Essential Guide to Apps for Watching Women’s Basketball
College basketball season is upon us and fans can view games in a myriad of ways. Unfortunately, it is impossible to stay on your couch as long you want to watch games on TV. However, with the plethora of live streams and mobile apps on the market, you can catch games while you’re on the go, hanging out at a café, sitting at your desk at work and anywhere you have a Wi-Fi connection (and if you have a good data plan, you don’t have to worry about ever missing a game).
We have compiled an app guide to help you watch the games at any time. All the apps are available for Apple and Android devices. Just search the App Store on your iOS device or Google Play on your Android device for these apps. Some apps are also available for the latest version of the Windows Phone OS. If you own a set-top box or a gaming console, check the device’s directory for these apps as well. Several boxes and devices have dedicated sports apps including Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, LG webOS, Roku, Xbox One and PlayStation.
Make sure to check Hoopfeed’s women’s basketball viewing guide (tv.hoopfeed.com) to see the list of the day’s broadcasts and how you can view them.
If you are a fan of Atlantic 10 schools, the conference’s app will provide you with the latest scores, news and schedules of A-10 teams. You can also view photo galleries and standings. While the app doesn’t provide live streams for every game, it does offer on-demand videos so you may be able to see some video recaps of games.
If you have a cable TV subscription that includes the Big Ten Network, you will be able to watch many games via the BTN2Go app which includes scores, news and replays. If you subscribe to BTN Plus, you can watch those games on the app as well. You can also view BTN2Go on the network’s website.
The CBS Sports Network does not broadcast many women’s basketball games. However, each year the WNIT championship airs on the network. The network’s app is also available for Windows Phones.
With the ESPN app, you can view all live programming and replays from the network’s channels and streaming services if your cable TV subscription includes ESPN and enables access to streaming. The app includes channels that broadcast women’s basketball games: ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPN 3, ESPNU, SEC Network, SEC Network+, Longhorn Network and ACC Network Extra.
Conferences that do not have a dedicated ESPN-supported outlet but broadcast a large portion of their games via ESPN 3 include the America East, Atlantic Sun, Big South, Big West, Horizon, Ivy League, MAAC, MAC, MVC, NEC, OVC, SoCon, Southland and Sun Belt.
ESPN also has an HBCU streaming service that broadcasts games from MEAC and SWAC institutions. The ESPN app is also available for Windows Phones.
Facebook Live is quickly becoming a popular way for teams, pro and college, to broadcast games. You can view games via the Facebook app on your phone or tablet for free. If you cringe at the thought of joining Facebook, just make a barebones account and don’t friend anyone. Remember, it is absolutely free. Just use the app to view games. The Facebook app is also available for Windows Phones.
FloSports provides live digital content from a variety of sports. Several schools and events will be using the service to broadcast games this season. The FloSports app will provide access to many basketball games this season via the FloHoops vertical. At this time, the app is only available for iOS devices. However, you can view games via the FloSports.tv website as well as Apple TV and Roku. Some FloSports content is only available if you pay for a subscription.
The FOX Sports Go app broadcasts games from many FOX properties including FOX College Sports, FS1, FS2 and FOX regional networks. In addition, the Big East Network broadcasts its streams and replays via FOX Sports Go. Unfortunately, you will need to be subscribed to a cable TV service that offers FOX Sports. You will need to verify your subscription when you log in. The app is also available for Windows Phones.
The Ivy League Network apps offers the standard fare for fans. In addition to scores, schedules and news, it also provides live and on-demand content. However, you need to be a subscriber to the Ivy League Digital Network to view streaming content. You can purchase a monthly, 4-month or annual pass. In addition, you can purchase passes for specific schools on a 4-month or annual basis.
For fans of Mountain West institutions, the conference’s app includes news and live streams of games. However, the interface of the app leaves a lot to be desired. In fact, you may start yelling four-letter words when trying to navigate it and view content.
The schedule portion of the app is useless. It lists all the games by month but with no dates, just a long list with times that do not even indicated time zone. The main page for women’s basketball is buggy and the archived games do not load. Plus, the app crashes a lot. It is no wonder the app gets dismal reviews in both the Google Play and Apple App store.
If you are lucky, you can navigate to the media tab and view the list of upcoming live streams with no issues. But you’re better off skipping downloading the app and watching games via the Watch Stadium app listed below or viewing games on the conference’s website. Two thumbs down for this crapware.
While the NCAA app does not have streaming of live DI women’s basketball games, it does offer a number of other useful features. You can view scores, polls, RPI rankings, news and on-demand videos. The videos include clips from games and other content.
During the NCAA tournament, the app will also have brackets and streaming of postgame pressers. In addition, the NCAA is the primary streaming provider for the DIII NCAA tournament. If you are a fan of DIII basketball, you can watch tournament games via the NCAA app.
The Pac-12 provides one of the most comprehensive apps for fans of its teams. The app includes live streams of games on all its networks as well as news, photo galleries, standings and on-demand content. While many of the non-conference women’s basketball games are available for free, you will need a subscription to a cable TV provider that includes the Pac-12 Network family of channels in order to see conference games. You must verify your cable TV subscription when you log in to view the premium conference games. You can also download the Pac-12 app for Amazon Kindles, Fire Phones and other Android devices from the Amazon.com app store.
Pluto TV is a new player on the market and not only offers a wide range of entertainment content such as movies and TV shows, it also streams games from the Big Sky Conference with dedicated channels for the University of Montana and Portland State. The best thing about the service is that it is completely free. You can also watch Pluto.tv on the service’s website.
Puffin and Dolphin are not sports apps. They are browsers for Android devices that can play Flash content. The default browser for Android devices and Google Chrome do not play Flash videos. So, if you prefer to watch a game or clips on a website such as Pac-12.com or ESPN.com, instead of via an app, use these browsers. Using Puffin or Dolphin is helpful when you have limited space on your device and do not want to add more apps.
If you subscribe to the a la carte TV and streaming service Sling TV, you will be able to watch many sports channels on Sling via an app. The Sling app broadcasts major sports networks as well as FS1 and Pac-12 Network. Some conferences also stream content via Sling.
If you came into the season looking for the Campus Insiders app or visited the website, you may have noticed that it has disappeared. Watch Stadium is a new joint venture between Campus Insiders, 120 Sports and American Sports Network. The app for the joint venture includes live games, highlights, replays and classic games.
Several conferences use Watch Stadium as their primary vehicle for streaming games. These conferences include Conference USA, the Mountain West, the Patriot League and the West Coast Conference. The ACC Digital Network and the Big Ten Network also broadcast some content on Watch Stadium but those broadcasts seem to be in sports other than women’s basketball.
Since watching much of the content on the Stadium app is completely free, the app is a must-have download for the season.  Watch Stadium also has premium content and you will have to pay $4.99/month to watch. Some Watch Stadium content is also available on Pluto.tv channel 207, at WatchStadium.Twitter.com and via the Verizon go90 app.
YouTube is a goliath in streaming content and another must-have download. Not only is it free, chances are your alma mater’s sports department has a dedicated YouTube channel. Many schools provide clips, postgame pressers and other interesting content via their YouTube channel.
In addition, some schools stream their home games exclusively on YouTube. Best of all, the streams are free. However, if you do not like the overlay ads and commercials on YouTube streams, purchase a subscription to YouTube Red for $9.99/month (which also includes a subscription to Google Play Music).
Also, there is no official YouTube app for Windows Phones but there are several third-party apps that will play YouTube videos. Just search for an app in the Windows Store.
School-specific and Cable TV Provider Apps
In addition to these apps listed above, you should check the athletic department website of your favorite team and see if the school has an app. School apps have a lot of exclusive content that is unavailable elsewhere.
Some cable TV providers also have apps that enable you to watch your favorite channels on the go. Check your provider’s website for info on apps.
