The Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers are set to clash in the 2024 Stanley Cup finals. Edmonton hasn’t raised the Cup since 1990, while Florida is looking to break through for the first time in franchise history after coming up short in the finals last year.
The 2024 Stanley Cup finals are about to begin, with Game 1 starting very soon, at 8:00 p.m. ET. It will be televised in the United States on ABC. But if you don’t have cable and are looking for ways to stream the NHL playoffs, we have a bunch of different options for watching a live stream of the Oilers vs Panthers.
Sling TV includes ABC, but only in a few select markets (Sling TV ABC markets). However, if you do live in one of those markets, then Sling becomes an excellent option if you’re looking for an inexpensive long-term solution. You’ll want to go with the “Sling Blue” channel package for ABC, and that will cost you only $20 for your first month ($40 per month after that).
ESPN+ will also stream the Stanley Cup finals, and it’s cheaper. But with Sling, you’ll also be able to stream the NBA playoffs (all of the finals games are also on ABC), which you can’t do on ESPN+.
If you don’t live in one of the markets that carries ABC on Sling, or if you’re looking for an option with a free trial, then there are three choices: Fubo (“Pro” channel package), YouTube TV (“Base Plan”) or DirecTV Stream (“Entertainment” channel package or above).
All three of these streaming services include ABC in most markets in the United States. Because of that, and because they have larger channel packages, they are more expensive long-term options than Sling. However, they also all come with a free trial. The Fubo free trial is seven days, while YouTube TV and DirecTV Stream are each five, which should be enough to get you through the entire series (June 8 through June 24 at the latest) without paying anything.
Without counting free trials, ESPN+ is the cheapest way to watch the Stanley Cup finals. It will stream every game of the series, and it costs just $11 per month or $110 for the year. Sling and the other options offer more in terms of more live TV, but if you’re only interested in watching the Oilers vs Panthers, and you’ve used up the free trials we just mentioned in the previous section, then this is certainly the way to go.
You can use a virtual private network (VPN) to hide your IP address/location and connect to a server in the United States. This is useful because it makes it seem as though you’re physically in the US, which allows you to access content–such as all the aforementioned live-TV streaming services–that’s only available there. As such, if you’re in another country, you can still watch a live stream of the game.
NordVPN is at the top of our list of the best VPN services. It doesn’t have a typical free trial, as you’ll need to pay up front, but it does offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, which essentially acts like a free trial.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.