MLS Live 2015 price? Higher. D.C. United on TV in 2015? About the Same as Before.

Major League Soccer announced Thursday that their MLS Live package is returning at a 'preseason discount' of $64.99, which translates to an almost 25 percent price increase from the 2014 season. MLS took the care to note that "MLS LIVE will be the sole out-of-market online streaming service for fans in 2015. ESPN will not offer its own package in 2015."

In defense of the service for a second, it does give the modern techie a variety of options to choose from, whether it is mobile phones or tablets (via iOS and Android), or devices like Roku, Chromecast and Apple TV. On a smaller personal note, it would appear that they may have discontinued support for Panasonic devices, which is a mild disappointment to this Panasonic plasma TV owner though to be fair, the streaming via their televisions generally was less than satisfactory, and I resorted to the Apple TV once available. On computers, the real-time stat updates and video were quite good as well. That said, not having the ESPN package out of the chute on Year 1 of the TV deal is mildly disappointing.

In related news, D.C. United fans who are subject to the CSN Mid-Atlantic broadcast region local blackout, along with any national television matches, are looking at a similar broadcast presentation schedule in 2015. This should be no surprise, as the team is in the last year of a deal where CSN broadcast 16 matches in each of the 2013 and 2014 years. The team is trying to get "as many games as possible on air," but prepare accordingly. So either subscribe/re-up to MLS Live, or find a way to see it on your own means.*