Before I commence, I will have to give the MLS its flowers for bargaining a collective TV rights deal. Every single match is accessible through one platform and one price. I doubt we will ever see that happen for Liga MX. Here is the chart I created to help visualize what we are dealing with:
Which one of the 18 teams do you support? Chivas are exclusively on Telemundo. With a subscription to Peacock, you can catch all their home games for $4.99 a month. For everyone else, you’ll have to buy a channel lineup. FuboTV and Youtube TV are your options and I broke down the pricing here:
FuboTV and Youtube TV will carry the majority of LigaMX action thanks to TUDN & Univision. If you want the bare bones, the Latino package will suffice but it does not include Telemundo. ViX+ is annoying but can be free for a year if you are a t-mobile customer. If you consume most of your LigaMX in front of a TV (and not on a smartphone/tablet) don’t forget to buy yourself some bunny ears (a digital antenna). Depending on where you live, Univision, Unimas & Telemundo can get picked up for free.
I subscribed to all of these services and here are some of my takeaways:
- FuboTV’s pricing is confusing and misleading. They recently started charging customers a $14 regional sports fee
- Youtube TV streams faster than FuboTV. It still doesn’t beat my phone notifications but it is significantly faster than FuboTV, which is a big deal for live sports. The digital antenna is still the fastest way to watch live tv.
- No solution is perfect. Regardless of which platform you pick, ViX+ is unavoidable. I think TUDN has learned not to broadcast the giants (America/Chivas) matches on ViX+ because of its poor adoption and viewership but come Liguilla time I would not be surprised if they paywall us to catch a leg.
Will Liga MX ever bargain a collective TV rights deal?