As someone living in the San Francisco area, NBC Sports Bay Area is an essential channel for catching all the local sports action. The good news is that several streaming options are available for those of us who’ve moved away from traditional cable TV.
In a hurry? The live TV streaming services that offer NBC Sports Bay Area are all solid contenders. You won’t go wrong with any of them.
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.
Hulu Live
Get 95+ live TV channels along with the Hulu Bundle with Disney+ and ESPN+! Try it today with a free trial.
Table Of Contents
Are you a fan of the San Francisco Giants, Golden State Warriors, or San Francisco 49ers? If you are, particularly in the case of the Giants and Warriors, you want to ensure that you have access to NBC Sports Bay Area. It broadcasts a significant percentage of those two teams’ games. Non-game coverage of the 49ers is shown as well.
Streaming services that provide access to NBC Sports Bay Area include Fubo ($79.99/month), Hulu + Live TV ($76.99/month), and DIRECTV STREAM ($108.99/month).
Streaming NBC Sports Bay Area
The number of streaming services that offer access to NBC Sports Bay Area used to be more numerous, but that number has dwindled over the years.
Fubo for NBC Sports Bay Area
Fubo (formerly FuboTV) not only provides access to both NBC Sports Bay Area and NBC Sports California, but it offers a lot more. Its 150+ channel package includes all the local affiliates ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC plus The CW, Telemundo, Univsion, and UniMas where it is available. You also get the sports channels CBS Sports Network (CBSSN, Fox Sports (FS1 and FS2), ESPN, ESPN2, NFL Network, and multiple channels of beIN Sports and TUDN.
Additionally, if you are outside the Bay Area (NBCSBA has a large regional extent), you will likely get other RSNs. For most people, the total cost is $94.98/month (including the RSN fee).
If you upgrade with the Fubo Extra ($7.99/mo) or Sports Plus ($10.99/mo), you get MLB Network and NBA TV, ensuring access to many nationally telecast Golden State Warriors and San Francisco Giants games. You can also get NBA League Pass for $14.99/mo to watch all the out-of-market games.
All Fubo plans come with unlimited cloud DVR storage and the ability to stream on up to 10 devices simultaneously. See our Fubo review for all the details.
DIRECTV STREAM for NBC Sports Bay Area
DIRECTV STREAM (formerly AT&T TV) for $108.99/month is the most expensive option of these three, but it offers all the channels you want including ABC, Fox, ESPN, FS1, MLB Network, NBA TV, TBS, and TNT. It also offers other RSNs for fans located in far-flung areas like Fresno, Las Vegas, and Honolulu.
You can also get NBA League Pass through DIRECTV STREAM.
All DIRECTV STREAM plans come with unlimited cloud DVR storage (online signup only) and the ability to stream on unlimited devices at once. For more details, see our DIRECTV STREAM review.
Hulu + Live TV for NBC Sports Bay Area
Hulu + Live TV ($76.99/month) starts with its standard on-demand service and adds an 100+ live TV channel lineup. These include both NBC Sports Bay Area and NBC Sports California. Plus you get the Big Four network affiliates as well as CBSSN, FS1, FS2, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, TBS, and TNT, making it a particularly good choice for baseball and basketball fans. It also comes with ESPN+ and Disney+.
Get Hulu + Live TV for $59.99 Monthly
Hulu Live TV comes with unlimited DVR with 9 month storage. You also get up to two streaming devices at once. For more information, see our Hulu + Live TV review.
YouTube TV ($72.99/month) offers a similar plan with NBC Sports Bay Area.
Alternatives to NBC Sports Bay Area
You could limit yourself to an antenna and television, which will guarantee access to the biggest games that the San Francisco Giants and Golden State Warriors play. That is because the entire World Series is on Fox, the entire NBA Finals are on ABC, and MLS Cup is on Fox or ABC. Also, a number of Giants and Warriors regular-season games are shown on those respective channels.
In addition, the local NBC affiliate, KNTV, broadcasts a fair number of Giants games each year — up to a quarter of them. These are taken from NBC Sports Bay Area, their sister station.
Another option is using a different streaming service. Sling TV offers Fox, ESPN, FS1, TBS, and TNT with a purchase of the combined Orange and Blue plan ($55.00/month). You can also integrate an antenna with Sling to get ABC and CBS.
Note that Peacock offered exclusive access to the three-game series between the Giants and Phillies that was played from June 18-20, 2021, in San Francisco. Although those contests were available through its free version, paying for Peacock Premium ($7.99/month) will be necessary for similar situations in the future.
Lastly, if you are outside of the blackout areas of the Giants or Warriors, which includes Sacramento for the Warriors, you can subscribe to MLB.tv ($24.99/mo) or NBA League Pass ($28.99/mo) to receive access to those respective out-of-market broadcasts. You can get NBA League Pass through FuboTV and DIRECTV STREAM.
Live Stream NBC Sports Bay Area With These Devices
All three of the streaming services we’ve discussed support these devices:
- Amazon Fire TV
- Android mobile devices
- Android TV smart TVs
- Apple TV
- Chromecast
- iOS mobile devices
- Roku
- Samsung smart TVs
- Web browsers.
FuboTV and Hulu both support other devices beyond what DIRECTV STREAM does:
- LG smart TVs
- Vizio SmartCast TVs
- Xbox One gaming systems.
FuboTV also supports Hisense smart TVs. And Hulu supports the PlayStation and Nintendo Switch gaming systems.
Note that you can also watch games via TV Everywhere with the NBC Sports app and on NBCSports.com.
What Is NBC Sports Bay Area?
NBC Sports Bay Area is an American regional sports network (RSN) that covers professional sports in the Bay Area. It is an NBCUniversal channel but it is partly owned by the San Francisco Giants.
Since it is an RSN, streaming services are only allowed to offer it to those located in its broadcast area.
Where Is NBC Sports Bay Area Available?
NBC Sports Bay Area is available throughout Northern California, including Fresno but not including Bakersfield or San Luis Obispo. It is also available throughout Nevada and Hawaii and in Oregon up to and including Eugene but not in Corvallis and points north of there.
Note that some of its teams are blacked out in some areas. For example, Warriors games are blacked out in the Sacramento area as NBC Sports California’s Sacramento Kings coverage is the only NBA team to be designated as in-market there.
Which Sports Teams Are Shown on NBC Sports Bay Area?
NBC Sports Bay Area is primarily focused on the San Francisco Giants and Golden State Warriors, the two major league sports teams based within the city of San Francisco. A considerable majority of regular-season games played by those franchises is shown on this channel. This includes Spring Training games for the Giants and then most games from Opening Day until the start of the playoffs.
The Dubs won the NBA championship over the Boston Celtics just two years ago. But despite maintaining stars Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, head coach Steve Kerr has had difficulty with the team throughout the season when playing away from the Chase Center.
Finally, NBC Sports Bay Area shows occasional games from West Coast Conference teams and even high school games.
Because of the schedules of the two leagues, there basically isn’t an offseason for NBC Sports Bay Area. It is focused on the Warriors in the Fall and Winter and the Giants in the Spring and Summer. There is also a lot of analysis of the 49ers during the Summer, Fall, and Winter.
NBC Sports Bay Area Plus
When conflicts arise, such as the San Francisco Giants and Golden State Warriors playing at the same time, one of the games will be moved to NBC Sports Bay Area Plus.
NBC Sports California
NBC Sports California, NBC Sports Bay Area’s sister channel, is generally provided to anyone who gets NBC Sports Bay Area.
It handles coverage of Northern California’s other major league sports teams, the Oakland Athletics, San Jose Sharks, and Sacramento Kings. Those in the Bay Area should note that Kings games broadcast on NBC Sports California are blacked out there.
It has two overflow channels, NBC Sports California Plus and NBC Sports California Plus 3.
NBC Sports Bay Area Shows
NBC Sports Bay Area features a number of podcasts that are broadcast on the channel. These are Dubs Talk, 49ers Talk, and Giants Talk.
San Francisco 49ers fans also regularly head to NBC Sports Bay Area. Although no games are shown on this channel, extensive non-game coverage is, such as 49ers: Ask Papa, 49ers Talk, 49ers Game Plan, 49ers: In the Huddle, 49ers Pre-game, and 49ers Post-game.
NBC Sports Bay Area Commentators
Mike Krukow (analysis) and Duane Kuiper (play-by-play) team up to call San Francisco Giants games that are broadcast on NBC Sports Bay Area. Also on the team are Rich Aurilia, Shawn Estes, Amy Gutierrez, Dave Flemming, Jon Miller, Alex Pavlovic, and Randy Winn.
Bob Fitzgerald serves as the voice of the Golden State Warriors; he has done so for decades. Kelenna Azubuike, a former Warriors player (2007-10), joins him courtside as analyst. Also on the team are Jim Barnett, Kerith Burke, Greg Papa, Garry St Jean, Henry Wofford, and Monte Poole.
Other on-air talent for the channel are Brodie Brazil, Laura Britt, Ahmed Fareed, Kelli Johnson, Matt Maiocco, and Jim Kozimor.
Wrapping Up
To watch NBC Sports Bay Area get Fubo ($94.98/month), Hulu + Live TV ($76.99/month), or DIRECTV STREAM ($108.99/month).
Because of its sports-focus, FuboTV is our top choice for NBC Bay Area. Fubo allows you to try out its service with a free trial.
FAQs
What is the cheapest way to stream NBC Sports Bay Area?
Hulu + Live TV is the cheapest way to get NBC Sports Bay Area with a base plan starting at $76.99/month. It also provides ESPN+ and Disney+. There are other considerations, however.
If you live outside northern California, you likely qualify for other RSNs that it lacks. For example, subscribers in Las Vegas will also get a number of Bally Sports channels. You can get them all with FuboTV for $94.98/month.
Similarly, subscribers in Honolulu also get the southern California Bally Sports channels as well as Spectrum SportsNet and SportsNet LA with DIRECTV STREAM for $108.99/month.
Does NBC Sports Bay Area broadcast San Jose Earthquakes games?
NBC Sports Bay Area does not broadcast San Jose Earthquakes games. It did through last season, sharing the load with NBC Sports California. You can now watch San Jose through MLS Season Pass. It costs $14.99/mo or $99.99 for the year and has no blackouts.
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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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