You can't watch Kentucky vs. Louisville on YouTube TV yet -- but you can get your $20 credit

Kentucky vs. Louisville is the biggest game in college basketball tonight, airing at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN, but thanks to Disney’s feud with Google, millions of YouTube TV subscribers will have to find an alternate way to watch.

The war between the two media overlords is approaching the two-week mark. On Sunday, YouTube TV informed its subscribers that it will be issuing $20 credits this week for the blackout — however, it won’t go automatically toward your bill. You have to redeem it through their website, an annoying extra step. The fact that they’re giving out the credit suggests that an end to this is nowhere in sight, even though Disney is reportedly losing $30 million per week.

The main sticking point continues to be the price per subscriber that YouTube TV will pay Disney for its content. According to John Ourand, Disney has offered YouTube TV the same rates as Comcast, Charter (Spectrum), and DirecTV for ESPN channels, but YouTube TV wants an even better rate, which would trigger the “most favored nation” clauses and force Disney to charge the other three distributors whatever it agrees to with YouTube TV. Disney has taken the biggest public relations hit in this war, but that report shows that neither side is innocent, and that YouTube TV has the leverage.

Alas, the stalemate continues. By now, if you’re a YouTube TV subscriber, you’ve experimented with several different ways to watch games, but with the biggest so far now upon us, here’s a refresher on how to watch the Cats vs. the Cards on ESPN tonight.

ESPN Unlimited

This is probably the simplest way to ensure you can watch the game, although you’re playing right into Disney’s hands. Disney launched ESPN Unlimited ahead of football season. It offers all the ESPN content you could dream of, including live broadcast channels and streams, without a separate cable or streaming plan required.

It ain’t cheap. ESPN Unlimited is $29.99/month; however, it will include all Kentucky games broadcast by any ESPN channel or platform (ESPN, SECN, SECN+, etc.). You can also bundle Disney Plus, Hulu, and ESPN Unlimited for just $29.99/month for 12 months.

Note: ESPN Unlimited is separate from ESPN Select (formerly ESPN+), a standalone ESPN subscription option that includes ESPN+ content. ESPN Select won’t include Kentucky games –including SEC Network+ — if you have YouTubeTV as your TV provider until the dispute is resolved.

Hulu + Live TV

Disney also owns Hulu, so if you’re looking to part ways with YouTube TV altogether, Hulu + Live TV could be a good alternative. It’s similar to YouTube TV in terms of channel offerings and user interface, and, since it’s owned by Disney, it comes with ESPN Unlimited and Disney+. Right now, you can get Hulu + Live TV for just $64.99/month for the first three months. Once that’s up, the price reverts to $89.99/month.

Fubo TV 

Another Disney-owned alternative to YouTube TV is Fubo TV with the Sports and News package, which includes local broadcast channels (minus NBC) and ESPN channels, including SEC Network and SEC Network+. It’s $55.99 per month and includes access to ESPN Unlimited, but you can get a free five-day trial, which would ensure you can watch the Louisville game tonight (ESPN), the Eastern Illinois game Friday night (SEC Network+), and the Tennessee Tech football game on Saturday (SEC Network+).

DirecTV Stream

DirecTV offers a variety of options that include ESPN’s channels (including the SEC Network and SEC Network+) and ESPN Unlimited. The entertainment package is the cheapest, at $49.99/month, but it also offers a free five-day trial, which would ensure you can watch the Louisville game tonight (ESPN), the Eastern Illinois game Friday night (SEC Network+), and the Tennessee Tech football game on Saturday (SEC Network+).

Sling Day Pass

If you want to stick with YouTube TV in hopes a deal is made soon, but want a way to watch tonight’s game, you can get a day pass from Sling. For $4.99, you’ll get 24 hours of access to Sling Orange with unlimited streaming on one device. A weekend pass (Friday to Sunday) costs $9.99, and a 7-day week pass is $14.99. Note: to access the SEC Network, it’s $1 more per day.

KSBar & Grille

If you’re in the Lexington area, come on down to KSBar and Grille, where we have all the channels and will be showing all the games. Plus, we’ve got great food and drinks. Tonight, you can even get a fancy Maker’s Mark blue wax-dipped glass with the purchase of an Ale-8 slushy drink.

YouTube

Also known as the Shannon the Dude method. If you don’t want to spend another dollar, you can probably find a pirated stream on YouTube. There may be a bigger delay than what you’re used to with YouTube TV, but as the dispute rolls on, I have a feeling more and more streams will pop up. YouTube certainly doesn’t seem to be censoring them. Ryan Lemond may disagree, but you certainly don’t have to tip them.

I hear there are other sites, but for their own good, I won’t put their names out there and increase the risk they get shut down. People are sharing their finds on KSBoard.

Kentucky vs. Louisville: How to Watch, Listen

• Tipoff: 8:00 p.m. ET
• TV: ESPN (Dan Shulman, Jay Bilas)
• Local Radio: UK Sports Network (Tom Leach, Goose Givens)
• AM: 840 WHAS, 630 WLAP
• FM: 98.1 WBUL
• Online: iHeart Radio
• Sirius XM: 117 or 190
• Live Stats: StatBroadcast

You can also follow along on the KSR LIVE BLOG, which will start a few hours before tipoff, and join the conversation on KSBoard.

Take advantage of our KSR+ Introductory Offer to get bonus coverage of the Cats, including game threads, in-depth scouting reports, and the latest recruiting and roster intel. $1 for a week.