I need access to Space City Home Network to watch all the Astros and Rockets games live. Being in Houston, it’s the only channel that broadcasts every game in our region.
In a hurry? If you already know you absolutely must have Space City Home Network, there are only two ways to get it without a cable or satellite contract:
Fubo
Known for its outstanding sports coverage, Fubo’s 150+ live TV channels provide a broad selection that appeals to most people. Fubo allows you to try out its service with a free trial.
DIRECTV STREAM
The king of RSNs, this is the streaming service for MLB, NBA, and NHL fans with its Choice Plan. New customers get a 5-day free trial with DIRECTV STREAM.
If you can’t watch your favorite sports because of your location, get ExpressVPN to access the content you deserve.
Table Of Contents
If you are located in or near Texas and want to watch coverage of the Houston Astros, Space City Home Network is a must-have channel for you. This is also true for those in and near the Houston metropolitan area and in many other areas of Texas who want to catch Houston Rockets games as often as possible.
If either of those descriptions fits you and you want to secure online access to this channel, you have two options available: Fubo ($94.98/month) and DIRECTV STREAM ($108.99/month).
Stream Space City Home Network
There are currently only two options for streaming Space City Home Network, but they are good ones.
Fubo
The most affordable streaming service option for Space City Home Network is Fubo, which costs $94.98/month. It is also our favorite streaming service for sports fans. Of its 130+ channels, over a third of them are sports-oriented. You get FS1, FS2, CBS Sports Network, Big Ten Network, SEC Network, ESPN, ESPN2, beIN Sports, and TUDN.
In addition, you can pay $7.99/mo more for its Fubo Extra add-on and access channels such as MLB Network, NBA TV, and NHL Network (and 45 others). Another option is getting its Sports Plus with NFL RedZone add-on for $10.99/mo to get those three additional channels as well as channels such as ESPNU, Pac-12 Network, and Stadium.
Several of those channels will also be of value to college sports fans. For example, the SEC Network is a must-have for Texas A&M Aggies fans while the Houston Cougars, Rice Owls, Texas Southern Tigers, and Houston Baptist Huskies are sometimes shown on those aforementioned channels.
All Fubo plans come with unlimited cloud DVR and the ability to stream on up to 10 devices at once. For all the details, see our Fubo review.
DIRECTV STREAM
Another option for gaining streaming-only access to Space City Home Network is DIRECTV STREAM. To receive this channel, you need to at least subscribe to its Choice plan, which costs $108.99/month.
This comes with roughly 100 channels, which include ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, FS1, MLB Network, NBA TV, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, and SEC Network. An upgrade to its Ultimate plan ($119.99/month) will also get you channels such as FS2, CBS Sports Network, and NHL Network.
Most who receive Space City Home Network through DIRECTV STREAM also get Bally Sports Southwest and Bally Sports Oklahoma. One of the rare exceptions occurs in Las Cruces, NM. Those there will instead get Bally Sports Arizona and Bally Sports San Diego. However, that does mean that those in Las Cruces can watch locally produced Houston Astros, Arizona Diamondbacks, and San Diego Padres games.
One important point that Texas Rangers fans should note is that they must subscribe to DIRECTV STREAM to receive online-only access to in-market locally produced broadcasts of that team’s games, which are shown only on Bally Sports Southwest.
For more information about what they offer, see our DIRECTV STREAM review.
Alternatives to Fubo and DIRECTV STREAM
If you are looking for online-only access to Space City Home Network, you do not have any other options; you must subscribe to Fubo or DIRECTV STREAM.
Now, if you are content with watching Houston Astros games or Houston Rockets games on a sporadic basis (eg, focusing on their playoff games) you could instead subscribe to a different streaming service, such as Hulu + Live TV or Sling TV. Also, some playoff games, such as the World Series and NBA Finals, are on over-the-air channels and can simply be accessed with an antenna.
Conversely, if you are situated outside of the blackout area of the Houston Astros or Houston Rockets, you could subscribe to MLB.TV ($24.99/mo) or NBA League Pass ($28.99/mo).
However, note that the Astros’ blackout area is extensive, essentially covering all of Space City Home Network’s coverage area – all of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and part of New Mexico. With that said, the Houston Rockets’ blackout area is much smaller and does not include the metropolitan areas surrounding other NBA teams.
Watching Space City Home Network With TVs and Streaming Devices
Both Fubo and DIRECTV STREAM support most streaming devices that are currently in use. For example, they support recent Samsung smart TVs.
Also, they both support all the TV “stick” devices like Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and Roku.
And you can watch Space City Home Network on your smartphones and other devices running iOS and Android. You can also cast from them to your TV using Chromecast.
You can also stream on most web browsers and attach devices directly to your TV.
Fubo supports some devices that DIRECTV STREAM does not:
- Hisense smart TVs
- LG TVs
- Vizio SmartCast TV
- Xbox One gaming consoles.
What Is Space City Home Network?
Space City Home Network is a regional sports network (RSN) that is headquartered in Houston and focuses on sports teams located in and near that city. Its prime focuses are the Houston Astros and the Houston Rockets although it does also feature plenty of programming related to other regional teams.
This channel was created in 2012 with that double focus, replacing Fox Sports Southwest. At the time of its founding, it was named Comcast SportsNet Houston. That name changed to ROOT Sports Southwest in 2014, then to AT&T SportsNet Southwest in 2017, and finally to Space City Home Network in 2023.
Where Is Space City Home Network Available?
Space City Home Network is available throughout a vast area, including all of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and part of New Mexico. However, note that its coverage of the Houston Rockets is blacked out for part of this region.
Also keep in mind that other RSNs are sometimes available in these areas, particularly for DIRECTV STREAM subscribers. It depends on where you are. For example, most who subscribe to DIRECTV STREAM will also get Bally Sports Southwest and Bally Sports Oklahoma.
This is an important detail to note if you want to watch Texas Rangers games on Bally Sports Southwest as well as Astros ones on Space City Home Network.
What Sports Teams Does Space City Home Network Cover?
One of the sports teams that Space City Home Network covers is the Houston Astros, showing around 97% of their games to a regional audience. The only exceptions are contests that are either shown nationally or regionally on Fox or that are shown to a nationally exclusive audience on ESPN, such as is the case for all of its Sunday Night Baseball games.
The channel’s coverage of the Houston Rockets is even more extensive, at least for the 2023-24 campaign as 100% of the team’s games this season have been slated for Space City Home Network coverage. This may change in the coming years if the team’s fortunes change and national television outlets start wanting exclusive coverage of some of its games.
All the Astros and Rockets games are sandwiched between pregame and postgame shows with news and analysis. And during their seasons, there are weekly TV shows Astros Bases Loaded and Rockets All Access.
Games played by other Houston- and Texas-based sports teams are not regularly shown on this channel although other types of programming related to several of them are.
Examples of the latter include TV shows like Texas Sports Nation In-Depth, Rice Owls Sports Show, Inside Cougar Athletics (related to the Houston Cougars), The Pulse: Texas A&M Football, and TSU Sports Show (related to the Texas Southern Tigers).
Local games that are broadcast on Space City Home Network include some Texas Southern football games. There is also a selection of high school sports played by schools in the Houston area.
Programming unrelated to local teams is also broadcast on Space City Home Network, including shows that feature boxing, mixed martial arts, fishing, hunting, pickleball, and poker.
Space City Home Network Plus
To handle situations in which the Houston Astros and Houston Rockets play at the same time, which is most apt to occur in April, Space City Home Network Plus was created.
Space City Home Network Commentators
Todd Kalas has been describing the action as play-by-play announcer for the Houston Astros since taking that role in 2017. Geoff Blum, who played for the team from 2002-03 and 2008-10, serves as the team’s color analyst.
Craig Ackerman’s first campaign as lead play-by-play announcer for the Houston Rockets was the 2021-22 season. He had previously performed in that position in a part-time role as well as acting as its radio play-by-play announcer. Ryan Hollins is the color commentator for Rockets broadcasts while Gerald Green joins the crew on occasion as well.
Wrapping Up
Your streaming options for Space City Home Network are DIRECTV STREAM and Fubo. Both also provide Bally Sports Southwest, home of the Texas Rangers.
Our top choice of Fubo. Fubo allows you to try out its service with a free trial.
FAQs
Are Houston Dynamo FC matches on Space City Home Network?
Houston Dynamo matches are no longer broadcast on local channels. Instead, they are streamed live with MLS Season Pass. It costs $14.99/mo and features all the matches over every team in the MLS. Fans may be better off signing up for a year for $99.99.
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My expertise in sports coverage, particularly for out-of-market games and regional sports networks, stems from years of hands-on experience as an early adopter of streaming services and my work addressing fans' viewing challenges. As a longtime cord-cutter and subscriber to multiple streaming platforms, I combine my technical knowledge with practical user experience, making me a leading expert in the field of sports streaming and entertainment technology.
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Space City Network needs to offer a streaming service besides Direct tv and Fubo for us folks that can’t afford that much. ☹️ The 2024 season for the Astros is just a pipe dream for me. On a fixed income and those two services have just become out of reach for me.