Watching college football games this weekend: Week 7

College football season continues, with this week again featuring three battles between ranked unbeaten teams. All three are conference matchups: one each in SEC, Big XII, and Big Ten.

If you want to watch all of the games this season, you need access to most of the networks, which can get expensive. Of course, you might not want to be able to watch all the games.

This weekend, only one game will not be on these networks. Here are the networks carrying games:

• ABC
• ACC Network
• Big Ten
• Big 12 Network (No games this week)
• CBS
• CBS Sports Network
• ESPN
• ESPN 2
• ESPN 3
• ESPN U
• SEC Network
• ESPN+
• Fox
• Fox Sports 1
• Longhorn Network (No games this week)
• 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: Longhorn Network and Big 12 Network are not needed this weekend.

To watch all the games, having an antenna won't really matter, as in order to get all the networks carrying games, the services also carry the OTA stations. So, how much to watch them all?

The services necessary will cost $85. That's $78 for Fubo TV Pro +Fubo Extra, along with $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.

Paramount+ and Fire TV Stick offer

It's only going on for a short period of time, but for the next couple of days, Paramount+ is offering a deal on either plan that includes an Amazon Fire TV Stick Lite.

Here are the details:

If you visit the offer page, you have the option to get the Essentials plan (with ads, and no local CBS) or the Premium plan (no ads, with local CBS) for 1/2 price. Plus, you get an Amazon Fire TV Stick Lite.

That means a year of Essentials for $25, or a year of Premium for $50. And a Fire TV Stick Lite. That's a pretty good deal.

Now, I'm one that only subscribes to services on occasion. I don't normally do a year service. But this is a pretty darn good deal. During the year, I would subscribe to Paramount+ a couple of time, costing $20-$30 during the year, since I would choose the Premium plan (local CBS).

That's close enough to think about it. I don't know if I will take the deal, as I don't watch it year round, but if you are someone that would subscribe five months within a year, it is certainly a great deal.

As for the Fire TV Stick Lite, I'm not a fan of that device. It's under-powered and I would just be frustrated with it. But I'm used to much more powerful devices. If I was just beginning to stream, this is a great way to start.

The Fire TV Stick Lite is fine for a beginner who hasn't used a more powerful device. When they upgrade later, they'll be thrilled with the newer device. And, in the meantime, they'll get a year of Paramount+.

This is a great way to start your Streaming Life. And it's a pretty darn good way to continue it.

Roku Smart Home

Roku announced a new lineup of devices called Roku Smart Home yesterday. I like the idea of it, but I don't like the execution. Allow me to explain.

I have a few smart home devices at my home. I use smart switches to control overhead lights in several rooms. I use smart outlets to control other items. I don't have much more than that, but I do find them helpful. I mean, if I forget to turn off a light at night, I don't have to get back out of bed and wander around the house turning off lights I overlooked.

When I got the devices, my focus was on devices that worked with both Google Assistant, Apple Home Kit, and Amazon Alexa. That should cover everything, right? Well, no, but more on that in a minute.

When I got the devices, I wasn't sure which main system I would use: Alexa, Siri, or Google. But, as all the devices I bought worked with them all, I was good.

It's not important which I finally settled on, because recently, I've begin making changes to that. As part of my recent efforts to increase privacy, I've wanted to move away from those smart controllers, and I have done that. I'm moving to Home Assistant, an open source, well, home assistant.

It is a happy accident that all of my devices are also compatible with Home Assistant. When I decided to move away from the Big Tech controller, I thought I may need to replace a few of the devices. I didn't. All of them also supported Home Assistant. It's now a part of my checks when looking at a smart device to see if it supports the four: Google, Apple (Home Kit), Amazon (Alexa), and Home Assistant.

That's where Roku falls short. Well, apparently.

Roku introduced Roku Smart Home, and it sounds good:

Simplicity is a key feature of Roku devices, and it’s at the foundation of Roku Smart Home. Integration with Roku OS allows you to receive real-time alerts and view live streams of your Roku Smart Home camera and video doorbell from your Roku TV or player. Free and automatic software updates ensure your device is always up to speed. Plus, third party voice assistants and Roku Voice enable hands-free commands so you can be more hands-on around the house.

The devil is in the details, of course. It only mentions Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa support. No Home Kit. No Home Assistant. AFTV News says that the items are simply Wyze devices with Roku's name attached:

After leaking a couple of days ago, Roku has now officially announced its new line of smart home lights, plugs, and cameras. Unlike Roku’s home theater products, which I presume the company makes itself to some degree, these smart home devices are “developed in partnership with Wyze,” which appears to just mean that Roku put its name on Wyze’s hardware and, possibly, add it’s own spin through software.

Wyze doesn't support Home Assistant, and apparently neither will Roku Smart Home devices. That's disappointing. Even if I was not moving to Home Assistant, I would be disappointed that Home Kit isn't supported. I want devices that are compatible with more systems, as I don't want to be locked in to any one system. It's not easy to change, of course, but if I find I chose poorly, I want the ability to change to something else. Wyze, and apparently Roku Smart Home, limit me to Google and Amazon, and don't support Apple or Home Assistant. That's a deal breaker in my book.

While I am firmly in the Roku ecosystem when it comes to streaming, I can easily move to something else, as I own Amazon Fire TV devices, Android/Google TV devices, and Apple devices. Oh, and I built my own with a Raspberry Pi (a version of Android TV). I'm always keeping my options open, when it come to smart home devices, and when it comes to my Streaming Life.

Antenna can use cable/satellite wiring

If you have or had cable/satellite wiring, and you want to put up an antenna, you have most of the battle already won. You see, the cable used by satellite or cable systems works just fine with a TV antenna.

All you really have to do is connect the antenna to the existing cable running through your house, and you now have TV antenna available where the cable runs.

There is one potential issue if you had cable TV. I had this issue, but it was easy enough to work around.

If your cable company will still be your Internet Service Provider (ISP) then they will still need part of the cable for their signal, and you can't use that. Well, you can, but it can cause problems. You don't want that.

In my situation, there was cable running to four TV outlets throughout the house. The cable company was the ISP, so they needed cable for their setup. Only one of those was needed for the Internet connection, meaning the other three were available for antenna signal.

The cable guy had left all four connected, meaning their signal was to each of the rooms. So, I had to ensure the other three were not connected via a splitter to the one for cable, and replaced the four-way splitter with a three-way splitter. (I bought a good quality one; don't skimp on this.) Then, I left their cable running to the single outlet, and connected the antenna to the splitter and had TV antenna signal in the other three rooms.

Now, I didn't keep that setup long term. I later bought a Tablo network connected device and used that to put the TV signal on the wireless network, allowing me to pick up the TV signal anywhere in the house.

If using Tablo, Air TV, or some similar setup is possible, I have been really happy with mine, and suggest something like that. But, if you're looking for a cheaper way (Table and Air TV have an initial setup expense) then reusing the cable for your TV antenna signal is a very cost-effective way of adding over the air TV to your Streaming Life.

Streaming the MLB Divisional Series

Baseball playoffs are underway, with the Wild Card round completed, setting the stage for the Divisional Series in each league.

In the National League, the two series are divisional matchups, with the Phillies and Braves facing off, and the Padres and Dodgers battling each other.

On the Junior Circuit, Cleveland and the Yankees play, and the Mariners and Astros do battle.

If you're a streamer, you have options on watching the games. There are three networks carrying the Divisional Series matchups:

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.

TBS

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

If you have an antenna, then Sling Blue at $35/month is the cheapest way to watch the series. If you don't have an antenna, the most cost-effective way is with YouTube TV at $65/month.

If you want baseball playoffs in your Streaming Life, there are plenty of options to view the Divisional Series.