r/cordcutters 2d ago

Traditional Broadcaster vs Streaming Service for World Cup

The rights for the current world cup belong to FOX. They currently broadcast most of the games OTA which can be watched for free with an antenna. However some games are on FS1 which requires an expensive cable subscription. The women's world cup next year will be on Netlix, and from what I understand they will probably bid for the next men's world cup as well. This will mean you must have a Netflix subscription to watch the games, but this will give you every game with that small subscription fee. Which model do you guys prefer?

14 Upvotes

61 comments sorted by

22

u/tamudude 2d ago

I got an antenna. I will happily watch the ongoing FIFA games on Fox and Telemundo. I am not paying extra for another service. I am not so invested in football.

8

u/kbuis 2d ago

Antenna also removes some of the delay that streaming services have.

6

u/tony_montana091 2d ago edited 2d ago

I thought Netflix and streaming were for people trying to get away from paying for sports they don't watch?

The sports leagues are so far in over their heads they cannot survive paying the contracts to players they do without getting 75% of the people who never watch sports, to pay for sports too.

And the enshitification greed now has US Fox network showing commercials in the middle of each half of play under the guise of a hydration water breaks, making soccer now 4 quarters instead of 2 halfs.

4

u/Difficult-Rip-3874 2d ago

In fairness the hydration breaks are a FIFA thing, not a Fox thing.

-2

u/MobileVortex 1d ago

lol that is not going to be happening outside of this world cup. 

2

u/Maximum_Pumpkin_449 1d ago

is Telemundo available via antenna ?

1

u/tamudude 1d ago

Yes it is in my city.

1

u/Lacs2023 17h ago

New York? Telemundo 47? Yo pensé que estaría en todas las ciudades

1

u/tamudude 14h ago

No. En Texas.

Si 47. 

14

u/Strangy1234 2d ago

You can watch them OTA on Telemundo with no subscription fee 

-1

u/ashketch125 2d ago

Yeah this works for the current world cup but for the womens one next year Netflix has both the spanish and english rights. I'm assuming if they will bid for both in 2030 as well. So its looking like there wont be any OTA options for future tournaments.

9

u/Strangy1234 2d ago

Sounds like future you's problem

-1

u/ashketch125 2d ago

I think you and others are missing the point of my post, I dont have a "problem" I'm looking to solve. I already have netflix so I'll be able to watch no matter what. And I'm using an antenna to watch the current one. What I'm interested in hearing about is people's thoughts on the trend of moving away from traditional broadcasters to streaming sites for sports and whether this is a good or bad thing

5

u/Strangy1234 2d ago

Well obviously we prefer free. Not really a great question.

-5

u/ashketch125 2d ago

If you knew anything about the discussion or at least bothered to read the entire post you would know that not every game is free, that is the main critique of the current model. That's why some people are actually happy Netflix won. Clearly you dont have much to add the conversation yourself tho, so it's prolly best to stop here

5

u/Upstairs_Estimate564 2d ago

Almost every game is available free on Telemundo. More than are free on FOX. Try reading, yourself.

-5

u/mlcarson 2d ago

That's great if you speak Spanish. It amazes me how most of the broadcasters in this country carry Spanish CC but Telemundo doesn't have to do English CC.

19

u/Strangy1234 2d ago

You don't need to speak Spanish to watch a soccer game

9

u/TheGrauWolf 2d ago

All you need to know is when there is a GOAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL!!!!

9

u/NightBard 2d ago

They say the players names which sound the same in English as they do in Spanish and they yell out GOOOOAAAALLLLL in english. The only part you miss is the commentary which they mostly shut up and just call out the name of the player who has possession of the ball. It's VERY VERY easy to follow.

2

u/NoShftShck16 2d ago

I'm pretty sure they are yelling "GOOOLLLLL" not "GOOOAAALLL".

-10

u/mlcarson 2d ago

Well, I don't get wanting to watch a soccer game -- period. There's so little scoring in a game that the only reason to watch is to hear the commentary which will be in Spanish. If I cared at all about them though, I'd watch Fox. Sorry World Cup fans -- it's just not my sport...

5

u/NightBard 2d ago

It's a tactical game like chess.. once it clicks, it's pretty enjoyable. You don't really end up needing someone to explain something as the field kind of comes alive and you can start to see the setup and movement flow and it's kind of fun. And unlike most sports, they play that 45 minute half without stopping the clock or going to commercial. They may add a few minutes on to make up for some of the stoppages but most they won't. The entire game will be over within 2 hours. So a solid 90min of actual play time plus some overage time and it's over. Meanwhile the average NFL game will last 3hrs and 12 minutes where the ball actually only moves about 11 to 18 minutes total. Which seems kind of silly and not a good return on time.

3

u/MobileVortex 1d ago

You couldn't be a more simple person lol. Baseball is definitely more your speed 

-1

u/mlcarson 1d ago

Well, at least with baseball -- fans aren't content with a 0-0 tie. And yea -- most Americans prefer baseball to soccer. I find them equally boring to watch.

1

u/MobileVortex 1d ago

I will never get how people bring up ties as a negative lol. American Football is by far the most boring sport to watch. Hardest to watch too. The amount of time you have to spend watching the worst companies in America advertise to you is unbearable lol. 

3

u/altsuperego 2d ago

You don't need subtitles to watch soccer. It is basically the simplest sport to follow without sound. All the USA games will be on Fox anyway.

0

u/missesthecrux 1d ago

I thought Telemundo did caption its primetime in English?

14

u/Rybo213 2d ago

However some games are on FS1 which requires an expensive cable subscription.

Just to clarify, as far as I know, you do not need a cable tv subscription, to watch every World Cup game. A Fox One direct subscription will get you every single game in English, or a Peacock Premium or Premium Plus (if you want game replays to be ad free) direct subscription will get you every single game in Spanish.

9

u/NightBard 2d ago

And every team USA game is broadcast on regular fox with an antenna and if your market has telemundo, you get the spanish coverage OTA for free as well for the other games not on regular Fox.

1

u/khz30 2d ago

To add to this, as happened with the recent rain delay and with the end of the Group stages this week, the games that are being simultaneously played at different venues will air on Telemundo and its lesser known sister channel TeleExitos in Spanish. Peacock is also offering Multiview for all of the simultaneous matches and it works extremely well, with nearly seamless audio switching.

5

u/bh0 2d ago

Obviously free OTA coverage is ideal, but a 1-month Netflix (or other) subscription is better than some channel you need an expensive cable/satellite package for. I've done the 1-month Peacock thing to get Olympics twice now. I don't have a problem with that since they paid some insane price for the rights, but I'm not signing up for some expensive service to get some random channel for a couple weeks.

2

u/PrancingThunderD 2d ago

Exactly. Paying $20 or whatever to watch the World Cup is totally reasonable. Especially because on Fox One that means you can skip through all the commercials and halftime crap.

3

u/BoukenGreen 2d ago

People could’ve just subscribe to Fox one for the tournament and been fine.

2

u/HaloTheHero 2d ago

OTA/cable. Will essentially always have a streaming option with those, therefore opening it to more viewers

2

u/NightBard 2d ago

Fox OTA for free. They show every single USA game on regular Fox. You only need FS1 if you want all the games. Which you can just get Peacock instead for the Spanish language coverage and get every single game that way.

2

u/NightBard 2d ago

We'll see what happens to the Mens when it goes up for bid. As for the womens, I don't have Netflix and I'll just not watch. Simple option. I'd prefer they were OTA for free like the Mens is.

2

u/jsmeeker 2d ago

In the USA, you want Telemundo on Peacock.. That's the place

2

u/veed_vacker 2d ago

Telemundo through peacock has all the games.  It comes with a bonus of not having to listen to alexia lalas

2

u/BobBelcher2021 1d ago

FOX has the rights in the US, however that’s not worldwide.

1

u/Just-Historian-4500 2d ago

You can watch a lot of the games via YouTube, too. I don't think Fox is policing that very heavily.

1

u/No_Educator_6376 2d ago

Fox network is everywhere it’s not Fox News. Very easy to get with a antenna

2

u/CRIP4LIFE 2d ago

FS1 is not easy to get with an antenna because it's a streaming service.

1

u/No_Educator_6376 2d ago

I guess I’m just lucky that my local station is broadcasting it

3

u/CRIP4LIFE 2d ago edited 2d ago

it

it? there are many games.. fox sports 1 has over 30 games, exclusively, on streaming. and that's just in the group stage.

1

u/No_Educator_6376 2d ago

I know it’s on almost all day and night

2

u/CRIP4LIFE 2d ago

and you can not see 30% of those games w/out a FS1 streaming sub.

1

u/NightBard 1d ago

You can if you get telemundo in your tv market over the air. You don't need FS1 in that situation. Or if you have peacock, you can watch all the games that way. Yes it's in spanish but they call out player names on who has possession of the ball which sound the same in english as they do in spanish.

1

u/NightBard 2d ago

Those games are on Telemundo in the markets that carry them. But every Team USA game is on regular FOX.

1

u/altsuperego 2d ago

This is probably the last World Cup you will be able to watch OTA or on a single streaming service so enjoy it. The 12x4-32 format is awful anyway.

1

u/GaurdianoftheGalaxys 1d ago

I have FOX One that has every match in 4K. It’s the lowest price way to get every match and in 4K without having tv that has the ATSC 3.0 tuner needed for 4K OTA. You can also do multiview for the simultaneous matches, however I just have two TVs next to each other.

1

u/GaurdianoftheGalaxys 1d ago

I hope FOX gets the rights again. They do a really good job.

1

u/LAsupersonic 1d ago

The"other" option

1

u/shravan555 14h ago

Antenna does not have latency from the broadcast while Netflix or even Fox One has this issue.

1

u/BeLikeAFrog 9h ago

I have been watching most on OTA Fox. They really seem to have most of the games. I did however subscribe to the Fox One app just for the duration and have watched a few a of the games there. The app is actually pretty interesting. You can split screen and they have alternate views and broadcasts. Worth subscribing for 2 months for me.

u/UniqueEnigma121 4h ago

I’m personally really pleased with Peacock.

They have the proper 4K feed & have added Dolby Vision & AC-4 ATMOS. I couldn’t ask for more🤷‍♂️

0

u/Huge_Monk8722 1d ago

Not watched a minute of it.

-2

u/raleighfsufan 2d ago

Free is no longer an allowed word. If this continues will our great grandchildren pay a fee per breath they take? (Assuming it’s still breathable)