Space City Home Network launches direct-to-consumer plan

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/astros/article/schn-offers-direct-to-consumer-rockets-astros-21220886.php

Per the article:

"At last, Houston Astros and Houston Rockets fans will be able to watch the teams’ games on their regional sports network without needing a subscription to a cable or satellite provider.

Space City Home Network on Wednesday announced a new direct-to-consumer offering called SCHN+ that will allow fans to subscribe to the network with either a monthly or annual plan. That includes access to all network programming, not just the teams’ games.

Rates are $19.99 a month or $199 per year, plus tax. The SCHN+ app will be available on iOS, Android, Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV devices currently, with more platforms to be added. Fans can also watch via a web browser at schnplus.com."

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I wonder if the blackout rules still apply, though. Even with a VPN, I can’t watch Rockets games on SCHN because my billing zip code is in one of those gray zones. I’m going to try it on the app for tonight’s game and see what happens.

So i can see Astros games without dealing with the creeps at MLB.com.

It says blackout applies to rockets but not astros. I haven’t watched a rocket game in 8 years. So no prob there.

It worked for me tonight - escaped the blackout!

I tried it on my phone first, then added the app to my Apple TV and boom.

Since I already had SCHN through DirecTV stream, it’s free, too. :slightly_smiling_face:

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I wonder how you missed the blackout. Unless the article was wrong. Which it might have been.

I’m guessing that dedicated streaming somehow gets around the blackout rules, kind of like paying for NBA League Pass.

Another weird observation: when I had Fubo last year and early this year, I was able to watch Rockets games on SCHN, but when I switched back to DTVStream, they were blacked out. Same address, same billing address, etc. - doesn’t make sense.

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But you were watching through Fubo right?

Not now - watched through DTV Stream. I dumped Fubo before March Madness because they don’t have any of the Turner stations and cost the same as DTV.

The reason I asked was because I thought Fubo buys the home games and distributes them as part of their package.

Hmmm…I never saw that, but it could be the case.

In any event, I was happy to see that the blackout deal is no longer a thing when streaming through their app, and I didn’t have to pay anything extra.

The black out on baseball was one of the biggest downers of my summer. If I can avoid that then things are heading in the right direction. I might even start watching the Rockets again

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I’m in the Spurs “donut” so that interferes with Rockets games. I had bought League Pass a couple of years ago, but that’s stupid-expensive and the Rockets kind of sucked then, so I dropped it.

I have no trouble with the Astros, but I only had two carrier choices to get SCHN- Fubo or DirecTV.

Hopefully this means that SCHN remains viable and can keep the regional sports network model alive. I like our Astros TV crew.

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My luck with SCHN ran out - I’m back in the Rockets blackout donut. :rage:

I can VPN my way around it on the computer, but not on the TV(yet).