If you’ve decided to put an end to your cable TV subscription and get all of your content online, you might have had a hard time finding the sports programming you want. The SportsAccess Kodi addon is often recommended to solve this problem. However, is the SportsAccess Kodi addon legal? Is it safe for your computer? Can your privacy be protected while using it and are there better alternatives you should consider. This article answers all of these questions.
What Kodi is
Kodi is a piece of downloadable software you can use to view movies, TV shows, sporting events and other types of video content. It’s completely free to install. However, the only thing Kodi will play by default is the files that are on your device, such as home movies on your PC. In order to play any content from the Internet, you have to install an “addon” to your Kodi.
There are many different addons available for it. Some are part of the official Kodi addon repository and can be installed using the menus from within it, while others are located in third-party repositories and have to be found on the Internet. Regardless of which kind of addon you are using, each of them is created by an independent developer. Not all addons are safe, and some stream content illegally. You should always evaluate the risks of an addon before installing it.
Always Use a VPN with Kodi
Some Kodi users make use of third-party addons to stream content from unlicensed sources. However, Kodi users who only stream legal content should also consider using a VPN.
Using a VPN protects you from man-in-the-middle attacks, ISP speed throttling, and geographic content-blocking. It stops man-in-the-middle attacks by encrypting your data so that a hacker can’t read your personal information. It stops ISP speed throttling in the same way, by encrypting your data so that your ISP doesn’t know you are streaming from a particular site.
When connecting to the internet outside of your own country, it prevents geographic content blocking by disguising your IP address and making it appear that you are connecting from your local area. Using a VPN is helpful to deal with all of these problems.
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Warning: Kodi should only be used for content to which you have the legal right to access. Neither the Kodi Foundation nor Comparitech advocate the use of Kodi for privacy.
What is SportsAccess Kodi addon?
Like Smoothstreams, SportsAccess is a for-pay streaming TV service designed to find sports events on the Internet. It costs $12 a month in Bitcoin to subscribe to it. The SportsAccess Kodi addon allows subscribers to access this service.
Supporters of SportsAccess argue that being a for-pay service allows it to have higher quality streams with fewer dead-links and less buffering. However, it’s important to understand a few things about how SportsAccess works. Just because it’s a for-pay service doesn’t mean it is streaming legal, authorized content. On the contrary, most of the content SportsAccess provides is pirated. This is why they only accept Bitcoin in payment.
It can also be hard to find the sign-up page for SportsAccess. The login page is easy to find through a simple search. But if you don’t have an account already, this won’t help you. Although there are also several links on Reddit pages that claim to be the signup page, they all lead to 404 errors. Given this confusion, users should be concerned with the reliability of the site. What is a customer to do if they pay Bitcoin and the site goes down afterwards? This has happened before, and paying customers have missed out on major events as a result.
There is also no way of knowing how secure the SportsAccess servers are. Is SportsAccess vulnerable to hacking? Could SportsAccess be used to spread malware? Given the illicit nature of the service and the secrecy surrounding it, it’s impossible to know.
Given these problems, we do not recommend installing or using SportsAccess Kodi addon. Instead, we recommend the alternatives listed below.
Best Sports Addon Alternatives to SportsAccess: PS Vue
PS Vue is a streaming TV service for cord-cutters. For $39.99, PS Vue gives you ESPN, ESPN2, FS1, FS2, and 38 other channels. In some markets, this package will also give you local network channels. With these channels, you can see a wide variety of MLB, NBA, NHL, NASCAR, and other sports programming.
If these sports channels are not enough, premium packages are available that include MLB Network, NBA TV, ESPNU, Golf Channel, and others.
The PS Vue Kodi addon has a lot of useful features for sports fans. For example, it has a dedicated menu that provides a list of current sporting events and shows so that you don’t have to search around to find what’s on. If there’s a particular sports talk show you like to watch, you can add it to your “my shows” list from within the PS Vue website and it will automatically be recorded for you. Once it is recorded, it then appears in a special menu from within your Kodi addon. You can also save all of your favorite sports channels to your “favorite channels” list and have them show up in a separate Kodi menu.
Overall, the PS Vue Kodi addon is an excellent way to get sports programming without the financial and security risks that plague SportsAccess.
The PS Vue Kodi addon is part of the official Kodi repository.
Additional SportsAccess Alternatives
Just like PS Vue, all of the following addons stream from sources that are authorized by copyright holders. They are easy to sign up for and have reliable websites. Some are available for free and are paid for with advertising while others have a subscription fee.
FilmOn Simple
FilmOn is a collection of over 600 free TV channels. For sports fans, FilmOn has an “Extreme Sports” section that includes 13 channels providing MMA matches, Impact Wrestling, kickboxing, and watercross events. If you like any of these types of sports, the FilmOn Simple Kodi addon is a great addition to your addon collection.
FilmOn Simple is part of the official Kodi repository.
Sportsnet Now
If you live in Canada and these free services don’t offer all that you want, consider subscribing to Sportsnet Now. Sportsnet Now offers all of the content you would get from Sportsnet’s cable TV channels, but without having to subscribe to an expensive bundled package. They carry the NHL, NBA Raptors games, Blue Jays MLB games, Premier League, a highly-rated sports talk show called “Sportsnet Central,” and lots of other great sports content.
Sportsnet Now costs $24.99/month. You’ll need a Canadian credit card in order to sign up. If you’re traveling outside of Canada, you’ll need a VPN to access it.
The Sportsnet Now Kodi addon is part of the official Kodi repository.
NBA League Pass
If you’re a big fan of basketball, another option is to subscribe to NBA League Pass. For $17.88/month, NBA League Pass will let you pick one team that you want to follow and stream all of its games. The only exception to this is if a game is carried by national or local networks, in which case it will be blacked out. However, if your favorite team is not local, blackouts should be rare.
The NBA League Pass Kodi addon is part of the official Kodi repository.
NFL Game Pass
If you’re a big football fan and don’t want to spend money on non-sports channels you don’t watch, NFL Game Pass is a great solution. For $74.99/season, it allows you to watch every NFL game with no blackouts. Since the NFL season is five months long, that means it’s essentially $15/month. The only catch is that you can’t watch the games live. You have to wait until the evening of the day they occur for daytime games or immediately after they end for nighttime games.
The NFL Game Pass Kodi addon is part of the official Kodi repository.
READ MORE: How to watch NFL on Kodi.
The SportsAccess Kodi addon is often recommended as a way to get sports programming if you don’t have cable TV. However, this addon streams pirated content that is illegal in many countries. In addition, there are significant security and privacy risks to using it. There are definitely better ways to get sports programming on Kodi than to use this addon.
Further Reading:
Best Kodi addons for TV & movies in 2017
Best Kodi addons for watching anime in 2017
Best live TV Kodi addons
How to watch cartoons on Kodi
How to watch NHL on Kodi
Get subtitles to work on Kodi
View Kodi log files and fix error messages