Watch the Michigan Wolverines live without cable on the device of your choice, including Apple TV, Samsung Smart TV, Roku, and more.
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Sherrone Moore’s first year as Michigan head coach could be a rebuilding season. Nonetheless, UM football is a national brand and one of the most watched teams in college football.
Although several live TV streaming services carry the channels you need to watch Michigan football, our top pick for the 2024 season is DIRECTV STREAM. With DTV STREAM, Michigan sports fans can watch Wolverines football, Big Noon Kickoff on both WJBK-TV FOX 2 Detroit and WXMI-TV FOX 17 Grand Rapids, plus in-market Pistons, Tigers, and Red Wings games on Bally Sports Detroit.
Watch WJBK FOX 2 Detroit, CBS, ESPN, FS1, Big Ten Network, and more. Upgrade for Bally Sports Detroit. | $74.99 / month | Free 5 Day Trial |
Watch WJBK FOX 2 Detroit, CBS, ESPN, FS1, Big Ten Network, Bally Sports Detroit. | $74.99 / month | 7 Day Free Trial |
Watch Michigan football, plus NFL Sunday Ticket. | $72.99 / month | 14 Day Free Trial |
Important channels
The Big Ten’s new media partners are CBS, NBC, and FOX, which means Big Ten football will be on air coast to coast all day, and late into the night, on Saturdays. Games will also air on Big Ten Network and FS1. Expect to see more primetime Michigan football games on NBC this year as the network unveils its Big Ten Saturday Night on NBC series.
FS1 and Big Ten Network, as properties owned by FOX and the Big Ten respectively, will feature less sought after Big Ten matchups while FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff airs the week’s premier Big Ten game.
| DIRECTV STREAM – Choice | Fubo | Hulu + Live TV | Sling TV Blue + Sports Extra | Sling TV Orange + Sports Extra | YouTube TV | |
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| $99.99 / month | $74.99 / month | $69.99 / month | $46 / month | $46 / month | $72.99 / month |
Top picks
Except Peacock, Fubo carries all the channels you need to live-stream Wolverines football, even under the new Big Ten TV deal. Next, fuboTV allows users to record an entire team’s season on DVR automatically, rather than game by game. Michigan is a national brand with fans across the country and a large contingent of fans on the west coast. Being able to “set it and forget it” and record all of U-M’s football games will be a major convenience for Wolverines on the west coast where Big Ten games often kick off in early the morning. Last, fuboTV is a top pick for live-streaming the Detroit Lions, so fans in Michigan get football Saturdays and Sundays both covered with a fuboTV membership. In addition, Fubo carries ESPN for watching MNF.
Pros
- Full local coverage of the Wolverines minus Peacock game
- Watch FOX in 4K
- Multiview feature for Apple TV users
- Bally Sports Detroit for watching in-market Tigers, Wings, and Pistons games
- MSU and UM football and basketball
Cons
- DVR storage lags behind the competition
- Lacks TNT and TBS for crucial NBA and NHL games
DirecTV Stream’s “Choice” package is one of the best overall options for watching Wolverine football and Detroit sports teams in the regular season.
DirecTV Stream “Choice” gets you all the channels you need to watch Big Ten Football, as well as Bally Sports Detroit for live streaming the Pistons, Tigers, and Red Wings regular seasons.
Although it’s not carried in the base package, “Choice” gets you the Big Ten Network, so all your Big Ten Football and basketball bases are covered.
While I don’t love the requirement of a Google account to use the platform, I do love YouTube TV for streaming football. Wolverine fans can get all the channels they need with YouTube TV, and an upgrade to the 4K package will get a lot of FOX and ESPN games in 4K. If you’re a fantasy football enthusiast, YouTube TV’s mobile app integrates with NFL.com fantasy teams in real-time.
Last, YouTube TV is the new home for NFL Sunday Ticket in 2024, which makes the platform a football powerhouse this season and beyond.
Detroiters and Michiganders take note: YouTube TV lacks Bally Sports Detroit.
Read our YouTube TV sports review.
Budget picks
The Big Ten’s new TV deal was not kind to Sling TV. Because Sling TV doesn’t carry CBS or NBC in Detroit, UM fans will have major gaps in coverage with Sling.
However, with Sling Blue + Sports Extra, Michigan fans in Detroit can get access to FOX and Big Ten Network which affords partial coverage, including the Ohio State game and the Big Ten Championship.
Michigan fans in Grand Rapids and Traverse City can’t watch UM football on their local CBS, FOX, or NBC affiliates with Sling TV.
Read our Sling TV sports review.
New for 2024, NBC will host a prime-time Big Ten Football matchup branded Big Ten Saturday Night Football on NBC. These prime-time games will be carried on local NBC affiliates nationwide, but will also live-stream on Peacock.
In addition, 8 Big Ten football games each season will be carried exclusively by Peacock, which is a move similar to the deal NBC made with MLB for Sunday Morning Baseball. It’s likely that Peacock will try to have one of the 8 games be an Ohio State or Michigan game to draw eyeballs to the app.
FAQ
Yes, every major live TV streaming service’s app is compatible with Roku devices, including YouTube TV, DIRECTV STREAM, fuboTV, and Hulu.
Yes, unlike the NFL, almost every Michigan football game is televised nationally. This means you can watch Michigan football even if you live in NYC, New Jersey, Los Angeles, or another major city outside of Michigan.