What is the best sports streaming service overall?

You can experience the thrill of watching your favorite sports and cheering for your favorite teams, all from the coziness of your own home. Gone are the days of needing a cable or satellite TV subscription, as there are now countless live TV streaming services that offer what you want across the sports universe. Among these options, DirecTV Stream stands out as a top choice for its RSNs and channels, but other services are less expensive and may be better for casual fans.

Choosing the best streaming service for sports can be a harrowing process, though -- especially when you take into consideration that not every service carries your regional sports network. Case in point: Boston-area hockey fans looking for the Bruins or Major League Baseball fans hoping to catch the Red Sox need NESN to view the majority of their games. That's even if they subscribe to a sport-specific, league-sponsored package like MLB TV, which doesn't cover in-market games.

Streaming services generally don't carry these regional sports networks, or RSNs, but DirecTV Stream and Fubo are the exceptions. They're the only two services that offer the Bally Sports (formerly Fox Sports) channels from Sinclair. Fubo lets you watch your RSNs on its $80 Pro tier. Meanwhile, you'll have to spring for DirecTV Stream's $109-a-month plan to access its full RSN offerings.

Also, some sports, like Formula 1 racing, feature all of their contests on one national network, such as ESPN. When it comes to the NBA, you have to bounce around to watch every game. Out-of-market games are available on NBA League Pass, and some teams have their own ways to stream their games, such as YES Network, MSG Plus or SportsNet Plus. Read CNET's guide for more on where to stream basketball.

Depending on location, diehard sports fans might ultimately save more money by getting a cable subscription, as your RSNs come bundled with ESPN, TBS, TNT and other local channels. This could especially make sense if the package is bundled with the home internet you'll likely be getting anyway. If you're a determined cord-cutter or know that you need only one or a few channels to get your sports fix, here are the best streaming services for you.