NBA League Pass
Encyclopedia
NBA League Pass is an out-of-market sports package
that allows its subscribers to watch up to 40 out-of-market National Basketball Association
games a week.
League Pass comes in three varieties in the United States: NBA League Pass TV, which plays the games through a cable or satellite TV provider; NBA League Pass Broadband, which uses highspeed
Internet
connection to stream videos to a computer; and NBA League Pass Mobile, which is for mobile devices such as iPhone
s.
Customers outside of the United States can sign up for NBA International League Pass.
Videos of the games come from local stations and regional sports networks.
If a local team is playing and the game is televised in the home market, the associated feed on League Pass is blacked out and unavailable for viewing.
Most providers who offer subscriptions to League Pass TV also include NBA TV
and a companion League Pass Broadband subscription. It is also given to select cable subs.
The NBA spots/advertisements have been removed for the 2011 Finals, and game halts were filled with real time images from the arenas including performances of dance teams.
'Condensed' games are offered, meant to sum up the highlights of the game, but there are glitches. For example, the condensed version of the 2011 second round playoff game 5 featuring BOS @ MIA 'started' after the fourth quarter. This has led to heavy criticism among fans looking for a spoiler-free recap.
Prices in the 2009-2010 season were $149.95 for the Premium package and $99.95 for the Choice package. In 2010-2011, the prices rose 20% to $179.95 and $109.95 respectively as “early bird” rates for those who signed up before the season started, and $189.95 and $119.95 as the rates once the season began. For at least the past two years, the service has offered a free trial for the first games of the regular season. In the 2010-2011 season, trial customers could watch all non-blackout games from October 26 (the start of the regular season) through November 2. For the 2009-2010 season, a half-year package was offered at a reduced price beginning around the middle of the season. In 2010-2011, the Playoffs and Finals Premium and Standard packages were offered at $99.95 and $79.95 respectively.
. The WNBA has discontinued this service; today, all national broadcasts are on ABC
, ESPN2
, or NBA TV
. However, they now offer the WNBA Broadband Season Pass, a web program that allows subscribers to watch every game live for each season.
Out-of-Market Sports Package
In the North America, an Out-of-Market Sports Package is a form of subscription television that broadcasts sporting events to areas who are unavailable to see them because the games are not broadcast in their local market....
that allows its subscribers to watch up to 40 out-of-market National Basketball Association
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America. It consists of thirty franchised member clubs, of which twenty-nine are located in the United States and one in Canada...
games a week.
League Pass comes in three varieties in the United States: NBA League Pass TV, which plays the games through a cable or satellite TV provider; NBA League Pass Broadband, which uses highspeed
Broadband
The term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device . Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times...
Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
connection to stream videos to a computer; and NBA League Pass Mobile, which is for mobile devices such as iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
s.
Customers outside of the United States can sign up for NBA International League Pass.
Videos of the games come from local stations and regional sports networks.
Blackout restrictions
See also NBA blackout policyIf a local team is playing and the game is televised in the home market, the associated feed on League Pass is blacked out and unavailable for viewing.
NBA League Pass TV availability
NBA League Pass TV is available with these cable and satellite providers as well as streaming:- United States:
- DirecTVDirecTVDirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
- Dish NetworkDish NetworkDish Network Corporation is the second largest pay TV provider in the United States, providing direct broadcast satellite service—including satellite television, audio programming, and interactive television services—to 14.337 million commercial and residential customers in the United States. Dish...
- iN DEMAND TeamIN DEMANDIn Demand is a provider of pay-per-view and subscription video-on-demand services, jointly owned by Comcast, Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks...
- Cablevision (iO)
- ComcastComcastComcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
- Cox CommunicationsCox CommunicationsCox Communications is a privately owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises providing digital cable television, telecommunications and wireless services in the United States...
- Time Warner CableTime Warner CableTime Warner Cable is an American cable television company that operates in 28 states and has 31 operating divisions...
- Adams CableAdams CableAdams Cable is a local cable television and Internet provider that serves northeast Pennsylvania along with rural Broome, Chenango and Delaware counties in New York...
- Blue Ridge CommunicationsBlue Ridge CommunicationsBlue Ridge Communications is a regional cable television, Internet and VoIP provider that serves much of the Poconos area and central Pennsylvania. Products available include analog and digital cable television, HD television programming, PenTeleData Broadband Internet service, and Blue Ridge...
- RCNRCN CorporationRCN Corporation, founded in 1993 and based in Herndon, Virginia, is the first American facilities-based competitive provider of bundled telephone, cable television and high-speed internet service delivered over its own fiber-optic local network to consumers in the Boston, New York, Eastern...
- Verizon FiOSVerizon FiOSVerizon FiOS is a bundled Internet access, telephone, and television service which operates over a fiber-optic communications network. It is offered in some areas of the United States by Verizon Communications. Verizon was one of the first major U.S...
- Roku streaming playerRokuRoku , is an American, privately held, consumer electronics company that sells home digital media products. The Company is based in Saratoga, California.- Company profile and products :...
- Apple TV
- DirecTV
- Canada:
- Shaw Direct
- Cogeco CableCogecoCogeco Inc. is a Canadian media and communications company. The name is an acronym for Compagnie Générale de Communication .-History:...
- EastLink CableEastLink (company)EastLink is a Canadian cable television and telecommunications company. In 1970, EastLink was established in Amherst, Nova Scotia, when it was issued one of the first cable licences granted by the CRTC...
- Rogers CableRogers CableRogers Cable Inc., a subsidiary of Rogers Communications Inc., is Canada's largest cable television service provider with about 2.25 million television customers, and over 930,000 Internet subscribers, in Manitoba, Southern & Eastern Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador.The...
- Cogeco Cable
- Shaw Direct
- Mexico and Central America:
- SKY MéxicoSKY MéxicoSKY México is a company that operates a subscription television service in the Mexico, Central America, Dominican Republic area. It produces TV content, and owns several TV channels...
- SKY México
- South America and Caribbean:
- DirecTVDirecTVDirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
- DirecTV
- Philippines:
- CablelinkCablelinkCablelink is a subscription-based cable antenna television system operator and broadband Internet service provider in the Philippines, commenced its CATV operation in 1995. It is owned and operated by Cable Link and Holdings Corporation...
- Cablelink
Most providers who offer subscriptions to League Pass TV also include NBA TV
NBA TV
NBA TV is a television specialty channel that is dedicated to showcasing the sport of basketball in the United States. The network is financially backed by the National Basketball Association , which also uses NBA TV as a way of advertising their out of market package NBA League Pass, and partner...
and a companion League Pass Broadband subscription. It is also given to select cable subs.
NBA International League Pass
In 2010 (the 2010-2011 season) NeuLion took over NBA International League Pass Broadband. Many features have been added to the service, including access to individual plays of the game via icons/markers. Game halts like timeouts (Time-out (sport)#Basketball) are filled in with NBA spots/advertisements and not marked by icons, therefore not immediately accessible.The NBA spots/advertisements have been removed for the 2011 Finals, and game halts were filled with real time images from the arenas including performances of dance teams.
'Condensed' games are offered, meant to sum up the highlights of the game, but there are glitches. For example, the condensed version of the 2011 second round playoff game 5 featuring BOS @ MIA 'started' after the fourth quarter. This has led to heavy criticism among fans looking for a spoiler-free recap.
NBA League Pass Broadband
The NBA offers a similar service for viewing games on computer a screen over the internet, with the same blackout rules. Options include the Premium plan, which allows users to watch all games not subject to blackout, and a reduced-price Choice plan, for which users choose 7 teams whose games they can watch. Customers can watch the games live or in an archive available at any point till the end of the regular season.Prices in the 2009-2010 season were $149.95 for the Premium package and $99.95 for the Choice package. In 2010-2011, the prices rose 20% to $179.95 and $109.95 respectively as “early bird” rates for those who signed up before the season started, and $189.95 and $119.95 as the rates once the season began. For at least the past two years, the service has offered a free trial for the first games of the regular season. In the 2010-2011 season, trial customers could watch all non-blackout games from October 26 (the start of the regular season) through November 2. For the 2009-2010 season, a half-year package was offered at a reduced price beginning around the middle of the season. In 2010-2011, the Playoffs and Finals Premium and Standard packages were offered at $99.95 and $79.95 respectively.
WNBA Season Pass
From 1999 to 2001, NBA League Pass had a companion service called WNBA Season Pass which showed out-of-market games of the Women's National Basketball AssociationWomen's National Basketball Association
The Women's National Basketball Association is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. It currently is composed of twelve teams. The league was founded on April 24, 1996 as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association...
. The WNBA has discontinued this service; today, all national broadcasts are on ABC
ESPN on ABC
ESPN on ABC is the brand used for sports programming on the ABC television network. Officially the broadcast network retains its own sports division; however, for all practical purposes, ABC's sports division has been merged with ESPN, a sports cable network majority-owned by ABC's parent, The...
, ESPN2
ESPN2
ESPN2 is an American sports cable television network owned by ESPN. The channel debuted on October 1, 1993.Originally nicknamed "the deuce," ESPN2 was initially branded as a network for a younger generation of sports fans featuring edgier graphics as well as extreme sports like motocross,...
, or NBA TV
NBA TV
NBA TV is a television specialty channel that is dedicated to showcasing the sport of basketball in the United States. The network is financially backed by the National Basketball Association , which also uses NBA TV as a way of advertising their out of market package NBA League Pass, and partner...
. However, they now offer the WNBA Broadband Season Pass, a web program that allows subscribers to watch every game live for each season.