NBC Sports California is available on four live TV streaming services.
You can watch NBC Sports California live on:
NBC Sports California airs in-market games for the MLB’s Oakland Athletics, the NHL’s San Jose Sharks, and the NBA’s Sacramento Kings.
| STREAMING SERVICES | NBC Sports California | # of channels |
|---|---|---|
| DIRECTV STREAM | Yes | 105 |
| fuboTV | Yes | 152 |
| Hulu Live TV | Yes | 75 |
| Sling TV | No | 31-41 |
| YouTube TV | Yes | 128 |
How to Watch NBC Sports California
You need to live within NBC Sports California’s home market to get it in your channel lineup.
The home broadcast area for NBC Sports California includes the Greater Los Angeles area, San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, San Diego, northern California, parts of Oregon and western Nevada.
Live TV streaming services are similar to cable TV subscriptions, but you are streaming your TV channels online to your television, smartphone or PC.
These live TV packages are used by cord-cutters to watch local channels such as NBC, ABC, FOX and CBS. Popular cable channels, including ESPN and CNN, are on live TV streaming services a well.
To get started, you just need an internet connection. Once you pick a streaming service, and sign up for a free trial, you can download the app to your Smart TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Google Chromecast or Apple TV.
Smart TVs from major brands such as LG, Samsung, Sony, and Vizio have apps for these live TV bundles. You can watch live TV on an iPhone or iPad (with current iOS) and Android tablets and smartphones.
Whether you are an NBA, MLB, NHL or NFL fan, getting your local regional sports network (RSN) through a streaming service gives you more flexibility than a cable company.
You can easily cancel a streaming service online, and jump to a competing service whenever you want. Some cord-cutters even jump from platform to platform throughout the year just to catch certain shows.
Subscribers to many of these services can also stream NBC Sports Bay Area, which has Golden State Warriors and San Francisco Giants games.
DIRECTV STREAM and fuboTV have Bally Sports West in the Los Angeles area, which has in-market baseball games from the Los Angeles Angels, and basketball games from the Los Angeles Clippers.
DIRECTV STREAM
DIRECTV STREAM has every channel needed to watch Oakland Athletics and Sacramento Kings games in 2023.
A subscription to the Choice plan costs $99.99 per month for 105 channels. NBC Sports California, ESPN, MLB Network, Nickelodeon, NBA TV, FS1, Bravo, SyFy, and local channels such as ABC and FOX are included in the Choice lineup.
DIRECTV STREAM subscribers can get three months of HBO Max, Showtime, Cinemax and MGM+ for free before the monthly rates kick in. You can watch live TV on up to unlimited screens at once.
You can sign up for a free 5-day trial without any obligations. Every plan includes unlimited Cloud DVR and a robust library of on-demand movies and shows.
There are no contracts. There are no additional regional sports fees.You can subscribe month to month and cancel whenever you want.
DIRECTV STREAM works on Roku, Android TV, Fire TV devices, Apple TV and smartphones and tablets.
You can look over the different channel lineups before making any decisions.
fubo
fubo (formerly fuboTV) has about 152 channels in the Pro plan including NBC Sports California and Bally Sports West.
The Pro plan has ESPN, FS1, NFL Network, AMC, A&E, FX and local FOX, ABC, CBS and NBC stations.
The fubo Pro plan costs $74.99 per month. fubo adds a regional sports fee. It costs $10.99 per month for one regional network. It’s $13.99 per month if you have two RSNs in your area.
You should look over the channel lineup for your area before signing up.
You will be able to record games using 1,000 hours of Cloud DVR. Subscribers can watch live TV on 10 screens at once. The “lookback” feature maintains an on-demand style menu for MLB and NBA games that aired in the last 72 hours.
Fubo also has an option to increase your sports channels. The Sports Plus add-on bundle has 30 channels, including NFL RedZone, MLB Network, NHL Network and NBA TV. The Sports Plus add-on costs $10.99 per month.
fubo has apps for pretty much every device, including Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Fire Stick. Google TV and Android TV Smart TVs have fubo apps.
Look over the channel lineup to see what locals and regional sports networks you’d get before deciding whether to try out fubo.
Hulu Live TV
Hulu with Live TV has more than 75 TV channels total including local NBC, CBS and ABC stations.
ESPN, NBC Sports California, FS1, TNT, TBS, BET, CNN, Discovery, HGTV, MTV and MSNBC are part of the channel lineup. You have all the channels you need to watch MLB games and basketball games with the Sacramento Kings.
Subscribers get Disney+, ESPN+ and unlimited DVR storage to record live TV shows, movies and sporting events.
Hulu has apps for major brands of Smart TVs such as Samsung.
Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and Chromecast are all supported. Gamers can watch Hulu through PlayStation, Nintendo Switch and XBox game consoles.
And if you’re using a Roku, Apple TV or Fire TV, you can use your Hulu subscription to activate dozens of apps. A subscription costs $69.99 per month. The sports add-on package carries channels such as NFL RedZone, Outdoor Channel and TVG for $9.99 per month.
You can look over the Hulu + Live TV channel lineup for more details.
YouTube TV
YouTube TV has a long roster of cable TV channels along with local and regional networks. A subscription will cost $72.99 per month for roughly 128 channels.
Subscribers get unlimited hours of Cloud DVR storage. You can watch live TV on three screens at once on Smart TVs, smartphones or a streaming device such as a Roku or Chromecast.
The channel lineup has local ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX stations. Cable channels include ESPN, Oxygen Network, USA Network, Comedy Central, FOX News, CNN, and Telemundo.
NBC Sports California and NBC Sports Bay Area are among the regional sports channels.
YouTube TV subscribers can watch live TV on Smart TVs, Roku, Apple TV, Fire TV Stick, Google Chromecast and Xbox One. You can try out YouTube TV free for 7 days.
How to Watch Oakland Athletics games for free
If you don’t want to pay for a regional sports network, Oakland Athletics fans can also catch some nationally televised games on FOX using a TV antenna.
But for most of the season, you’ll want NBC Sports California for home games, and FOX and FS1 to watch games currently listed on MLB’s National Broadcast Schedule.
Here are some other resources I have assembled over the years on how to get a local FOX station for free using a TV antenna.
- How to Choose the Best TV Antenna and OTA DVR
- How to Connect Multiple TVs to One Antenna
- Review: The Best Indoor TV Antennas
- Review: The Best Outdoor TV Antennas
How to Watch NBC Sports California FAQs
These are questions readers ask when searching for ways to stream NBC Sports California without a pay TV provider.
Is NBC Sports California on Sling TV?
No. Sling TV announced that they would no longer carry regional NBC Sports networks as of April 1, 2021.
Is NBC Sports California on Peacock?
For now, you cannot watch NBC Sports California on Peacock. NBCUniversal plans on eventually bringing regional NBC Sports networks to Peacock TV, according to a December 2022 story from Bloomberg. But it hasn’t happened yet. Bloomberg reported that NBC Universal has been negotiating streaming rights with teams and leagues.
If a deal is struck, it would mean that sports fans could watch their local MLB, NBA and NHL teams without cable. NBC Sports carries games for Philadelphia Phillies, Boston Celtics, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Washington Wizards, the Chicago Bulls and others.
What’s the best way to stream NBC Sports California live without cable?
There are a number of options out there to watch NBC Sports Chicago, so let’s review some highlights and narrow down your choices.
fuboTV has NBC Sports California, local stations and ESPN for national broadcast MLB games. You’ll get about 120 live TV channels and 1,000 hours of Cloud DVR for recordings. You can try out fuboTV free for a week. There are no contracts and you pay month to month for a subscription.
DIRECTV STREAM has 105 live TV channels, including local networks, ESPN, TNT and TBS for $99.99 per month. Subscribers can watch on unlimited screens and Cloud DVR space. You can look over the channel lineup, or sign up for a free 5-day trial.
NOTE: This article was published on March 26, 2022, and has been updated with new plans and prices.
For more news on streaming, how-to guides and reviews, head over to the main page of The Cord Cutting Report or follow the CCR on Google News.
Founder and Editor of The Cord Cutting Report. Before launching the site in 2016, he worked for more than two decades as a staff writer or correspondent for a number of daily newspapers, including The Boston Globe. His enthusiasm for tech began with the Atari 2600. Follow @james_kimble
