I spend most of my working life tracking where movies land after they leave theaters, and NFL rights are the same puzzle with shoulder pads. A film gets split between a theatrical window, a rental window, and whichever streamer bought it. A Colts season gets split between CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN, Prime Video, and the occasional Netflix holiday game. Different product, same headache.
So I'm treating this the way I'd treat a messy release schedule: there are three realistic ways to watch the Indianapolis Colts without cable, and you shouldn't pay for more than one of them.
The three contenders
The antenna stack. A one-time antenna purchase for the broadcast networks, plus one or two cheap streaming subscriptions to fill the gaps.
The live TV bundle. YouTube TV, Hulu + Live TV, Fubo, or DirecTV's streaming packages. This is cable in everything but name, delivered through an app.
NFL Sunday Ticket. The out-of-market package, sold through YouTube and YouTube TV. It exists for people who don't live where the Colts are the local team.
Which one wins depends almost entirely on where your couch is.
My pick, up front
If you live in the Indianapolis TV market, go with the antenna stack. It's the cheapest by a wide margin and it covers the large majority of the schedule.
If you live anywhere else, Sunday Ticket is the only legal way to reliably get every Sunday afternoon Colts game, and nothing else substitutes for it.
The live TV bundle is the right answer for a smaller group than its marketing suggests. More on that below.
Head to head
| Antenna stack | Live TV bundle | NFL Sunday Ticket | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typical cost | $25-$40 once for the antenna, plus roughly $8-$15 a month per add-on service | Roughly $83-$90 a month | A few hundred dollars per season; price varies by promo and timing |
| Sunday afternoon Colts games | Yes, if you're in market (CBS or Fox) | Yes, if you're in market | Yes, if you're out of market |
| Sunday Night Football | Yes (NBC over the air) | Yes | No |
| Monday Night Football | Only when it's on ABC, or with an ESPN subscription | Yes | No |
| Thursday Night Football | Needs Prime Video | Needs Prime Video | No |
| DVR | No, unless you buy extra hardware | Yes | Limited; check the official site |
| Really for | Local fans who want the lowest bill | Households that want all of live TV, not only football | Colts fans living outside Indiana |
Why the antenna stack wins for locals
The Colts play in the AFC, which means most of their Sunday afternoon games land on CBS. Some go to Fox. Both are free over the air, along with NBC for Sunday night and ABC for the Monday games that get simulcast there. A decent indoor antenna runs about $25 to $40 and there's no monthly fee after that.
The picture is better than people expect. Over-the-air HD is less compressed than most streams, and there's no thirty-second delay, so the group chat can't spoil a field goal for you.
The gaps are real but small:
- Thursday Night Football lives on Prime Video. That's included with a Prime membership (about $14.99 a month) or sold as a standalone Prime Video subscription for about $8.99.
- ESPN-only Monday games need either a bundle or ESPN's own streaming plan, which runs around $29.99 a month for the full version.
- Holiday or international games can end up on Netflix or elsewhere. Check the official schedule before you assume.
There's one detail that saves local fans money. When a team plays on a cable or streaming-only platform, the NFL generally arranges a simulcast on a broadcast station in that team's home market. So if you're in the Indianapolis area, a Colts game on Prime Video or ESPN is typically also on a local over-the-air channel. Confirm with your local listings that week, but it means many in-market fans can get by with nothing but the antenna.
No antenna reception? Paramount+ carries your local CBS station's NFL games (Essential is about $8.99 a month; check the current price), and Peacock (about $10.99) carries Sunday Night Football. Fox One, at about $19.99, covers the Fox games. Subscribing to all of them still comes in under half the price of a bundle. I keep Paramount+ around for its movie library anyway, so for me the football is a bonus.
Who the live TV bundle is actually for
YouTube TV runs about $82.99 a month. Hulu + Live TV is about $89.99 and includes Disney+ and ESPN's streaming service. Fubo and DirecTV's streaming plans sit in the same neighborhood, sometimes with extra fees. Carriage disputes have knocked channels off some of these services in the past year, so check the current channel list before you sign up for any of them.
What you get for that money is convenience: CBS, Fox, NBC, ABC, ESPN, and NFL Network in one app with an unlimited DVR. You still need Prime Video for Thursdays.
A bundle is worth it if:
- Your household watches a lot of other live TV, like college football, news, or the NBA.
- You need a DVR because you can't be home at 1 p.m. on Sundays.
- You can't get antenna reception and don't want to juggle four apps.
If the Colts are the only thing you'd use it for, I think it's overpriced. From September through early January you'd spend somewhere north of $330 for games that are mostly free over the air. The good news is that these services are month to month, so you can cancel the day the season ends.
One warning that catches people every year: a live TV bundle only shows the games airing in your market. If you live in Denver, YouTube TV's CBS feed gives you the game Denver gets, not the Colts.
Sunday Ticket, for everyone living elsewhere
For the out-of-market fan, this is the whole answer. Sunday Ticket carries the Sunday afternoon games that aren't airing on your local CBS and Fox stations. You can buy it as an add-on to YouTube TV or on its own through YouTube Primetime Channels without a YouTube TV subscription.
Pricing moves around. The list price has historically run several hundred dollars a season, with early-bird deals, student discounts, and mid-season price drops. Check the official site for what it costs today.
Know what it doesn't include. Primetime games aren't part of it, so you'll still want NBC, ESPN or ABC, and Prime Video for those. And if the Colts happen to be the game airing on your local station that week, Sunday Ticket blacks it out and you watch it the normal way.
There's a cheaper option if you're willing to watch on a small screen. NFL+ costs about $6.99 a month and streams live local and primetime games on phones and tablets only. It's no help for out-of-market Sunday afternoon games, though the Premium tier (about $14.99) adds full replays after games end. If you can avoid spoilers, replays are a good budget option for a displaced fan.
Right now: why Spencer Shrader is trending
This section will age, so I've kept it separate. Colts kicker Spencer Shrader is in the news after ESPN reported he was injured in warmups and still came through with a field goal to rally Indianapolis. For his status going forward, check the team's official site; I'm not going to guess at an injury report.
A kicker playing hurt makes every remaining Colts game a bit more interesting to watch, and none of the setup advice above changes because of it.
The short version
- Live in the Indianapolis market: buy an antenna, and add Prime Video only if the local simulcast doesn't cover you.
- Live outside it: Sunday Ticket, with an antenna for the national primetime games.
- Want all of live TV with a DVR: get a bundle, and cancel it in January.
Pick one of the three. The people who overspend are usually the ones paying for a bundle and Sunday Ticket and three other apps without checking which games each one actually covers.
That's my read on it. Now I'm going back to figuring out which streamer bought the movie I missed in theaters last month. Enjoy the game.
— Rachel
— Rachel Ortiz