cable to watch San Diego Padres games. However, with MLB TV rights, how to watch your San Diego Padres can be confusing depending on where you live. This article will explain how to watch every San Diego Padres game this season, no matter where you live.
- San Diego Padres TV Market: San Diego County, neighboring Imperial County, as well as the Coachella and Las Vegas Valleys, Southern Arizona and Hawaii
- Best Solution when inside their TV Market: Watch on Bally Sports San Diego through the DIRECTV Stream streaming service (sign up online)
- Best Solution when living Outside the Padres TV Market: Watch nearly all Padres games on MLB.TV.
What Channel Are The Padres On
You can watch the San Diego Padres depending on whether or not you live inside the San Diego Padres TV market, which consists of San Diego County, neighboring Imperial County, as well as the Coachella and Las Vegas Valleys, Southern Arizona, and Hawaii.
Watching Padres Games In Market
If you live in the Padres TV market, you can watch the Padres on Bally Sports San Diego, the Padres regional sports network. If you live in the Padres broadcast areas, you can watch their regional sports network without cable on the following streaming services.
DIRECTV Stream is a live streaming service that carries Bally Sports San Diego for those living in their broadcast region. However, you have to subscribe to their “Choice” package for $84.99 per month. You can sign up online. They don’t force you into a contract, and you can cancel at any time. DIRECTV Stream also carries Fox, TBS, ESPN, MLB Network, and FS1, which are all the networks that air nationally televised MLB games.
The service also includes a cloud DVR service and allows you to stream to 20 devices simultaneously. DIRECTV Stream is supported on Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV, iOS, Android, Roku, and more. See our review of DIRECTV Stream for more details on this streaming service.
Watching Padres Games Outside their TV Market
If you don’t live in the Padres TV market, you can watch the Padres through the MLB.TV streaming. With MLB.TV you can watch every game, for every team, all season long. With MLB.TV, you can watch Padres games on Roku, Apple TV, Smart Devices, and more. You can watch Padres games live or on-demand. Here is a list of MLB.TV features:
- Chose to watch both the home and away broadcast.
- Live Game DVR Controls
- Full Game Archives
- Customized Fantasy Player Tracker
- Clickable Linescores
- A Pitch by Pitch Widget, that tracks speed, location, and pitch type
MLB.TV costs $129.99 for the year to have access to every game for every team. The “all-teams plan” has a free trial and provides a monthly pricing option for $24.99 per month. You can also opt to watch Padres games through the MLB.TV single-team plan for $109.99 for the year. You can check out their subscription packages at MLB.TV.
Please note that MLB.TV does have blackout rules for games where a team is playing in the market you reside. For example, if the Padres are playing the Nationals and you live in the DC area, that game will be blacked out on MLB.TV. You can check your zip code here to see which team’s games are under a blackout in your area. Nationally televised games will also be blacked out. The list below provides a general description of whether a game is going to be under a blackout:
- Home and Away games of the designated team if you live within their blackout territory
- Games that broadcast nationally such as the ESPN Sunday game or Fox Saturday game
- Play in games (Playoff tie-breakers)
- Post Season Games, but there is a way around it
Pro Tip: Try This Blackout Workaround to watch the games you want to watch and get around the black-out.
Watching Nationally Televised Padres Games
Nationally Televised MLB games air on Fox, TBS, ESPN, MLB Network, and FS1. A handful of Padres games will air nationally this season on one or more of those networks. You can check here for the MLB’s national TV schedule. You can watch nationally televised games using MLB.TV with this blackout workaround. You can also watch nationally televised games using one of the streaming services listed below.
DIRECTV Stream
Through the DIRECTV Stream “Choice” package for $84.99 per month, you can watch nationally televised MLB games on Fox, TBS, ESPN, MLB Network, and FS1. You can sign up online, and you can cancel at any time. The service also includes a cloud DVR service and allows you to stream to 20 devices simultaneously. DIRECTV Stream is supported on Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV, iOS, Android, Roku, and more. See our review of DIRECTV Stream for more details on this streaming service.
fuboTV
FuboTV carries the local Fox channel in some parts of the country along with MLB Network, ESPN and FS1 for watching nationally televised games. However, fuboTV doesn’t carry TBS.
They offer a 1-week free trial. After the trial, its basic package costs $64.99/month. The FuboTV app is available on major platforms, including AppleTV, AndroidTV, Roku, and Amazon FireTV. Check out our review of FuboTV for more details.
YouTube TV
YouTube TV cost $64.99/month per month and includes a DVR. YouTube TV carries the local Fox channel in most parts of the country. They also provide access to TBS, ESPN, MLB Network, and FS1 for watching nationally televised games.
Youtube TV supports Android, iOS, Apple TV, Fire TV, Chromecast, and more. The YouTube TV app isn’t available on Roku. However, users can use YouTube TV through the YouTube app on Roku devices. Please read our review of YouTube TV for more details.
Hulu + Live TV
Hulu carries the local Fox channel in most parts of the country, along with TBS, ESPN, and FS1 for watching nationally televised games.
Hulu Live TV will cost you $64.99 per month. However, that includes access to Hulu’s on-demand streaming library, a cloud DVR, and more. To see what channels are available through Hulu Live TV in your area, check out the tool: Channels Available by Zip Code
Hulu is supported on Roku, Fire TV Devices, Apple TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, iOS, Android, and more. For more information on this service, please check out Hulu Live TV review.
Sling TV
Sling carries, carries TBS, ESPN, MLB Network, and FS1 for watching nationally televised games. Sling TV also carries the local FOX channel in the following markets: New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington, DC, Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Los Angeles, San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose, Detroit, Atlanta, Houston, Orlando/Daytona/Melbourne, Tampa/St. Petersburg, Gainesville, Austin, Milwaukee, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Phoenix, and Seattle
You sign up fo Sling and see if this solution will work for you.
Sling TV is supported on Windows and Mac PCs and laptops, Android and iOS devices, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Nexus player, Xbox One, 4th Generation Apple TV, Chromecast, and more.
The service also includes a cloud DVR along with other great features. For details on Slings service offerings and the difference between them, check out my Sling TV review.
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