Help to get M football in Europe

Submitted by plev72 on
After galavanting about the world a bit, I find myself currently assigned to a pretty little mountainside in northern Italy. The big downside is that most everything here will be done 'domani' (or the domani after that!). As a result I'm at over two weeks wait for my land line and thus the DSL, which appears to be the only high-speed(ish) internet option available. In theory I will have reasonably fast internet access available prior to kickoff of the UofM UConn game. Going with the assumption that I will have connectivity - and in considering the possibility that the Armed Forces Radio and Television System (AFRTS) will not be carrying the game (although last year they carried most of them), I need a back-up plan. I think the most likely possibility, short of buying a slingbox and somehow remotely teaching my mother how to use it, will be to convince ESPN360 that I am actually physically located in the US and thus eligible to receive the game streaming with an ESPN360 subscription. So, after the long-winded babble, the questions are two fold: Do you think ESPN360 is going to be the way to go to get all of the games, if not, what is a better option (is there another location for live streaming)? Anyone have a convenient US VPN toward which they can direct me (and perhaps a 'for dummies' explanation of how to use it --- I assume it starts with "load Firefox). Thanks, Paul

jrt336

August 17th, 2010 at 10:37 AM ^

ESPN360 doesn't have the games from the B10 network. I don't know if they have the games from ABC either. I know ABC owns ESPN, but I though that they didn't have those games. I could be wrong about that though.

Mich4Life

August 17th, 2010 at 10:42 AM ^

Two cents from me: myp2p.eu is the website I like to use for live streaming sports, just follow the 'Live Sports' link on the top of the page and navigate through a few different links to find pretty much any live sporting event you could ever want.

 

Good Luck

mrlmichael

August 17th, 2010 at 10:56 AM ^

I live in Belgium now. I actually posted this same question on the board about a week ago.

Speaking from experience, when I was in the Army in Germany AFN had about 75% of the Michigan games and about 25% of those were live. I had ESPN360 on my computer and had no problem using it in Germany. (not sure if that has changed now that you mention you needed to convince them you were in the States or if it was because I had an American military IP adress). The problem with ESPN 360 is that they do not carry the games on ABC(which will be Uconn and the majority of the bigger games like OSU) and they do not carry the Games on NBC (Notre Dame). So I am also stuck trying to decide what to do as well. I dont have access to AFN anymore because Im back in Europe as a civilian this time around. I was thinking about subscribing to a combination of ESPN360 and BTN Pass, but I will still miss out on the games on ABC and NBC so Im looking for a solution to that problem now. I'll let you know if I find anything new. I hope you would do the same for me?

jbibiza

August 17th, 2010 at 3:23 PM ^

Last year ESPN 360 became available throughout Europe and it was great; I even some of the ABC games were shown live.  The Big Ten Network has a streaming system for Europe that you can use on a per game basis.  For non-televised games I went back to the radio feed via MGoBlue.com.

mrlmichael

August 17th, 2010 at 2:27 PM ^

Never downloaded a game torrent before. I would prefer to watch every game live and if the quality is low I may go back and download the torrent and watch again. I dont know why, Ive never been one of those guys who can tape/dvr a game and watch later. I always want to know whos winning because in my mind I know the game is going on right now. And when I find out who wins it ruins the surprise, but if I watch without knowing I cant help but thinking, the result of this game was decided 24 hours ago.

a non emu

August 17th, 2010 at 11:06 AM ^

on a different thread, but espn3.com does tend to have at least 50% of the games. The ones on ABC will also be on espn3.com typically, but subject to local blackout. So if you connect to your umich VPN, or another Ann Arbor area vpn to watch espn360, you will not be able to watch the game if it is on local ABC. What I did last year was to setup an SSH server at home (not in Michigan), and tunnel in over SSH to and watch espn3/espn360 for the ABC games. I can post a quick tutorial if you are interested. 

As others have mentioned, the big ten ticket is a good option. So between that and espn3.com you'll likely be able to watch 11/12 games this year. The only remaining one would be Notre Dame on NBC :) For that one I can only assume that there will be some decent online stream available. 

Mgovideo has some plans for the fall as well I believe. Boyz/Karpodiem could probably tell you more.

mrlmichael

August 17th, 2010 at 11:19 AM ^

So people in the live blog usually post streaming links for the game? Thats good news, and if im having problems a good back up plan too.

a non emu:

I looked at ESPN 360's schedule the other day and did not see the Michigan/UConn game listed on it. I assumed that was because the game was on ABC. Am I wrong about this? I do not live anywhere near Michigan so do you still think I would be able to get the ABC games on ESPN 360? If thats the case Big Ten Networks Pass and ESPN 360 should get me all the games accept Notre Dame, in which case I could look for a stream on the live blog or one of the other sites listed.

DeutschBlue

August 17th, 2010 at 11:20 AM ^

Been in Germany about 4 years and have found that AFN does broadcast a lot of the Michigan games, even over the last few down years.  One of the benefits of them playing early quite a bit.  ESPN3 doesn't work in Europe, you'll just get a "not available in your region" message", and the online steaming from other sources can be iffy or hard to find. Not sure about the Big Ten Ticket, though you can watch other video there without the region issue, so that's a maybe. Some of the cable/satellite companies (in Germany, not sure about Italy) also get ESPN America which has been pretty reliable.  Either way, best of luck.

Serenity Now

August 17th, 2010 at 11:29 AM ^

I`m in Canada (Montreal), and I bought College Pass on ESPN360 last year (it covered both College Football and College basketball).  The games on ABC and on the different ESPN networks were available, including bowl games.  Usually, if the schedule on their website listed a game with a ESPN360 (or I guess now ESPN3.com?) icon, then it was going to be available on College Pass.

Haven`t checked yet this year, but if I remember correctly they had different subscriptions based on location, including a European subscription.  The picture and audio quality was pretty damn good on my 22inch monitor, though there were times when some of the more popular games experienced bit rate issues and the quality was somewhat impacted.  But it was much, much more stable than in previous years.

mrlmichael

August 17th, 2010 at 11:32 AM ^

I will have to look into college pass. I guess I was just under the impression ESPN3/360 was the only streaming option from ESPN. If something like this works for ESPN/ABC games and I get Big Ten ticket the only game I will be out of luck for is Notre Dame. Im sure I can find a stream for that.

Serenity Now

August 17th, 2010 at 12:26 PM ^

Took a couple of minutes to reasearch this further....

https://www.espnplayer.com/espnplayer/help.jsp#FAQ

Looks like our friend in Italy is out of luck:

"The ESPN College Pass content on ESPN Player including College Football and College Basketball is available in Europe (excluding Italy), Canada, the Middle East, Africa, South America,  (excluding Brazil, Chile and Mexico), Asia and Australasia (excluding Australia)."

MGrether

August 17th, 2010 at 11:37 AM ^

As being someone who lives without cable or the like, I scrounge around for good options. If the game is being carried on ABC/ESPN or NBC, check out www.atdhe.net . They provide of a list of different places carrying different games in one list (places like justin.tv and veetle.com ).

If the game is on BTN, then the only way to get it is Big Ten Ticket, which for 40-some dollars you get all big ten football and bball games... which is a neat perk. But, then again it all depends on who is picking up Michigan's games.

Hope this helps.

mrlmichael

August 17th, 2010 at 2:21 PM ^

Ok, assuming I can somehow tutor my parents over the internet (pretty much the only dependable people I know back home) how to hook up and make sure the sling box is set for me. (which will be a tough task, my parents aren't exactly tech junkies to say the least)

So assuming I actually accomplish that and its hooked up. Does the slingbox allow dual watching? What I mean by that is, can I get on my PC, flip onto the Michigan game from the slingbox while my mom watches Family Feud on the same TV the slingbox is hooked up to?

SAvoodoo

August 17th, 2010 at 2:42 PM ^

What happens if I am using the Slingbox and someone at home is watching TV at the same time?

"In most situations, both of you are watching and controlling the same device. However, the Slingbox PRO-HD includes an internal tuner, so for standard cable (coaxial) inputs, you can set up your Slingbox to watch your TV, DVR, or other A/V source while the remote user watches standard cable (or vice versa). Also, many customers connect the Slingbox to a secondary TV source in another room to avoid remote conflicts."
 

from here: http://slingbox.com/go/slingbox-solo-faq