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NBA League Pass questions

D

dewthedru

macrumors regular
Original poster
The NBA League Pass is $39 for Sprint customers on the iPhone. It’s $189 for all broadband platforms, including ATV. Why would I buy the ATV version instead of just getting the iPhone version and running it through the ATV via AirPlay or Mirroring?

And 2nd question…my wife has a Sprint iPhone. Can I download and pay for the service on her phone, and then DL and use it on my T-Mobile iPhone via wifi?
 
dewthedru said:
The NBA League Pass is $39 for Sprint customers on the iPhone. It’s $189 for all broadband platforms, including ATV. Why would I buy the ATV version instead of just getting the iPhone version and running it through the ATV via AirPlay or Mirroring?

And 2nd question…my wife has a Sprint iPhone. Can I download and pay for the service on her phone, and then DL and use it on my T-Mobile iPhone via wifi?
Click to expand...
is it a seperate app or does it give you a login for the normal nba app?
 
I think you have to use a specific app to even watch the games. If the app doesn't support Airplay, you don't get to watch it on the TV.

I looked in to League Pass and was totally turned off by the blackout restrictions. I can understand blackouts for my local team, but blackouts for EVERY nationally televised game as well? No thanks.
 
DaPhatty said:
I think you have to use a specific app to even watch the games. If the app doesn't support Airplay, you don't get to watch it on the TV.

I looked in to League Pass and was totally turned off by the blackout restrictions. I can understand blackouts for my local team, but blackouts for EVERY nationally televised game as well? No thanks.
Click to expand...

hotspotshield VPN solves that for me, dont even have any credits just turning on the VPN gets the nba app to work.
**i use ipad app and airplay it
 
I noticed that the service is free for a week or so. I'll DL it on my wife's phone and check it out.
 
Is the apple tv version in HD? I had league pass on Comcast for 10 years but the last couple of years I have not subscribed because the picture quality is terrible. Comcast gives you one or two games in HD per night. I am looking into either buying an apple tv and trying that or getting the broadband pass and running a HDMI cable to my TV
 
dewthedru said:
The NBA League Pass is $39 for Sprint customers on the iPhone. It’s $189 for all broadband platforms, including ATV. Why would I buy the ATV version instead of just getting the iPhone version and running it through the ATV via AirPlay or Mirroring?
?
Click to expand...

Airplay is disabled.
 
Anyone know if you can use a VPN to watch local games? I'm done with cable and would subscribe to NBA season pass if I could watch my local team.
 
Yes, VPN works really well for MLB, NHL and NBA.
NBA being the most restrictive of the three I have tested with via VPN.

MLB I just needed to point my VPN router to a different state, and then I can watch my local MLB team. NHL doesnt seem to matter. Router was local and I'm still able to watch my local NHL team with no restrictions.
NBA was a different story and took a few additonal steps.

During the free NBA trial week, most of the US based games were still blacked out. National broadcast I beleive.
I signed up for a International League pass and then had no further restrictions.

The steps I had to perform to get the NBA to work on the Apple TV was the following with some decent pricing:

1) Pointed my VPN dd-wrt router to India.
2) Pointed my MAC to my VPN dd-wrt router.
3) Sign up for International NBA league pass via my MAC. (India NBA price was a bit cheaper than other countries. $139 USD during the trial week)
4) Once I signed up for my NBA International pass, I pointed my VPN router to the UK.
5) I then switched my Apple TV DNS to point to my VPN router.
6) Switched the itunes store on the apple tv to point to the UK store.
Note: If you dont switch your itunes store, you will not be able to login using your NBA international account. If your not in the US, you can probably skip this step.
7) Signed into the NBA app on the Apple TV using my International League pass id.
8) Enjoying games since.

Hope this helps.
 
Last edited:
ELMI0001 said:
Anyone know if you can use a VPN to watch local games? I'm done with cable and would subscribe to NBA season pass if I could watch my local team.
Click to expand...

post above me is a good way to natively do it, if you want there to be less steps, but add an idevice this is my setup.
using an ipad, download hotspot shield, turn on vpn
open nba gametime app (its the international league pass app)
all games not blacked out, airplay to ATV and voila

**you dont have to pay for hotspot shield, just having the VPN turned on it works, but then if you try to go browse it will say you need to sign up, found out when my subscription lapsed
 
nick2421 said:
Yes, VPN works really well for MLB, NHL and NBA.
NBA being the most restrictive of the three I have tested with via VPN.

MLB I just needed to point my VPN router to a different state, and then I can watch my local MLB team. NHL doesnt seem to matter. Router was local and I'm still able to watch my local NHL team with no restrictions.
NBA was a different story and took a few additonal steps.

During the free NBA trial week, most of the US based games were still blacked out. National broadcast I beleive.
I signed up for a International League pass and then had no further restrictions.

The steps I had to perform to get the NBA to work on the Apple TV was the following with some decent pricing:

1) Pointed my VPN dd-wrt router to India.
2) Pointed my MAC to my VPN dd-wrt router.
3) Sign up for International NBA league pass via my MAC. (India NBA price was a bit cheaper than other countries. $139 USD during the trial week)
4) Once I signed up for my NBA International pass, I pointed my VPN router to the UK.
5) I then switched my Apple TV DNS to point to my VPN router.
6) Switched the itunes store on the apple tv to point to the UK store.
Note: If you dont switch your itunes store, you will not be able to login using your NBA international account. If your not in the US, you can probably skip this step.
7) Signed into the NBA app on the Apple TV using my International League pass id.
8) Enjoying games since.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

how do you point it to india? do you subscribe to a VPN service?

----------

i don't know about cable everywhere else but you figure $350 per year online mlb and nba plus any VPN service costs is not that much cheaper than paying for cable tv
 
Hi,

Yes I subscribe to a VPN service. I currently use hidemyass.com.
Thats how I switch my router from country to country with no issues.

We tried cable / Direct TV for the local sports teams packages.
A lot were either blacked out or the provider didn't carry the team my family watches.

Pretty happy with the setup. Your mileage may vary.
 
linds15 said:
post above me is a good way to natively do it, if you want there to be less steps, but add an idevice this is my setup.
using an ipad, download hotspot shield, turn on vpn
open nba gametime app (its the international league pass app)
all games not blacked out, airplay to ATV and voila

**you dont have to pay for hotspot shield, just having the VPN turned on it works, but then if you try to go browse it will say you need to sign up, found out when my subscription lapsed
Click to expand...

Would you mind giving the step by step for this version? Do you download hotspot shield first then download the app, then sign up and pay via Paypal? What about your iTunes account. If you have a US account do you need to change it to UK or something else?
 
sanjuanbear said:
Would you mind giving the step by step for this version? Do you download hotspot shield first then download the app, then sign up and pay via Paypal? What about your iTunes account. If you have a US account do you need to change it to UK or something else?
Click to expand...

1. signup for nba international league pass
2. download hotspot shield
3. download nba gametime app, doubt its in the us app store, so you will probably need to use a canadian or uk account to get the app
3. make sure league pass is closed in the multitasking bar
4. turn on the vpn, wait for it to be connected
5. open up the nba gametime app and watch
6. airplay to tv, but leave ipad on because its not like nhl or nfl where you can background the airplay
 
linds15 said:
1. signup for nba international league pass
2. download hotspot shield
3. download nba gametime app, doubt its in the us app store, so you will probably need to use a canadian or uk account to get the app
3. make sure league pass is closed in the multitasking bar
4. turn on the vpn, wait for it to be connected
5. open up the nba gametime app and watch
6. airplay to tv, but leave ipad on because its not like nhl or nfl where you can background the airplay
Click to expand...

Awesome thanks. The VPN works great for iPad but no airplay. Is there an easy way to trick my Apple TV so I can watch blacked out local games on the Apple TV?
 
Use a DNS spoofing service like unblockus or unotelly. You manually enter the DNS they provide in your ATV network settings and it will lift blackouts.
 
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