The 2021-2022 NHL Season is here, and you don’t need cable to watch Tampa Bay Lightning games. However, with NHL TV rights being so confusing, it’s difficult to know where to watch your Tampa Bay Lightning. This article will explain how to watch every Tampa Bay Lightning game this season, no matter where you live.
- Tampa Bay Lightning TV Market: throughout Florida and southern Alabama
- Best Solution when inside their TV Market: Watch on Bally Sports Sun through the DIRECTV Stream streaming service (sign up online).
- Best Solution when living Outside the Lightning TV Market: Watch nearly all Lightning games on ESPN+ (sign up online). The Lightning may have a few nationally televised games on TNT, NHL Network, and ESPN which won’t be on ESPN+. Read on to learn how to watch those nationally televised games.
What Channel Are The Lightning On
Where you can watch the Tampa Bay Lightning depends on whether or not you live inside the Tampa Bay Lightning TV market (throughout Florida and southern Alabama). If you live inside that market, you can watch Lightning games on Bally Sports Sun. However, if you live outside that market, you will need ESPN, ESPN+, and TNT. Let’s take a look at your options based on where you live.
Watching Lightning Games In Market
If you live in the Lightning TV market, you can watch the Lightning on Bally Sports Sun, the Lightning regional sports network. If you live in the Lightning 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 Sun for those living in their broadcast region. However, you must 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 ESPN and TNT. NHL Network is available with an upgrade. These are all the networks that air nationally televised NHL 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 Lightning Games Outside of their TV Market
To watch Lightning games if you live outside the Tampa Bay market, you will need ESPN+. ESPN+ will show every Lightning game that isn’t exclusively airing nationally on ESPN or TNT.
NHL.TV is moving its games to ESPN+ for the 2021-2022 NHL season. Not only will ESPN+ show a ton of nationally televised games, but the service will also provide a live stream to over 1000+ NHL games outside your local market, including the Tampa Bay Lightning.
You watch ESPN+ through the ESPN App. To add ESPN+ to your ESPN app, follow these instructions:
- Subscribe to ESPN+
- Download and Open the ESPN app on your mobile or TV device. supports Roku Players and TVs, Amazon Fire TV devices, Chromecast, Apple TV, Android, iPhone, Samsung TVs, Xbox, PlayStation and more.
- Click the Settings Gear in the upper right corner
- Select “Account Information” then “Log Into ESPN Account.” You should receive an activation code.
- Visit https://espn.com/activate on your phone or laptop and type in the code
- Log in with your ESPN+ credentials
- You should then get confirmation that your ESPN+ account is linked and now see and “ESPN+” tab in the ESPN app.
An ESPN+ subscription costs only $6.99 per month. There is no contract so you can cancel any time you like. However, you can select a yearly subscription for a discounted rate of $69.99 annually. In addition to ESPN, Disney also owns Hulu and the Disney+ streaming service. You can get Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ for just $13.99 by signing up here! For more information on ESPN+, see our ESPN+ review.
To see if any nationally televised Lightning games are exclusive to ESPN, NHL Network, or TNT, see our NHL National TV Schedule. TNT, NHL Network, and ESPN are available on the following TV streaming service:
- Sling Orange – see Sling TV review or sign up
- DIRECTV Stream – see DIRECTV Stream review or sign up
You can also check the following for more information on watching these channels.
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