Bally Sports has launched

Well, sports fans, the big day has arrived. Yesterday, in fact.

Bally Sports+ launched yesterday, making the service available nationwide. Well, mostly.

Back in June, the service launched in five markets: Detroit, Kansas City, Miami, Milwaukee, and Tampa (or Tampa Bay). Those are the five baseball markets where Bally Sports+ carry the baseball games. None of the other markets that carry Major League Baseball have agreements for the teams to be broadcast over the streaming service.

For example, I live in an area where I would get Bally Sports South and Bally Sports Southeast. And, I would normally get Braves baseball, which is carried on those regional networks.

Yesterday, I became capable of subscribing to Bally Sports+, and can get both Bally Sports South and Bally Sports Southeast, but it states "Braves baseball and related content are not currently available on Bally Sports+."

I can still get all the other programming, just not Braves baseball. And for me, Braves baseball is what I want. NBA and NHL games are available. In fact, from what I'm reading, everything normally carried on the Bally Sports regional networks in my area is available except Braves baseball. And it's that way for the areas covered by all 19 of the Bally Sports networks. Well, except for the five markets -- Detroit, Kansas City, Miami, Milwaukee, and Tampa Bay -- that got the early launch and have agreements for the baseball teams.

It is expected that Bally Sports will be able to negotiate agreements with the other Major League Baseball teams for next season, but it's unknown if any agreements could happen to allow the remaining current season to be carried. Probably not.

The service is $20/month or $190/year. Whether or not that's enough value without baseball is a decision each streamer that is a sports fan will have to make. I would subscribe if they had Braves baseball. And next season, if they carry Braves baseball, I will. Of course, if I was big into NHL and NBA, it would certainly be worth it to me. But I'm me, and it's not.

But for you and for others, Bally Sports+ may be a great addition to your Streaming Life.

Cutting streaming subscriptons to save money

A recent survey indicates that more people in the USA, as well as in Europe, are cutting back on streaming subscription services because of inflation.

Not that streaming services have raised prices, but that everything else has gone up meaning less money for non-essentials. And streaming services are getting hit by this.

While I've not seen the poll, I've seen a write up about it by a good source, The Streaming Advisor, which covers many of the bits of information uncovered by the survey.

There is a definitive generational preference as well. Over two-thirds of Gen Z and Millennials in the US (66% and 76%, respectively) are willing to pay to skip ads, compared to 32% of Baby Boomers, who may be accustomed to ads while viewing TV content. More than half of this generation (the Boomers) are the most unwilling to pay to skip over ads (52%) compared to just 14% of Millennials and 17% of Gen Z who say they are unwilling to do so.

I get this. I'm in that generation, and I usually won't pay to skip ads.

There are other interesting bits, so do go read the article. Of course, I'm not really impacted by much of this. I already cut back on services. I'll subscribe to one a month, watch the content, then cancel and subscribe to a different one the next month.

Over a year, I get all of the content that's exclusive to any service, and I pay a lot less. It is how I conduct my Streaming Life, and I suggest you consider it for yours.

Privacy phone, part 7: Apps

I've been testing some different setups for privacy phones, and have found an issue that's common to them all. The problem is apps.

Now, the whole reason for a privacy phone is to keep information about activity from being sent to Google, Facebook, or other places that collect and sell your data. The easiest way for them to do this is via apps.

If you notice, I didn't say anything about Apple just now. That's not because I'm not concerned about Apple having that data. Apple is actually the least offensive of those that gather your data, but I still don't like the idea of them gathering it. And I don't want iPhone developers getting the data either.

Many apps will collect the data or simply not run. That can be a problem. But the workaround is actually quite simple. Use the Web browser on the phone to access the Website. For example, rather than opening the Facebook app, I'll go to the Facebook Website on my privacy phone. It works pretty much the same. Pretty much. There are some differences. Not enough to make it unworkable, but some differences nonetheless.

However, not all services have Websites that work well with mobile apps. That usually is because the Website is not properly configured to display in a smaller window, such as on a mobile device. Sometimes, it's because of poorly coded Websites.

For instance, if you have a Website where you log in, and if they offer the ability to remember who you are, that's because of it sets a cookie on your phone. However, cookies are not forever. And sometimes, you can tell it to not set certain cookies that are used to track you. The "remember me" cookies don't really track you to the degree of other cookies.

Sometimes, when you go to a Website that wasn't properly coded, it can do some weird things. Like if you don't have certain cookies set, it redirects to a login page. But if the login page sees a certain cookie set, it assumes you are logged in, and redirects to a different page. But that page doesn't see this other cookie that isn't set, so it directs you to the login page. And so on and so on.

This doesn't happen on most Websites, of course, because they use better logic or handling of redirects that prevents an infinite loop from happening. But those that do? Oh boy, are they ever aggravating.

The solution is to remove all cookies from that Website for your mobile phone, but that is easier to do on a computer than on a mobile device. Unless you simply want to remove all cookies from everything. And you don't always want that.

So this transition to a privacy phone is going to have some hiccups, some major and some minor, along the way.

Watching college football games this weekend: Week 4

College football season continues, and while some games are not huge draws -- Big Dawg U vs Cupcake U games still happen this early in the season -- there are also some major matchups.

If you want to watch all of the games this season, you need access to all the networks. And, as you will see, that can get expensive. Of course, you might not want to be able to watch al the games. You may have only a single team, or a few teams, you care about. We'll show you how you can watch the games, whatever the games might be.

Well, most of the games. Four Saturday games will not be on these networks. A couple surprise me, but that's how it goes. Here are the networks carrying games:

• ABC
• ACC Network
• Big Ten
• Big 12 Network
• CBS
• CBS Sports Network
• ESPN
• ESPN 2
• ESPN 3
• ESPN U
• SEC Network
• ESPN+
• Fox
• Fox Sports 1
• Longhorn Network
• NBC
• NFL Network
• Pac 12 Network
• Peacock

Here is how to watch these networks:

ABC

• Antenna, over the air, free.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.

ACC Network

• Sling Orange, with Sports Extra, $46/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, with Sports Extra, $65/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Choice, $90/month.

Big Ten Network

• Sling Blue, with Sports Extra, $46/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, with Sports Extra, $65/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Choice, $90/month.

Big 12 Network

Big 12 Network games are available through ESPN+.

CBS

• Antenna, over the air, free.
• Paramount+ Premium, $10/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.

CBS Sports Network

• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Ultimate, $105/month.

ESPN

• Sling Orange, $35/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, $50/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.

ESPN2

• Sling Orange, $35/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, $50/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.

ESPN U

• Sling Orange, $35/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, $50/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.
• Fubo TV Elite, $80/month.

ESPN3

ESPN3 is usually included with a service that carries standard ESPN/ESPN2.

• Sling Orange, $35/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, $50/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.

ESPN+

ESPN+ is a standalone sports programming service. It is not the same thing as regular ESPN that you get with cable or one of the live streaming services. Some content from ESPN, ESPN2, or other ESPN networks may be available on ESPN+, but often, it's content that is only available on ESPN+.

• ESPN+, $7/month.
• Disney Bundle, $14/month.

Fox

• Antenna, over the air, free.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.

Fox Sports 1

• Sling Blue, with Sports Extra, $46/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, with Sports Extra, $65/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.

Longhorn Network

• Sling Blue, with Sports Extra, $46/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, with Sports Extra, $65/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.

NBC

• Antenna, over the air, free.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Entertainment, $70/month.

NFL Network

• Sling Blue, with Sports Extra, $46/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, with Sports Extra, $65/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Fubo TV, $70/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.

Pac 12 Network

• Sling Blue, $35/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, $50/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• Fubo TV Pro, with Fubo Extra, $78/month.
• Fubo TV Elite, $80/month.

Peacock TV

Peacock is a standalone streaming service that carries NBCUniversal programming, including much sports from NBC as well as exclusive sports programming. Peacock Premium is $5/month, but is included with Xfinity Internet plans.

SEC Network

• Sling Orange, $35/month.
• Sling Orange+Blue, $50/month.
• Vidgo Plus, $60/month.
• YouTube TV, $65/month.
• Hulu+Live TV, $70.
• DirecTV Stream Choice, $90/month.
• Fubo TV Ultimate, $100/month.

This list of networks covers all the games airing today. It also covers games next week through Friday, as the early games next week are all on one of these networks.

NOTE: Peacock and NBC are not needed this weekend as Notre Dame is not playing at home.

To watch all the games, having an antenna won't really matter, as in order to get all the networks, you'll need services that cover the OTA stations. So, how much to watch them all?

The services necessary will cost $118 That's $65 for YouTube TV with has most of the networks, $46 for Sling TV Blue plus Sports Extra to get Longhorn and Pac 12, $7 for ESPN+.

If you want college football in your Streaming Life, you have options, though it can get expensive depending just how many games you want to watch.

The new, lower priced Chromecast

Rumors of a new Chromecast have been around for a bit. Well, they are rumors no longer.

Yesterday, Google announced the new device, called the Chromecast with Google TV (HD). In the process, the current Chromecast with Google TV became the Chromecast with Google TV (4K).

So, yeah, the rumors about it being a lower end device were true. A new improved Chromecast was not released. Rather, a new lower priced one was released.

Chromecast with Google TV (HD) streams in high definition with 1080p HDR, and we’ve made software optimizations behind the scenes to make sure you get a smooth and snappy experience no matter what TV you’re watching on.

Starting today, Chromecast with Google TV (HD) is available for $29.99 in our classic Snow color, and is available in 19 countries now, with more regions coming soon.

There is no reason to run out and buy one, unless you want a new Chromecast for a secondary TV. I has lesser features, though not really much less. The main thing is 1080 HD vs 4096 UHD/4K. It's simply a budget device.

For someone who has been thinking about getting a streaming device, but didn't want to spend $50, this $30 device is a cheaper way to test out streaming. I don't see me adding one to my Streaming Life, however.