MLB.tv only works for out of market games, and worked amazingly when I was in school across the country, but useless when I moved back, and I got a free subscription to stream NFL Sunday ticket for the season and directv had basically no competency in streaming so it almost never worked.
Honestly, I bought a TV antennae from best buy and a long HDMI cord for my laptop and that's satisfied all of my sports needs through OTA broadcasts and questionable streaming sites.
I, too, use questionable streaming sites (well, just one since it's been reliable for the last year or two), but the picture quality is often worse than standard def, and the sound is apparently funnelled through a tin can.
It's almost bad enough to make me want to pay for cable. Almost.
Unfortunately for me, I live in Canada, where OTA stations do not care about the NBA. And I refuse to buy the League Pass since any games broadcast on cable would be blacked out.
NBA League Pass is a horrific abomination. I was debating it, and came across articles that showed that depending on your location and nominated team(s) it could be nearly impossible to get more than 25 games for your favorite team (out of an 82 game season). 30% of the season showed on a "Season Pass" costing approximately $200? No thanks.
You have to understand that Cable and Sports is a mutual lovefest. So all of these online alternatives are designed to be incremental revenue streams and specifically designed not to cannibalize the main revenue stream. They're mostly targeted at people who may away from their home market and so can't watch their favorite team on local cable.
I've been a subscriber to NHL Gamecenter for two years. If you're very far from your home team, it can be a good deal.
In California, I can catch most of Detroit's games. In a major hockey market like Toronto, however, Detroit's games are often on TSN2 (think ESPN2), which means they are blacked out. Cable was the only way to see these, even though I would have guessed they were out of market.
As much as I want to believe in these kinds of live sports services, I'm always disappointing in the quality and/or reliability of the feed. Maybe it's my ISP, I don't know. But for me streaming seems to be a second class citizen compared to cable & satellite.
As for the merger, I hate it because I actually think DirecTV is a pretty good product - even though the price is a bit high. I don't think a merger will do anything but reduce the quality of service, increase the price or both!
"Maybe it's my ISP, I don't know. But for me streaming seems to be a second class citizen compared to cable & satellite."
Don't worry - once your ISP is able to charge each streaming service more money, they might be able to budget to upgrade to slightly faster service a few years later.
For NHL, I've heard Gamecenter has poor quality feeds. Ironically, there's a one man show who runs a better service - albeit unlicensed - at hockeystreams.com
$20 per month, all games streamed in HD plus your choice of broadcast options (ie- home / away feed on NBC or TSN, etc).
FWIW, Gamecenter has had decent feeds for me; it annoys me that the browser viewer won't play the best quality (it only does 3Kbit, 30fps I think), but the ipad app will play 60fps HD streams. Missing blackout and playoff games is the worst though.
NHL Gamecenter
NBA League Pass
NFL Sunday Ticket (currently DirecTV exclusive via contract)
* I am assuming you are American and/or care only about the four major sports in the US. Not sure about futball, rugby, cricket, tennis, cycling, etc